Film Review Article: SHOOTER

by Alan Morrison

The original reviews of the film, Shooter (2007), directed by Antoine Fuqua, with a screenplay by
Jonathan Lemkin, were very mixed. The mainstream media were not enthusiastic. One viewers review
said it was made by and for pinko-liberal communists in order to get people to despise their
government; whereas another one said that it was one of the most unforgettable films he has ever
seen with an intelligent screenplay and an important message for our time. I guess this is the great
divide in America. One either gets it or one doesnt and most dont. So lets crack open this film to
see what it has to say to us.
The essential storyline of the film is as follows. (By the way, I make no apologies for spoilers as
knowing what happens doesnt make a jot of difference to appreciating the message or the direction of
the film). It opens with a US marine expert sniper (Bob Lee Swagger, played by Mark Wahlberg) and
Danny, his spotter, in Ethiopia watching over a black ops mission from a hillside. Things go wrong
and they get hung out to dry by the CIA field advisor and, as a result, they come under attack and the
spotter is killed. Cut to three years later and we see Swagger (Ruby Ridge style) in a cabin 9000 feet up
in the mountains in Wyoming with his dog (who fetches his beers from the refrigerator) and the
solitude. By now he has a ponytail, a beard and a book about 9/11 on his desk. As he turns to a news
website on his computer, he mutters Lets see what lies theyve got for us today. Clearly, he had
learned from his experience in Ethiopia!
Suddenly, we hear a car outside. Its a large black SUV with blacked-out windows. No prizes for
guessing who is inside! Three big guys emerge, the head of which is a Colonel Johnson (not, of course,
his real name) a big wheel in a contracting company (like Blackwater) connected to the CIA of the
kind increasingly used by Langley as a way of carrying out dirty operations which would not (officially)
be publicly tolerated by congress. Swagger comes out of the cabin and tells them to turn tail and go
back where they came from. But they have a proposition for him. They claim to have intercepted a plot
to assassinate the President and Col. Johnsons people have determined that it would probably have to
happen in one of three places (Washington DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia), and would have to be
done by a sniper shooting from over 1,500 yards away. Johnson says he wants Swagger to stake out the
three areas, and determine the best way that the sniper would do it, so that they can try to prevent it.
At first, he refuses; but after Johnson pushes some of Swaggers patriotic buttons, the sniper agrees.
Sample dialogue of Johnsons argument here:
Bob Lee Swagger: I don't really like the President much. Didn't like the one before that, much,
either.
Colonel Isaac Johnson: You like the idea of the President, living in a free country. Do we allow
America to be ruled by thugs?
Bob Lee Swagger: Sure, some years we do.
Huge laugh in the cinemas. But its not so much funny as true. And its not just some years but most! Of
course, the irony here is that Colonel Johnson and his contractor ilk are the total thugs, as the film
reveals. It also reveals that America is ruled by such thugs, regardless of who is president.
Soon, we see Swagger sizing up the various potential assassination locations and he reports back that
Philadelphia is the most likely. When the day comes for the Presidents speech in front of
Independence Hall in Philly, Swagger is there with his binoculars in a room overlooking the event with
Colonel Johnson and sidekicks. Just as the hit is about to take place, a beat cop comes into the room by

arrangement with Johnson and proceeds to shoot Swagger who is hit twice and falls out of the window
through a glass roof. Still alive but badly hurt, Swagger limps off and forcibly takes an FBI vehicle from
an agent (Nick Memphis) who he tells about the set-up. After a car chase he winds up in the river and
disappears. The TV news declares that Swagger was the assassin and portrays him as a dangerous man
on the run. (We can smell Lee Harvey Oswald here in fact, Swaggers name is not totally dissimilar
although the difference is that Swagger-the-patsy is much more adept at keeping himself alive than
Oswald-the-patsy). Swagger then goes to the house of the girlfriend of his dead spotter buddy from
Ethiopia who dresses his wounds and helps him to recover (as well as providing him with Danny's old
hunting rifle to get him started on his campaign of revenge).
