Marksman, The

Synopsis

Wesley Snipes (Major League) and straight to video really provide for several comedic moments. I don’t really know that much about Snipes, aside from some anonymous reports about just how nice he was on the set of the third Blade movie, along with the “cataract problem” he has. Nevertheless, his role in this film of the strong, silent type who is some Army special forces member provides him the chance to say a small amount of dialogue for what is presumably a lot of cash.

Th… only catch to Snipes’ big payday is that he had to take his entourage and his stash, and go to Romania to shoot this film. Which is amazing, because there is so much stock footage in this film, why was this ever a location shoot? But upon further review, when you see that the film has an appearance from and is produced by Andrew Stevens (Night Eyes), I guess the urge to shoot from the breathtaking Romanian landscape is a forgivable sin.

Aside from the distracting and abundant stock shots of ships, planes, or other locations, there were several things that struck me while watching this film. A computer generated screen brings up an image ANALISYS (yes, that’s how it’s spelled here), with a soldier saying “is there something I should be looking for?” And for a US Army operation, there are a lot of British accents wearing dress uniforms, never mind that Snipes’ team wears no rank on their fatigues. And when the team is going towards their target, the other black man in the team (and presumably the only other one in the production), constantly moves around the film without a hat. I’m guessing this is to differentiate him from Snipes, but I don’t want to know what the motivations were for doing that.

At the end of the day, the plot synopsis really isn’t worth going over for you guys. If you’ve seen one Wesley Snipes film, you’ve seen them all. And if you’ve seen them all, God help you, because you’re a stronger person than I could ever be.

Audio

Normally, a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is a good thing, but the film’s soundtrack is just too busy. Everything seems to have a sound effect behind it. It’s not full of action of anything, but camera angles have noises. Jump cuts have sound effects. Miniscule actions have noises. Too much sonic overload, and not even useful stuff at that.

Video

Allegedly mastered in high-definition, the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen look the film has is substandard at best. There’s quite a few artifacts in the print, which makes it look far older than it actually is, and is nowhere near the level of clarity one would assume from the points Sony touts.

Special Features

Previews for various B-movies, not including this one.

Closing Thoughts

Saying that this is a good popcorn film would be insulting to the food, or to the people that grow corn that would be popped. Watch a TV movie, that at least tries to be good.

Special Features List

• Trailers