Sniper: Rogue Mission

When it comes to classic action films, there are several ones i can easily pick within a few minutes. You have the Die Hard franchise, Lethal Weapon of course, and then you also have all the classic Sylvester Stallone films such as Cobra, Tango & Cash, Demolition Man and many more. It all depends on what kind of action films you prefer. Let us stay within the time period of the early 90´s for a moment, and look back at an action film that you don´t hear much about these days. And the year we need to revisit is the year of 1993, when the action film Sniper was released. I still remember the poster of Sniper in cinemas across Sweden, where you saw legendary actor Tom Berenger on the poster in his military outfit. I did see the film in cinema but very late. I believe i may have seen it in the last week before it stopped running in cinema, so we were not many people in the seats. I still remember how much i enjoyed Sniper, for being an effective military action film. Most of all i especially enjoyed the main characters Thomas Beckett and Richard Miller, played by Tom Berenger and Billy Zane. Their screen chemistry worked out really well, and the action sequences looked good. The idea of these two snipers working together in the jungles of Panama, turned out to be a great idea for a simple, but effective military story. Director Luis Llosa ( who a year later directed the Sylvester Stallone film The Specialist, worth checking out ) proved that you can make a military film, without having lots of explosions and focus more on characters instead. Definetely worth picking up on DVD, it is a true 90´s classic. We have had plenty of sequels since Sniper was released, because the main character of Sniper known as Thomas Beckett, have become one of Tom Berenger´s most beloved characters in his career. Both Tom Berenger and Billy Zane have shown up in some of the sequels, so that is at least a positive sign for the franchise. I will admit i have not seen every single one of them, there are 9 of them and i have seen 6 totally. Are they all good? No, but some of them are ok, if you can accept the odd changes to the plot of certain films. So when i saw that a new sequel called Sniper: Rouge Mission was released this summer on VOD, DVD and Blu Ray, i decided to give the film a chance and check it out. Is this one of the better Sniper sequels so far, or should they end this franchise completely after this film?

When a crooked federal agent is involved in a human sex trafficking ring, Sniper and CIA rookie Brandon Beckett ( Chad Michael Collins ), teaming up with his former allies Homeland Security Agent Zero ( Ryan Robbins ) and assassin Lady Death ( Sayaka Akimoto ) to uncover the corrupt agent and take down the criminal organization.

You can tell that they have run out of ideas for the Sniper franchise with this 9th film. It feels like a sequel that is trying to sell off the classic original film from 1993, just by using the title of Sniper but does not feel connected to the original film at all. This feels more like a straight to DVD film that lacks of good characters and no effective action scenes. It is almost as if they decided just to make this film as simple as possible, hoping it would do well on the VOD market. And who knows, it might make fans of the franchise curious enough to pay to watch it. But i have to be honest and say, it´s not worth it. There are several issues with Sniper: Rogue Mission, so let´s go through some of the things that i feel need to be said. First of all the plot of this film. It is so boring and remember, this is supposed to be an action film. If you can´t make a good plot and make it work between the action scenes, perhaps you need to make some big changes. The characters are not very interesting at all, not even lead actor Chad Michael Collins. He was actually better in some of the previous sequels, but here it feels like he is not very interested in being in this film. It feels like he just wanders around waiting for his paycheck, and that is clearly not a good sign. The only acting performance that give any impression at all is from actress Sayaka Akimoto, playing the character Lady Death. At least her fighting skills give us some entertainment. How are the action scenes? We do get some shooting scenes, but none of them feel either powerful or fun to watch. I have to mention the strange music tunes playing through this film, and it sounds exactly like we are in a 90´s Martin Short comedy, and the music don´t really fit in. There are plenty of straight to DVD action films i can easily mention that works better than Sniper: Rouge Mission. So you would wonder why they make another sequel, unless they have a good plot for the film? Most likely just to cash in on the name of Sniper, i can´t really see any other reason. Director Oliver Thompson have only directed one film before, a drama comedy called Welcome To Happiness. I have not seen that film, but i can tell you that Oliver probably should have said no to making this Sniper sequel. He does not make this a good action film, or even try to make it exciting. It is just a boring, lifeless sequel that does not even try to respect the original film. Watch the original Sniper film instead and let´s end this franchise from here. Sniper: Rouge Mission proves why you should not make too many sequels, it fails on every possible level as an action film, and i guarantee that no one will remember this sequel. Good thing i already have a short memory, and Sniper: Rouge Mission will definetely not help to improve it. 

Rating: D