Customer Reviews

Sniper 3

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Well, I watched Sniper 3 last night. If you're a fan of the series, you'll probably love this one! Don't expect an overt amount of action, though there are some well done action scenes that work good with the flow and pacing of this movie. Sniper 2 was the more action oriented one. Sniper 3 seems to go back to the dark, moody feel of the first one, and does so with great success. The cinematography is decent, the acting is fine, and the soundtrack is downright amazing (a Southeast Asian theme that's not over the top or stereotypical, yet is modern and historically relevant). This is a very atmospheric Sniper movie, with lots of pain from the past coming to the surface. Master Gunnery Sergeant Sniper Thomas Beckett (Tom Berenger) is hired by NSA officials, William Avery (Denis Arndt) and Richard Addis (William Duffy) to perform a covert operation in Vietnam to eliminate a suspected drug/crime lord. Beckett's target turns out to be a friend of his and the real purpose of the mission turns out to be something other than what Beckett was told.

The movie is not without its problems here and there, but they are fairly insignificant ones (IMHO) and if you're a fan of the series then this is a great, even, fantastic addition. If your not a fan yet, try the first Sniper, then the second one, then you'll probably get into this one when you see it. It flows well with the series.

This time around Thomas Beckett is sent out by NSA to track down and kill a druglord in Vietnam who happens to be his good friend whom he fought alongside in the war. Beckett is in for surprises as he finds out more details about his mission and about the reasons why he is sent there. He also partners with a local cop in Ho Chi Minh City, who is trained in martial arts.

Like Sniper 2, this movie looks low budget and features unknown actors, whose acting are just adequate (except the Vietnamese cop, who did a good job). Tom Berenger, however, is always good and makes up for the bad acting done by some of the others.

There are some things in this movie that are different:

a) It reveals more about Beckett's personal life than the other two films (e.g. his past, his friendships, his emotional side, etc.)

b) Some of the action is influenced by the Hong Kong action style, with the shoot-outs done in slow motion, and Beckett's partner getting to use his martial arts expertise to eliminate some of the bad guys.

c) Tom Berenger has gained a few more pounds since Sniper 2 and he seems to lumber rather than run. (He needs to shed some weight in order to be believable as a Marine Sniper.) However, to the script's credit, Beckett gets in trouble with his superior for his drinking and his lack of physical fitness.

I gave this movie 3 stars because it could have been a lot better, given a bigger budget, better story, well-known actors and accomplished directors that we recognize. Even so, there are worse ways to spend an evening.

Unfortunately, the DVD itself does not contain any special features.

This third story about Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett fits in well with the other two because it draws atmosphere and story detail from both without becoming a clone. I liked the personal history bits about Beckett - we know very little about him as an individual but now we at least learn a few very interesting facets of his life. In the short scene in which he looked at his box of "memories", I recalled a scene in Sniper (1) where he was asked why he carried several sets of dogtags around and his reply - "respect". If you are a Berenger fan, and especially if you have seen Sniper 1 and 2, you will like this DVD. His Asian co-star was very good, especially in all the scenes shot about the slimey underbelly of Ho Chi Minh City. The action was less in this movie, but the story, direction and locales were well done and chosen. I was a bit sorry to see Tom has put on a few unneeded pounds, but, as the progression of the series warrants, he cannot look and act as he did in the early years - that would be a mistake! I hope you at least rent this DVD and do not miss out on a worthy episode about the life of Tom Beckett, the now reluctant Sniper. If you give the story a bit of thought, you'll see the psychological points shown about how Beckett is forever drawn into the former occupation which brought him acclaim and from which he cannot now withdraw.

My apologies to fans of this series. I enjoyed the first two of this admittedly low-budget series, but this one should have been left on the cutting-room floor. Who would believe that an aging, overweight alcoholic sniper would be first choice on a sensitive mission? And who would believe that an ACTIVE Marine sniper would be so out of shape at ANY age? I'm not knocking Tom Berenger for putting on a few, but come on -- make the story believable. Instead, we get the cliche of a tormented hero potentially drinking his life and career away. How many times has this been done?

My second biggest gripe was with the editing. Beckett was supposed to have lost his index (trigger) finger on his right hand; it was even a subject for this movie. So I'm sitting here watching his "missing" finger in almost every scene -- curled up, of course, but clearly visible. Couldn't they have at least tried to make this believable? This part would've been great on Saturday Night Live.