The rest of the film is about how Swagger finds out what is going on, who is involved and why. (In fact,
it wasnt the President who was hit but an Ethiopian bishop standing next to him. There are good
reasons for that, connected with the black op at the beginning of the movie, as you will discover if you
see it).
There are a few particular cameo scenes in the movie during which much is revealed. They are like setpieces.
1) In the first cameo scene, the rookie FBI agent, Nick Memphis (3 months out of the academy) has
been lured by Swagger as bait into a trap. (The agent already realises that Swagger was set-up and, as a
result, he obviously has to be dealt with by the powers that be). We then see Memphis kidnapped by
CIA hired contractors and beaten in a disused warehouse, after which he is rigged up in a suicide
machine a kind of brace which pulls your arm round to point at your head and a gun is put in your
hand and fired. One of the agents tells him Dont worry, youve already written a touching suicide
note. What they didnt reckon on was Swagger in a boat 200 yards away with the hunting rifle. Three
shots later the agents are dead and Memphis is rescued by Swagger. One of the great moments in the
film is in this scene when Memphis tells Swagger to get himself a good lawyer and hell file an FBI
report to his superior telling the truth and then everything will be okay. Now here youd expect
Swagger to say something like Dont be so stupid, theyre all in on it. But instead he simply says I
dont think you understand. These people killed my dog. Precisely. Theyd stop at nothing. They have
to be dealt with! From that point on, Memphis teams up with Swagger in trying to get to the bottom of
the plot.
2) The second cameo scene involves a visit by Swagger and Memphis to a wise old gunsmith called Mr.
Rate who is based in Tennessee (which Swagger amusingly calls the patron state of killing stuff!). The
old gunsmith is played by actor Levon Helm (the original drummer and vocalist in Bob Dylan's group,
The Band). There is something totally real about this scene. Helm's character rings true. This is a great
role, wonderfully performed, as Mr. Rate sheds some important additional light on the plot. In
response to the public notion that Swagger killed the Ethiopian bishop, Mr. Rate says mischievously:
"They also said artificial sweeteners were safe, WMDs were in Iraq, and Anna Nicole married for
love!" Right on, Mr. Rate. There must be many such wise old-timers tucked away in the backwoods of
Tennessee!
3) The third cameo scene involves a confrontation between Swagger and another sniper who works as
a contracted killer for the CIA (and who seems to spend most of the movie based in the Langley,
Virginia, headquarters of that organisation). Hes the one who killed the archbishop from Ethiopia. This
guy is played by Serbian actor, Rade Serbedzija, who brings a sinister touch to the film. With nothing
left to lose and minutes away from death (realising that he too is about to be wasted by his CIA
handlers), he spills the beans about everything to Swagger. Its a powerful few minutes of vital
information about the plot, about the fact that nothing evil happens without the prior approval of the
government, and also about the black op which Swagger unwittingly protected as a sniper at the

beginning of the film. Apparently, the Blackwater style contractors for which Swagger had been sniping
were massacring an Ethiopian village of four hundred men, women and children to make way for a US
oil pipeline, the station of which was built over the mass grave. (The Ethiopian archbishop was going to
spill the beans about this event while he was alongside the US president so he was shot dead but it was
made to look like a botched assassination attempt on the President with Swagger as the fall guy).
4) The fourth cameo scene involves a powerful denouement on top of a glacier. Present are Col.
Johnson, Senator Charles F. Meacham, a CIA hitman, Swagger, his girlfriend and Nick Memphis.
Swagger has now got the upper hand, having thwarted every attempt on the part of Col. Johnson (run
by Senator Charles F. Meacham) to kill him off. But, true to form, Meachum isnt about to give up
(these guys never do). Heres part of the exchange:
Senator Charles F. Meachum: You got any plans after this? You have a rather unique skill set. I'd be
interested in offering you a job.
Bob Lee Swagger: Work? For you?
Senator Charles F. Meachum: It's not really as bad as it seems. It's all gonna be done in any case. You
might as well be on the side that gets you well paid for your efforts.
