The Sniper

The Sniper is a Hong Kong action thriller directed by Dante Lam, a Hong Kong director who excels at highly stylised action/thrillers. The Sniper is another one, though it’s definitely style over substance. That’s not to say that there isn’t substance – this is a movie that bases itself on a strong central theme of rivalry amongst its three main characters, with a psychological undercurrent underlying its stylistic visuals and action. It’s a well-crafted, engaging film throughout.

OJ, a hot-headed police officer, is scouted into a Special Forces sniper team by expert sniper Hartman after demonstrating excellent marksmanship under pressure in a hostage situation. With Hartman’s professional tutelage, OJ excels in his training and becomes one of the best snipers on the team. With a strong competitive spirit, he quickly becomes fascinated by the numerous records set by Lincoln, Hartman’s disgraced former partner/rival and the best sniper the team ever had.

Lincoln’s confident but risky shooting caused his downfall when, during an intense hostage situation, he ignored orders and took a risky shot that caused the death of a hostage. In the aftermath he lost his position, his reputation was tarnished and he was sent to prison. Recently released, Lincoln harbours a deep grudge against his former unit for not backing him up, particularly feeling betrayed by Hartman. He teams up with Tao, a wanted crime lord (and the target of his failed shot), to get revenge on his former sniper team and prove he’s the best sniper of them all. While Hartman quickly tries to hunt down and stop Lincoln, OJ becomes determined to beat his records and begins to emulate Lincoln’s unorthodox shooting style, finding himself torn between Hartman’s hard, by-the-books tutelage and Lincoln’s instinct-based natural skill.

 

It’s a pretty slick action/thriller flick, boasting some great visuals, a cool premise and oodles of style. It’s also a pretty concise and precise movie, not wasting too much time outside of its own plot and keeping things moving forward at a good pace, moving from character interactions to action with a good flow. It does enough to keep itself engaging and interesting throughout, with a few twists towards the end to spice things up. The action itself, fitting its focus on snipers, is more measured than usual shoot ‘em ups. There aren’t many shootouts at all, with most sequences playing out like standoffs or operations, the sniper/s observing through a scope and firing when appropriate. The finale does go out in a big way with a sniper battle that’s bloody and claustrophobic.

If there’s one fault, and it’s a fault due to the plot’s design, it’s that the film struggles to make some of its characters compelling on their own. It’s focused mostly on the main three main snipers, meaning almost everyone else comes across as underdeveloped or simply insignificant (the rest of the sniper team are basically extras). The focus on psychology and rivalry suits the film, because outside of it the characters don’t really have a lot to them. In a weird way the conflict between characters is what makes the movie – the ideas of rivalry and revenge push the film along.

OJ ends up being almost a side character for much of it. The film doesn’t spend much time with him and he’s not actually that involved in the main plot (he’s more of an observer). The film very briefly looks at the influence of both Hartman and Lincoln on him but he doesn’t have any meaningful interactions with the latter while the former is his boss. It’s distinctly not his story, though he’s positioned as the main character. That being said, it doesn’t really matter since he fits in with the three-way rivalry plot, acting as a personification of the struggle between Hartman and Lincoln. It also helps that he gets to blast away with a sniper rifle on a few occasions.

 

There are a fair few superfluous scenes thrown in involving various characters’ families and personal lives that are meant to flesh them out a little more, but they don’t serve that function too well. Hartman’s wife tries to kill herself and OJ’s father is a washed up gambling addict who demeans his son – both of these things get a single scene’s worth of attention and then are never mentioned or referenced again. I understand why some of them are there – OJ pushes himself to excel to prove to himself, and his dad, that he’s not worthless – but they don’t really work as intended. If anything they sort of pull us away from the tension and the central three-way rivalry/relationship that makes up the heart of the film.

Despite its faults, The Sniper works due to how direct and concise it is. It’s a stylish, finely tuned film with enough substance to present a story and characters that, while simple at heart, fit together well. It’s a tight little number, and well worth watching.