Best movie of this year hands down!

Absolutely Fantastic

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

I didn't expect anything from this film, a lot of people never even heard of the original Sniper. I remember watching the original as a kid and wanting to become a Marine Sniper.. Thomas Beckett was my hero. When I saw there was a 2nd I said uh-oh... but wow, it was actually really damned good.Yes people will continuously argue that the plot doesn't make "sense" and that deserved to go straight to video, blah blah. But I loved it, I knew very little of Bokeem Woodbine. Berenger was classic Berenger, great little 1 liners, played his character perfectly... but Bokeem was hands down the star of this one. He has become one of my favorite actors thanks to this movie... if you haven't watched Fargo (TV Show Season 2) you will fall in love with Woodbine's character.Back to Sniper 2, it may not be as "good" or "original" as the 1st movie, but I would certainly say that Bokeem outdid Billy Zane in this one. Just think of Sniper (original) but in a shattered, beaten down Eastern Europe, and urban warfare... I think this movie came out before all of these Call of Duty Black Ops and Modern Warfare games which everyone seems to love... I can't imagine those gamers not enjoying this flick.This movie reminded me a lot of the CoD Modern Warfare games, it doesn't take place in a jungle or desert, yes the production value wasn't all there... but quite possibly one of the best war/battle scenes of all time... debatable, but check it out and tell me I'm wrong.I would have honestly nominated Bokeem for some type of award, he was just that amazing in Sniper 2, a death-row inmate with nothing to lose, what's not to love.... as for every other Sniper movie I have watched (or tried to), they all just don't compare, not anywhere near this one. Sniper 1 and Sniper 2 are different movies, very similar, both quite amazing if you enjoy war, killing, etc.Every other Sniper movie made, and I have not scene the 3rd... but I have tried to watch Sniper Reloaded, Sniper Legacy, and one other... and they don't even compare. As much as I love Berenger and Billy Zane (who are in the others, not necessarily together).... none of them could add up to the original or 2nd.Everyone has their opinion, mine was obviously pretty long, I know there are a lot of people out there who disliked this movie, for whatever reasons.. everyone is entitled to an opinion, as a 32 year old who saw Sniper 1 when I was roughly 10-11 years old.... Sniper 2 was a pleasant sequel/follow-up... and I saw Sniper 2 quite a few years ago for the first time, and still enjoy watching it if nothing is on... especially the second half!

The first Sniper film starring Tom Berenger and Billy Zane was one heck of movie. And I wasn't surprised when I discovered that Sniper had its own set of sequels. Thankfully, for this franchise, just because they are Direct-to-Video sequels doesn't mean the writers left out what happened from the first film. Sniper 2 does retain some good qualities but it lacks a lot of what made Sniper (1993) the best.Tom Berenger is back as the intelligent and deadly marksmen, Thomas Beckett. After having a frustrating retired life, he's persuaded to take on another mission by the U.S. government. This time, it's to take out a leader named Valstoria in Europe. It's great to see Berenger playing Beckett again because who else could? Berenger has a way of making his character cool and smart at the same time. Accompanying Beckett is Cole played by Bokeem Woodbine. Woodbine's character is arrogant and by listening to him talk rudely to Beckett just didn't seem like a good match. Zane's character, Richard Miller. was arrogant too but in a different manner; he had no experience being a sniper.Something that really throws this film off track is the location. The first Sniper film took place in Panama. Dense heavy jungle, where every bit of the soldier had to be covered in camouflage. The location here is the middle of a city. There's no room for this now. Making things even more off beat is how this sequel turned itself into an actioneer film. There's absolutely no hint of thriller genre in the running time. As Beckett said originally from the first film:"We'll wait days, for one shot one kill."There's no extended waiting time here. It's "On your mark, get set, go". Several cars blow up, multiple gunfights, and lots of explosions. Sure it's a different angle but there's nothing to be thrilled about anymore. The explosions do the job. All the audience has to do now is leave their brains at the door. Why make such a successful first film and then turn it into a brain-dead action franchise? Thriller films engage their audiences, but not like this. I did enjoy it to a certain extent but I wasn't enthralled by it.Then there's the whole issue of Beckett not understanding what the Europeans are speaking. How come he doesn't know? Beckett's the smart one! Why does he have to play Zane's role in this film and be the one who's always behind the eight ball? It's almost like he took a back seat for this film. One thing that made me a bit happy was knowing that Gary Chang was back again to make the score to this sequel. It wasn't totally the same as before but it at least tried to recall the elements of the first movie to show its resemblance.Sniper 2 is not the best sequel even with Tom Berenger and Gary Chang reprising their roles. The story is at least faithful to the first film but nothing else is truly memorable about it.

OK, let's get started here. The plot itself is decent. Kill a renegade general responsible for ethnic cleansing and then escape. But that is only the beginning. What is screwed up is that Beckett, who is the main character, is called back from retirement into service, even though he lost his index finger he uses for shooting (and has to use his middle finger for shooting). And Beckett is teamed up with a guy named Cole, who was in jail for killing an officer he suspects betrayed them (he rants about it in the movie in the middle of a battle). The only real good part of the movie is when the Serbian general (who really is Hungarian) is assassinated. The makers of the movie must be on weed. They think that no one will notice that the Serbs are all speaking Hungarian (which has no connection at all to Serbian language even though both nations share the same borders together). Of course, they thought wrong. And since when was a Mosin-Nagant, which Beckett uses, a Mauser? Beckett claims that it's a Mauser. And I thought military personnel were to know their guns. The mission itself supposedly takes place after Milosevic was overthrown in 2000, yet the Serbs claim in the movie they are victims of so-called UN-backed atrocities, but Serbia rejoined the UN after Milosevic was ousted. The acting is poor in many cases as well. For example, Beckett throws his arm up in the air just to look at his watch and when he gives Cole a 'serious' lecture, Cole is about to laugh but holds it in. Had the makers actually PUT serious effort into making this movie I would enjoy it. But unfortunately this is not the case.Overall a 4/10

Unbearable.I couldn't believe how hard it was to watch everyone in that movie making a fool of themselves.Like they're trying to achieve their military objectives,yet they're so delusional they don't even know what country they're in.Hungarians and Serbs maybe neighbours,but they are worlds apart. It's like making a film about WW2 Germany in Paris,France and in french.I just shows how little America knows about Europe,its peoples and languages...and if they know so little,why on earth do they even bother?