Sniper: G.R.I.T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team

Have they really run out of ideas? From the opening scenes of an overweight cult leader with a star on his forehead that makes for the perfect bullseye, the cheap James Bond garage or batcave hidden in the back of a Chinese restaurant after the first first 10 minutes, it does not really improve.

It is like an awkward teenager trying to be funny and cool at the same time, It doesn't work. The comedy is forced and everybody can figure out what is going to happen next 5 minutes before it does, like we know the tracking device is not in the phones. The actor s do a fair job with what they have but the writing missed the whole Target.

Another year, another "Sniper" movie, or so it seems. This 2023 movie titled "Sniper: G. R. I. T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team" is actually the tenth movie in the franchise. Believe it or not.

The storyline in this 2023 movie was a bit weak in comparison to some of the other movies, and held up against the 1993 original "Sniper" movie, then this was a whole different league, and not for the better.

Writer and director Oliver Thompson put together a bland storyline. The narrative in the movie was moving forward at a somewhat slow pace. And that made sitting through "Sniper: G. R. I. T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team" somewhat of a mundane ordeal. And for a movie based on snipers, there was a surprisingly little part of the movie's storyline actually devoted to or focused on actual sniping action. Nay, "Sniper: G. R. I. T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team" was more of an action movie than a sniper movie.

There were even some futile attempts at introducing some comedy elements into the movie, which played out with little or no success, to be truthful.

Sure, if you haven't seen other "Sniper" movies, then I suppose this 2023 movie could be considered good.

The acting performances in "Sniper: G. R. I. T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team" were fair enough, and it definitely was a nice enough thing that Chad Michael Collins, Ryan Robbins and Dennis Haysbert returned to reprise their roles from previous movies.

Watchable for the action movie that it was, "Sniper: G. R. I. T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team" somewhat deviated and strayed too far from the original concept of the franchise for my liking.

My rating of writer and director Oliver Thompson's 2023 "Sniper: G. R. I. T. - Global Response & Intelligence Team" movie lands on a five out of ten stars.

This was a pleasant surprise, all things considered.

Because the last Sniper movie - Rogue Mission - was so bad that even me, a huge, unapologetic fan of every other entry in the long-running franchise (this is the tenth installment, which is hard to believe), was thinking that, if this was the best they could manage, it should be the last. End it, and leave us with good memories of fun B-grade (in a good way) action films about guys named Beckett!

Thankfully, it wasn't the last one, because Sniper: G. R. I. T. is a welcome return to form. And aren't I happy about it?

If you enjoyed any of the previous Chad Michael Collins films, aside from Rogue Mission, of course, then you'll probably agree.

I realised very early on that everything is better here: the acting, the action, the script, which went in a different direction to what I expected after the first few minutes.

The cast look energised - especially Dennis Haysbert, who is probably seen more in this movie than any other Sniper film he has appeared in - as if looking to provide a mea culpa for their collectively shocking last effort. And, they do.

Is it believable? No. Is it violent escapism action fun? Yes. If this is the standard going forward, I hope there are plenty more Sniper movies to come.

Not a usually a brainless cheap action fan, but some of these throughout the series offer some entertainment, especially when tired and not really in the mood to blow energy watching something riveting. I just sort of had this one on in the background while cooking and ended up having to pause it several times when I couldn't watch some of the fun action. It's not particularly smart, and comes off a little beefcake, but it is one of the better offerings in the franchise, in my opinion. It's shot pretty clean, with good production value and has some nuance that had me chuckling a bit, more than once- (Intel Pete is always worth a smirk). Decent formula for mindless gory-but-humorous shoot 'em up entertainment. Even a little bit of story for Lady Death. Ultimately, if you have liked some of these in the past, this is now one of the better ones in my opinion.

As part of the Sniper franchise this movie is likely the worst of them all. It is more of a parody than a Sniper movie. If this wasn't part of the franchise I might have rated this higher. It is silly, light hearted and whimsical. It's more of a comedy than an action movie. So it's been a downhill trend of the franchise from intense drama/action to silly comedy. The script is mediocre and the acting is passable. The character interaction is well done. It generates most of the humor. Lady Death is recast so that specific character dynamic is different. It's a watchable movie that has entertainment value but a total pendulum swing from the origins of the franchise.