Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

I remember going to see the original Sniper movie in the theaters back in 1993, but I'm not sure if I ever saw Sniper 2. When I was browsing the online queue on Netflix and came across Sniper 3, I couldn't resist. I was in the mood for an action movie and it clocked in right at 90 minutes. Unfortunately, it's not that great of a movie.

If you aren't familiar with this series, it's about a Marine sniper whose signature movie is to shoot rival snipers through their own scope. I remember him doing it in the first movie and it happens again in this one. Berenger plays a hardened veteran who doesn't quite conform to the new ways of combat and rules. He gets recruited for a crazy mission that involves him taking out a very important target who is a known drug trafficker.

What makes the story interesting is that the target is a former soldier who Berenger thought was killed back in Viet Nam. Early on in the movie, he even attends the wedding of his old friend's son. A couple of flashback sequences show how he always blames himself for the loss of his friend, yet he doesn't hesitate for too long when sent on a mission to kill the guy he'd thought was dead for the past few decades.

So the hero and the villain know each other and used to be friends. That's classic comic book stuff there, but it works to some degree. What follows is a couple of shootings, some awkward ‘hey there old buddy' type conversations, and the inevitable conclusion. It's a low budget movie so the action is pretty tame and it just doesn't have that many cool parts. I was interested enough in the main characters and the situation to keep watching, but I struggled to stay awake through the last half. Compared to the first movie, this one is pretty bad.

Tom Berenger is a great actor, but he has made way too many direct-to-video releases and it's a shame that someone of his caliber is doing bad sequels to his own movies. He still pops up in big movies, but only in small supporting roles. I guess that's how Hollywood goes these days. The villain is played by John Doman, who is perhaps best known for his role on The Wire. The rest of the cast were mostly unfamiliar to me, though I did recognize a couple of faces.

This was directed by P.J. Pesce, who previously directed such classic sequels as From Dusk Till Dawn III and The Lost Boys 2: The Tribe. At least he's consistent, right? He also directed the recent direct-to-video Smokin' Aces 2, which I hear is absolutely nothing like the awesome original. This poor guy is getting skewered by fans of The Lost Boys for what he did with the sequel. I wonder how the Sniper groupies will react to this movie.

In the end, Sniper 3 was exactly what I expected. The original Sniper movie was basically a B-movie and the sequels were unnecessary.

Recommended: No

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older