Yes, there is a high body count and a lot of stuff gets blown up but Shooter starring Mark Wahlberg was "not entirely mindless". Antoine Fuqua called the shots on this action thriller, which sees Wahlberg as a world-weary ex-Marine sniper who gets drawn into a plot to assassinate the US president. Maybe it was the hackneyed premise that meant it fell slightly below target at the box office.

Taking Aim

Stephen Hunter, who wrote the novel on which the film is based, talks about the inspiration for the story in Survival Of The Fittest. He calls his leading character Bob Lee Swagger "a Faustian intellectual of war," which might be slightly overstating it. Nonetheless, Wahlberg seems impressed with this interpretation and talks about wanting to do more roles where "It's really about the character." Fuqua admits that, initially, he was unsure whether to accept the job offer, but co-star Micheal Peña was apparently thrilled at the chance to shoot people. "It's really hard not to get into it," he says, later adding, "The explosions were really neat." Somehow we don't think he quite understood Hunter's intentions...

In another featurette, behind-the-scenes cameras visit Independence Hall in Philadelphia for the filming of the assassination attempt. Strangely though, the focus is less on the backstage preparations and more on the historical significance of this location. Tour guides line up to tell us about the symbolism of the Liberty Bell and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and a lot of other stuff that jars with the business of Wahlberg blowing people's heads off.

Surplus Ammo

Wahlberg does a bit more brooding in seven deleted scenes. Peña tries to do outdo him in this area though, as he mourns the fact that he's just ended a person's life. "First time you ever killed a man?" Wahlberg asks pensively (putting the supporting actor back in his place with his best impression of Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven). As if that weren't annoying enough for Peña, he gets to look even more ineffectual in a sequence that follows Nick on his first day at the FBI.

Fuqua assures us that former pants model Wahlberg is "very serious about his craft" in a commentary for the film. On the other hand, the director admits that he too has a tendency to get a little 'heavy', and was often the butt of Wahlberg and Peña's jokes on the set. We find it easy to believe as he spends much of this track talking about the "gravity" of the action - ie, "It all comes down to the barrel of a gun when you're dealing with oil and politics." When it comes to political treatise, we don't think Ken Loach has anything to worry about, but at least this DVD aims a little higher than the usual Michael Bay bomb-fest.

EXTRA FEATURES

Shooter DVD is released on Monday 13th August 2007.