Nick Memphis: And what side are you on?
Senator Charles F. Meachum: There are no sides. There's no Sunnis and Shiites. Theres no
Democrats and Republicans. Theres only haves and have-nots There's always a confused soul that
thinks that one man can make a difference. And you have to kill him to convince him otherwise. That's
the hassle with democracy This is a country where the Secretary of Defense can go on T.V., and tell
the American public that This is about freedom! It's not about oil! And nobody questions him, cuz
they don't wanna hear the answer, because it's a lie! There are only so many places at the table,
Gunnie. Now, are you on the INSIDE, or are you on the OUT?
This scene represents the confrontation between the corrupt government/secret service nabobs and
the awakened ones who have seen through them. It demonstrates the utter cynicism, complete selfcentredness and total disregard for truth and human life of those who run things. (It also represents
the naivet of those who think that it is possible to do something about it, but thats another story, as
well see).
5) The fifth cameo scene in the film takes place in the US Attorney-Generals office. This occurs near
the end of the movie and is, in my opinion, where it begins to go slightly astray. I dont mean in terms
of the dialogue content but in terms of the fact that, in reality, by this time Swagger (and FBI agent Nick
Memphis) would no longer be alive. No doubt about that. However, be that as it may, Swagger is
brought in chains and wearing an orange prison suit into the Attorney-Generals office before a small
committee. Col. Johnson is also present, as is FBI agent Nick Memphis. Swagger and Memphis reveal
the truth to the AG about the assassination and about the Ethiopian massacre but, although he agrees
that it is the truth, he confesses that he is unable to do anything about itthat he is powerless against
these forces. The Attorney-General does say to Johnson: Colonel, your moral compass is so fucked-up,
I'll be shocked if you manage to find your way back to the parking lot. Nevertheless, Col. Johnson then
walks from the room a free man, while saying to Swagger I won. The AG then sits informally on the
table beside Swagger and says: For the record, I don't like how this has turned out any more then you
do. But this is the world we live in. And justice does not always prevail. It's not the Wild West where you
can clean up the streets with a gun. Even though sometimes it's exactly what is needed... Bob Lee
Swagger, youre free to go. The clear implication is an unspoken authorization by the powerless
Attorney-General for Swagger to clean up the streets with a gun, which he duly does in the final
scene of the film.

However, even though Swagger does mete out Wild West justice in the film, while this may be
satisfying for audiences looking for a resolution to tell them that all is well with the world, it will not
change anything at all; because for every Senator Meacham and Col. Johnson there are two more such
scum waiting to step into their shoes. As the Serbian CIA sniper asset told Swagger You don't get it.
There is no head to cut off. It's a conglomerate. If one of them betrays the principles of accrual of
money and power, the others betray him. And this is the main theme of the film: That the entire
thrust of government (in this case, especially the US government) is all about money and power and
the fact that anything or anyone who stands in the way of that will be ruthlessly dispatched from this
world.
Bob Lee Swagger is a kind of upstanding antihero, a hybrid consisting of John Wayne cleaning up the
streets of the Wild West and Clint Eastwood cleaning up the streets of Los Angeles (some might even
add Rambo cleaning up the jungle). As a sergeant gunner in the US marines, Swagger had awoken from
the hypnotically-induced trance which makes soldiers and civilians alike naively think that the military
is defending freedom and democracy.
Swaggers own betrayal experience in the military and his subsequent researches have led him to
understand how things work in the world of conspiracy-fact. As he says to the girl tending his wounds:
The first rule of conspiracy is to find some dumb-assed patsy, blame him and then kill him. The second
rule of conspiracy is to clean up the loose ends. After [Jack] Ruby took care of his end, somehow he dies
of an embolism in jail before he can talk to anybody. For those too young to remember, Jack Ruby was
the unstable, nightclub-owning, mafia-connected patsy who was sent in to kill Lee Harvey Oswald
(JFKs alleged killer) to shut him up, not at the time realising that he himself was going to be taken out
too. [Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia article about Ruby: A year after his conviction, in March
1965, Ruby conducted a brief televised news conference in which he stated: Everything pertaining to
what's happening has never come to the surface. The world will never know the true facts of what
occurred, my motives. The people who had so much to gain, and had such an ulterior motive for
putting me in the position I'm in, will never let the true facts come above board to the world. When
asked by a reporter: Are these people in very high positions Jack? he responded Yes.] As Swagger
said, the loose ends must be cleaned up. Thus Jack Ruby was also duly cleaned up (taken out, killed).
