Shooter hits itself in foot

LITTLE ROCK — Shooter has everything a thriller fan could ask for - explosions, car chases, shootouts and daring physical feats, a complicated conspiracy, and a star (Mark Wahlberg) with a perfect balance of thuggishness and charisma.

So why is the film so nonthrilling?

The fault lies in director Antoine Fuqua's refusal totrust his audience. Every plot twist is announced well in advance of its arrival, and its importance is made clear after it happens. This pretty much eliminates opportunities for suspense or surprise. And since this is a big budget Hollywood movie with a namebrand star, there's no doubt how it's going to end.

That leaves Wahlberg and the action sequences - both of them well-muscled - tograb the audience's attention, which they manage to do fairly consistently.

Walhberg plays Bob Lee Swagger, a former Marine sniper who has become a hermit in the mountains of Wyoming after he and his spotter Donnie (Lane Garrison) are abandoned by military brass while on a secret mission in Africa, with tragic results for Donnie. Swagger responds like a guy with a broken heart who still believes in love - he's bitter and damaged, but hasn't lost his patriotism or sense of honor.

Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover) knows this, being a retired military colonel who has bigger fish to fry, and pushes all the right buttons to recruit Swagger for one more mission: to use his long-distance shooting expertise to foil a suspected plot targetingthe president.

So Swagger chops off his mountain-man ponytail (it looked fake anyway), gets someone to feed his dog, Sam, and boards an eastbound airliner to check out potential assassination sites on the president's itinerary. The most likely is Philadelphia, where Swagger does the job he's expected to do. He doesn't realize he's setting himself up as the perpetrator, part of an intricate plan to cover up nefarious doings of shadowy global organizations.

Now the action kicks in, starting with Swagger snatching a standard-issue Ford Crown Vic from rookie FBI agent Nick Memphis (Michael Pena) and outdriving thepursuing Philadelphia Police Department. Swagger's face is on every TV station, he's encumbered by a couple of bullets that he failed to dodge, and there's no place to hide. But, being Swagger - a guy who knows how to operate every weapon known to man as well as break and enter, hot-wire a car, perform self-surgery, and persuade Memphis and Donnie's widow Sarah (Kate Mara) to be on his side - he finds a way to fight back.

Mara, who contributes a deceThe physicality of the film is awesome, with lots of soaring helicopter shots, huge panoramas of fiery explosions, destruction of every stripe, and a lofty bodycount.

There's really nothing wrong with much of this in terms of what a thriller is supposed to deliver. But it could have been really exciting if we didn't see it coming from a mile away.