Seven Snipers
Critic Alec Toombs is generally, "Sniper, yes sniping," despite some occasional griping.
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I’ve always been fascinated by snipers on screen.
The Tom Berenger/Billy Zane two-hander “Sniper” is a banger. Barry Pepper’s sharpshooter was my favorite character in “Saving Private Ryan.” “Enemy at the Gates” was pretty cool in spite of all the lovey-dovey stuff.
I was definitely curious when Aussie action-thriller “Seven Snipers” (available on VOD beginning Friday, June 5) came across my desk and was generally, “Sniper, yes sniping,” despite some occasional griping.
Voodoo Child (Radha Mitchell of “Pitch Black” and the first two “Has Fallen” flicks) is a retired sniper who’s gone to ground hiding in the Australian countryside from her enemy The Dragon (the always welcome Tim Roth) in order to protect her teenage daughter Anja (Annabel Wolfe).
The Dragon has personal and professional beef with Voodoo Child and has finally found her after years of searching. He fully intends to take her out … and not to dinner.
Voodoo Child reaches out to former teammates Milk (one-time Mr. Fantastic Ioan Gruffudd) and White Dog (Damien Ryan) to help protect she and her daughter. Also along for the mission are White Dog’s son Junior (Charles Cottier), Kaldayev (Bianca Wallace) and the reluctant Nico (Pacharo Mzembe).
“Seven Snipers” as directed by Sandra Sciberras (pronounced like the aquatic, Midwestern sex palace) and scripted by Andew O’Keefe ain’t bad per se, but it reads as cheap. It’s cool to see snipers do sniper shit, but killshots often aren’t paid off and when they are it’s crummy, CG carnage. I like a good siege picture and this one’s OK, but it could’ve and should’ve conveyed its geography more clearly.
Actors of the caliber of Mitchell, Roth, Gruffudd and Ryan Kwanten do a lot to sell the material, but it isn’t up to snuff with their performances. I also found it hard to sympathize with Voodoo Child as she gets her friends killed and doesn’t seem to give a damn either way.
Whether it’s six snipers or seven (Six-seven! Six-seven! Six-seven! Hand gestures and all.), this doesn’t quite hit sharpshooter movie heaven. It misses the target, but not by much.