And what's up with the f-word in every scene with confrontation? Even the SUBTITLES were loaded with expletives. I'm no prude, but even a low-budget movie like this could've had a little class.

Overall, this was so weak as a movie I couldn't get into any of the characters, and I was really looking forward to it. It would have been a more convincing story line to have Beckett as an older mentor of a promising sniper, with a cheap prosthesis on his hand so we wouldn't have to pretend not to see the finger he lost years earlier, and weave his tormented past into his goals of retiring honorably, and even being involved in one last mission. But the way this was done was just plain disappointing.

First off - the crass language. [Were they trying to make this movie trashy?] Certainly not intensely masculine!

Beckett is back - [not with the honed body we would have like to see] but still a strong masculine charisma.

Yup! being done dirt to by his superiors? They want him dead too! That would eliminate all their loose ends.

I was waiting to hear that he had gone back and eliminated them.
I did get what I was waiting for though. A shot that seems impossible to make. Doing what seems impossible is what we look for in our Super Heroes and especially our Snipers.

Come on you guys. What is with you that you cheapen our good movies [almost good] with barnyard language.
I really get disgusted with woman [and men for that matter] with vulgar mouths. I blame this on the writers and directors who seem to have illiterate minds.
Vulgarity is not a sign of masculine charisma - just low-bred mongrels.

I enjoyed Beckett - I ignored the crass language - and I love the shot! For Mature audiences only.

I think that sniper 3 could of had potential but it was bad. unlike sniper 1 and 2 this film was so unrealistic and wasn't even good as the first two films, this time seargent Thomas Beckett goes to vietnam to assassinate a friend of his that he thought was dead many years ago it seems that hes become a suspected terrorist and Beckett has become a drunk and insufficeant person that it becomes unlikely that hes choosen for this mission. It seems that the film suffers from alot of faults like Tom Berenger gaining alot of weight and he doesn't look good for his role as a sniper, maybe hes geting old and this time the story just wasn't good enough for another film to be made so I hope that this one becomes the last in the series.

Bergeron's character Becket is tapped to take out a warlord who has gone over to the Dark Side...the warlord happens to be his best friend who has been presumed dead after saving Becket's life in the Vietnam War. If you can get past this derivative and far-fetched plot, the scenes in Vietnam, the action sequences, and Bergeron's acting make this an ok movie.

This is a really great climax to the original movie "Sniper" This is a must have for real collectors.

This is a long way off from Sniper I & Sniper II. It is geared towards MOUT environments and nothing is very tactical in this movie. Keep the Sniper films in the bush and out of urban environments.

For those who still remember the terrific acting of Tom Berenger in Oliver Stone's 'Platoon,' it is painful to watch him in 'Sniper 3' (which is also set in Vietnam). Not that the film is a complete failure. Actually, Tom Berenger's performace as the veteran sniper Thomas Beckett is fairly good, if not his best. But the film's lazy direction (from the director of 'From the Dusk till Dawn: 3' ... no wonder) is too conspicous, killing the potential that some of the actions and characters might have.

Not much can be called original about the script of 'Sniper 3.' Thomas Beckett is sent to Vietnam, where he fought his war with his buddy during the war 30 years ago. But Beckett is informed that the friend who is supposed to be dead is now ruling the underground community as druglord (the idea inspired by 'Apocalypse Now'). And Beckett's assignment is to kill him.

Byron Mann appears as Sgt. Beckett's partner from Vietnam, and Thailand provides the convincing locations for the backdrop. Both actors did good acting, and the film tries to show the deeper characterization about Beckett, who talks about his old days, and even attends a wedding party (not drunk for that matter). The results of the efforts are not bad.

But the actions are so-so at best, with shoddy editing that often makes me wonder what is going on. For example, after Beckett's first 'hit,' a shoot-out scene at the rooftop begins, but as the film fails to show who is shooting (at) who, the sequence only shows alternately the confusing images of men shooting guns and men who got shot. And I still do not fully understand what happened in the last chapter, the terribly hurried and awfully incoherent wrap-up that comes with bamboo impalement. Excuse me, but I thought this is about a sniper's story...right?

Though the film is watchable thanks to the actors and locale, 'Sniper 3' reminds us of the fact that we really need somebody who can save Tom Berenger from this Grade B straight-to-video hell.