The Sniper (2009)

A Major Disappointment

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Two policemen found a car stranded by the roadside and they received a message from their radio transmitter on a runaway car which is right in from of their eyes. Soon, they found the criminals hideout and caught in the middle of the shootout. One of the policemen OJ (Edison Chen), who manages to stay calm and double kill the criminals. Special Duties Unit (SDU) who was present is Hartman Fong (Richie Ren) sees his potential and recruited him.At the academy, OJ spoke to Shane (Bowie Lam) about the best sniper and he sees Lincoln's name in the academy board but he is nowhere to be found. Shane explains that Lincoln has been expelled from the academy due to an incident.A couple of days later, Lincoln Ching (Huang Xiaoming) has been released from prison after four years and is greeted by fellow officer and friend, Shane, who treats him to some dinner and sending him home. When Lincoln returns to his apartment, he stares at the aquarium and his wife, Crystal (Mango Wong) appears and they are reunited again.In a flashback, Hartman succeeds Shane as the new leader of Hong Kong's Special Duties Unit Sniper Team. The best sniper was Hartman's former teammate Lincoln, whose unorthodox methods and confidence makes him arrogant and disdainful of authority. Hartman and Lincoln are two alpha males with a long-running rivalry, with only room at the top for one sharpshooter.One night, an incident at a bank robbery goes wrong when crime boss Tao (Jack Kao) was holding the son of bank chairman as hostage, Lincoln saw an opportunity for headshot because he wants to rescue everyone when he witness Tao has pulled out the grenade pin in his hand. Lincoln was testified but no one else on the Sniper Team support his story, indeed there is a feeling that Hartman (who was the only other person who could have been in a position to see Tao with the grenade).Within days Lincoln has purchased an illegal sniper rifle. Lincoln helps crime boss Tao escape prisoner transfer convoy. An off-duty Hartman witnessed the incident, killing several of Tao's men but unable to prevent them from breaking their boss free. OJ, the hot-headed rookie on the team, surprises everyone by accurately replicating the suspect's impossible shots. He manages to do this because of advice from Lincoln when they were at a bar.As Hartman investigates the suspect, he inadvertently runs into crime boss Tao and his henchmen in the elevator of an apartment building. Hartman manages to kill one of the criminals but while chasing after Tao, he is covered by Lincoln. Hartman pursues Lincoln to the roof and Lincoln loses his grip on a rope and falls down. Tao escapes but his right-hand man is cornered by police, so he flees into a restaurant and takes hostages.Hartman coordinates his sniper team but only OJ has a good shot. Although Hartman's order is "shoot to kill", OJ instead wounds the criminal in the arm holding the gun. Although the hostage situation has been resolved without loss of innocent life, Hartman and OJ have a heated argument over his given order.Lincoln survived the fall with no major injuries and continues his plan of revenge and kidnaps Shane, who is Lincoln's last friend and supporter from the SDU. While Lincoln and Crystal make conversation, Shane regains consciousness and reminds him that Crystal is dead and it is revealed that Lincoln has been hallucinating all this time. In a fit of rage, Lincoln takes his rifle and fires at the ghosts of Hartman and the bank chairman's son, before realizing that he has unintentionally killed Shane.A flashback shows Crystal visiting Lincoln in prison, but he tells he to go away. Crystal then returns home and drops the wedding ring into the aquarium. Standing out on the balcony of her apartment looking at a photo of them in happier times, a wind blows away the photo, and as she lunges for it she tumbles over the railing and falls to her death.In the end, Lincoln decides to lure Hartman and the SDU sniper team into a trap at a auto scrap warehouse, leading to the ultimate showdown amongst three expert snipers. First, Lincoln forces the crime boss Tao reenact the bank robbery hostage taking, and unlike four years ago, this time Lincoln successfully kills Tao and saves the hostage. In the final gun battle, most of Hartman's team is wounded or killed, and Hartman volunteers to sacrifice himself and draw Lincoln's attention, allowing OJ to kill Lincoln and become the best sniper in the SDU.--The Sniper revolves around with a rookie cop turn professional sniper in the Special Duties Unite (SDU) and recently released from prison, an ex- sniper seeks revenge against his former squad because no one support his testimonial when he fires the shot at crime boss Tao, when he really saw him releasing the grenade pin.Nothing much about it. It's just exciting to see their breathing precision in while sniping with accuracy.