In fact, many people connected with the Kennedy assassination have been murdered or have died
under mysterious circumstances, for which see Sylvia Meagher, Accessories After the Fact: The
Warren Commission and the Report, Random House, 1976, 477 pages, sadly out of print but still
available used and highly recommended. The Kennedy assassination is the most disgusting wart on the
face of the United States of America. It is its pinnacle of corruption and a warning to all who would try
to meddle with the plans of those who secretly run the country. The warning is: Meddle and you will
soon be removed from this world. If we can do it to a man like the President, then we can easily do it to
you. (Remember that Kennedy wanted to stand up to organised crime with his brother and he also
said he wanted to splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds. As part of that, he
removed the then director of the CIA, Allen F. Dulles, from office though ironically Dulles later sat on
the Warren Commission which produced the whitewash report on Kennedys assassination. A
president cannot stand up to organised crime and the CIA and expect to live for long. As the Mafia and
CIA have always been in each others pockets and even carry out each others assassinations it
doesnt take a great deal of imagination to work out how John F. Kennedy met his death).
There are a number of things which are underlined in this film:
1) The first thing which is underlined in this film is that the US military is not a force for the
defense of the country but it is a tool of the corporate empires of America in the global

furtherance of their wealth and power. If people do not realise this after the debacles of
Afghanistan and Iraq then they are blind beyond belief.
2) The second thing which is underlined in this film is that most politicians are not working for the
representation of the people but are the puppets of the corporate empires of America in the
global furtherance of their wealth and power. This is what so-called lobbyism is all about. But
it goes way beyond that. Way beyond it. The truth is that the Senate and House of
Representatives and all their committees are merely there to rubber-stamp whatever the
corporations want to do wherever it is in the world. Together with the Trilateral Commission,
the Council on Foreign Relations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the big
corporations ensure the direction which business and government will take hand-in-hand. It is
all carefully mapped out. Those countries which deviate from what is desired or which refuse
to cooperate will be overthrown by a CIA induced coup, or leadership assassination, or a fullblown invasion, or financial bleeding dry and isolation; while those individuals who try and
stand up to this machine or expose it will be silenced at any cost.
3) The third thing which is underlined in this film is that the public media (newspapers,
magazines, television) is one big lying machine but that the majority of people are actually
relieved that it is the way it is because the truth would be far too revealing, far too painful and
would necessitate them ceasing to be the kind of couch potatoes which governments need
them to be. (It was interesting that when Barack Obamas former pastor, Jeremiah Wright,
uttered a few home truths about America, the media went into apoplexy and Obama had to
publicly denounce his pastor! Theres nothing like Truth for causing a furore!).
4) The fourth thing which is underlined in this film is that, as the Serbian sniper reveals,
Nothingno matter how horribleever really happens without the approval of the
government, over there and here. This is what people do not, cannot and will not accept, even
if they do suspect it in their hearts. I know of many people who secretly suspect that the event
known as 9/11 was an inside job; but they cannot allow themselves to fully admit it because it
would mean having to rethink everything in their lives and that is too painfultoo destabilising
for them, even though it is the truth. (Even ugly truth is beautiful precisely because it is Truth!).
As it has been said: The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with
illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim
(Gustave Le Bon).
