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Bob Lee "The Nailer" Swagger?

This makes me nervous.

I love the Swagger books by Stephen Hunter. Hell, I like all of his books that I've read. The man can right scenes of violence that make you gasp, yet they never feel gratuitous.

Shooter, the movie, is back on the book Point of Impact. As is endlessly discussed and explained, lots of things have to change during that transition of book-to-movie. So I know going in that I'm not going to see the Bob Lee on the screen the Bob Lee I read about. For one, in the book he's much older, a burnt out, semi-disabled Vietnam vet. In the movie he's played by Mark Wahlberg, and he's anything but old, burnt out, or disabled.

Does he have to be? Well, for the book he had to be, because that's why the bad guys recuited him. He's a master sniper, second to none. His war wound and the way he was treated by the government upon his return have made him fairly bitter. It, presumably, also makes him easier to manage. Naturally, in the book the bad guys get it all wrong, otherwise there wouldn't be sufficent plot; Swagger would just end up dead.

The film, according to its website, takes a different tack. He retired from the military after a botched mission, details not given. Otherwise, who knows why the bad guys want to recruit him for their double-cross. There's all sorts of idiot villain lines in the film's trailer, which are just too cliche for words.

On the plus side, though, is the director, Antoine Fuqua. I wasn't terribly impress with Training Day, his major claim to fame, but at least enjoyed King Authur, and really liked Tears of the Sun (in many ways a modern rendition of Dark of the Sun (aka The Mercenaries), which I'm dying to see on DVD). If nothing else, he's respectful of men in the military, so that gives me reason to hope he does Swagger and the Marines proud.

I'd feel better if Danny Glover wasn't in it, or if Ned Beatty didn't mutter that inane line in the trailer, but I guess I can't have eveyrthing.

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