Solid Hong Kong Action Cop & Robber Friends 'Sniper' provides the solid Hong Kong action you want. Stylish action, and the formulaic cop vs robber who are also best friends and torn by loyalties.First off I don't speak a word of Cantonese and saw 'Sniper' without the benefit of subtitles, yet was still able to understand the plot.As with most HK films, there is far more action than in real HK. Heavily armed gangs around every corner committing elaborate robberies that would put Dillinger to shame. Hence the HKPD needs a large expert sniper force armed (with airsoft guns) to the teeth to coordinate with their SWAT teams which also just happen to be right in the middle of the action.Our tragic hero cop is Fang. A badass sniper.Our sympathetic robber is Jing a former police sniper disgraced after a hostage rescue went wrong. Jing wants revenge on the police and the gangster would caused the whole hostage situation in the first place. Since no one here seems to agree on the gangster's name, I'll call him Ge.Upon his release from prison Jing puts his elaborate and unique plans for revenge into action. Jing shadows Ge's gang and learns of their plan to rescue him during a prison transport.As Ge's gang stages their elaborate armored car holdup rescue they face off against the ruthless Fang who kills 4 of them dead with one shot.But Ge's gang receives unexpected tactical support when sniper fire erupts from Jing on a sky scrapper and the rescue succeeds. Jing has now earned his way inside Ge's gang for revenge.From the incredible accuracy of the sniper shots, Fang realizes that Jing is back and he's play for the wrong side.Never a dull moment. As I said you can follow the movie just fine without subtitles or dubbing. It's a great film that can break the language barrier.

Good HK action film about HK police snipers. The story is about a new recruit into HK police sniper team. He has a mentor that teaches him the ropes of the trade. In the mean time, an ex-sniper from his squad has gone rogue and killing his members. The new recruit must take on the challenge, and hunt down his ex colleague.This is a quality movie that is entertaining. The mood, the suspense, all adds to the story. Location scenes are also great in this movie. It's adds fresh perspective to Hong Kong movies. It's also one of Edison Chen's best performances. The movie has cool looks, good action, and good acting. It's also one of a kind movie that's about snipers in Hong King, and was a good movie to watch.7.5/10

If not for the picture scandal, this film would have been released about a year ago, and would likely have solidified Edison Chen's position as box office draw given his stellar performance in crime-action flicks like Dog Eat Dog and Blood Brothers, and pop idol fare such as Initial D. But we know what had happened over the span of a year, though I suppose the decision to hold this film back would have helped it in increasing the curiosity surrounding this, given his last / first performance since the scandal. After all, the producers have to make the best out of the situation.His character in Sniper is a typical Edison Chen persona – young, brash and impatient, toeing the line of the good and possessing that streak of arrogance. As OJ, he aspires to be the top shooter amongst the SDU Sniper Unit, and is mentored by the team leader Hartman (Richie Jen, who also starred as a sharpshooter in Johnnie To's Exiled) who discovered him during a mission, and is impressed by the upstart. Given the attributes of a sniper – confidence, decisiveness and ruthlessly accurate, egos are swelled and clashes are part of the game, where while it's a team effort, you can't deny those strong individual desire to excel above the rest.The unfinished business of the earlier generation comes back to haunt the team in the form of the disgraced, and once top shooter Lincoln (Huang Xiaoming), who in a rash, negligent act gets sentenced to imprisonment, and upon release swears revenge on his once buddies. For a moment there was a tussle for the apprentice ala Star Wars style, where the young one found his training under his mentor too stifling and never appreciative of his abilities, and on the other, darker side, becomes seduced by sexier techniques which seem to be the path toward instant results and glory.But alas the story unfortunately becomes quite fluffy, with the dramatic moments just excuses to string the action sequences together. The runtime under 90 minutes also provided a feeling that the film has been super summarized, given a lot of sub plots being introduced briefly, but never really reaching second base, especially with the relationships of the snipers and the opposite sex. You would wonder why they had even bothered to devote time to this aspect, just to know that the crazed nut Lincoln is terribly infatuated with his girlfriend, OJ's girlfriend is a one scene wonder, and Hartman's estranged wife lies comatose most of the time, waking only to shed tears and raise her voice. I guess in a sniper's life, the only "wife" they take care of, as in the prologue, is their rifles, to protect it with their life or professionally, they're screwed.Dante Lam's star has been shining rather brightly, and I have enjoyed his recent effort in Beast Stalker. Here, he crafted some wonderful sniper action scenes without resorting too much on the looking-through-the-scope syndrome, striking a balance in being instructional, yet adequately paced to be tension-filled. What I appreciated is his fusion of that psychological element a sniper brings to the table, of the ability of how one man well hidden, and well trained, can take out a platoon or company, because of that element of fear that is introduced. Too bad for the many cardboard supporting villains and victims though, and that strange need to CG some dark clouds and fake lightning to drape many scenes.Undoubtedly the show belongs to the ensemble cast in oozing machismo as they do battle, but you can't help but to feel that it is Edison who's pulling in the crowds in what could be his last hurrah. In a cruel twist of irony, his character here can't wait to talk to and provide snide remarks to the media, which is a far cry in the real situation he's in now. One can only wonder how things would have turned out if not for that moment of accidental folly.