Shooter is a film which harks back to the darkly cynical, profoundly sceptical, utterly convincing
political-conspiracy thrillers of the 1960s and 1970s, such as The Parallax View, The Manchurian
Candidate and Three Days of the Condor, etc. There must be countless Nick Memphiss in the FBI
as yet uncorrupted younger guys who doggedly want to see law and order prevail and thats why they
signed up in the first place. Just as there must be countless ex-marine types like Swagger who have
seen through the thin veneer of democracy in the USA to witness the real corruption and evil which lies
behind it and behind the darkness of the massacring American War Machine which in a demonic
touch of hypocrisy poses as a freedom-giving angel of light. As Senator Meachum said in the film
about Swagger, such men do indeed have a unique skill set. But the gun is not the answer. Creating
patriotic militias will not solve anything. Rampant vigilantism will ultimately prove destructive and
nihilistic, attractive as it may seem at a certain level of justice (I will be addressing this whole issue of
vigilantism in a separate article) and will only bring down annihilation on all who use it. There is a
telling moment near the end of the film as Swagger administers gun justice to the oily Senator from
Montana. The exchange goes like this:
Senator Charles F. Meachum: Wait a minute. Hold it, just a minute. Hold it... are you out of your
mind? Are you out of your damn mind? I am a United States senator...
Bob Lee Swagger (as he blows out the Senators brains): Exactly...

Exactly indeed! The senator was reaping what he had sown. The very fact that he had been entrusted
with government which he had then used murderously and corruptly meant that he deserved what he
had meted out to others. But his death doesnt solve anything. As the Serbian sniper said in his last
powerful moments of honest exposition: You don't get it. There is no head to cut off. Its a
conglomerate. If one of them betrays the principles of the accrual of money and power, the others
betray him. What it is is human weakness and you cant kill that with a gun. Precisely. It is the
natural corruption of this present dying age which seeps into the heart of the human soul and it cannot
be eradicated with a gun. The clear implication here is that for every evil scumbag to whom one might
administer peremptory justice with a gun, Wild West style, there will be another one in the wings
ready to take his or her place. There would be no end to it. This is the world in which we live. This
present age is fundamentally evil and it is rooted in deception, egotism, narcissism, vanity, corruption,
selfishness, avarice, murder and cruelty. The US government is no exception to this, also being solidly
rooted in corruption, narcissism, selfishness, avarice, murder and cruelty, no matter how much one
may pretty it up to the human eye with White House lawns, elaborately-built Capitol Hill buildings and
oak-lined interiors decked in grand period portraits, velvet curtains, thick pile carpets and slick election
addresses. To fill such grand buildings with politicians is like putting dung inside a silver Gucci slipper.
If you wonder why I should be such an affront to you by speaking in this vein and about these things, it
is because the deception has been so deep that the majority of people in the USA have actually
supported and avidly campaigned for the corruption, selfishness, avarice, murder and cruelty carried
out by their government in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq. This is something for which they
should be deeply ashamed. People need to be shocked out of their sleepwalking mediocrity and
enslavement.
There is no time like the present to stop being a supporter of evilwhether it has been deliberate or
by default, whether it has been through corroboration or because of cowardice. Guilt for such things
sticks to you like mud sticks to a jackboot. Make no mistake about it. It IS a jackboot that we are
speaking about here. It is the fascism of corporate America and its US military puppet, backed up by its
foppish servantthe Senate and Congress of its governmentand silently supported by the smug
collaboration of the American people. That such blatant fascism can happen under the thin disguise of
freedom and democracy is a testament not only to the strong delusion involved but also to the
gullibility of the mass of people today.
Many say that it is unspiritual to address the matters of government corruption and disinformation.
But being spiritual means nothing if it ignores humanitarian issues. Being spiritual means being
proactive in uncovering truth and advocating peace, righteousness and justice.
Shooter is a well-directed and powerful action film, even if only taken on that level. However, its
message about the sham of democracy, the dictatorship of business corporations and the apparent
powerlessness of decency in these dark times is even more compelling. This film should give us cause
to question whether we ourselves are collaborators and traitors or seditionists and dissidents. To take
the latter course is the noble and knightly one, regardless of the outcome for our own personal safety.
Alan Morrison
Copyright 2008
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