45
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertSniper expresses a cool competence that is a pleasure to watch. It isn't a particularly original film, but what it does, it does well. We've seen so many bad movies about guys walking through the jungle with rifles that it's interesting the way this one grabs us through its command of the locations and its storytelling skill.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterAside from a neat, if somewhat overused, optical effect that follows speeding bullets all along their whizzing aerial tracks, there is nothing here that hasn't been done before, but it's all executed with competence, starting with the performances by Tom Berenger and Billy Zane. [25 Jan 1993]
- 50Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenBest of all, is this knock-out, though overused, optical effect of a bullet hurtling and whizzing through space toward its target. Sniper is sure to appeal to armchair assassins and fantasy war-gamers. Beyond that audience, Peruvian director Llosa's American debut will appeal to anyone interested in well-made and well-acted pictures that compensate with skill for what they may lack in inspiration.
- 50Time OutTime OutA virtual two- hander, the narrative proceeds by contrasting Berenger's edgy pragmatism with Zane's unwilling induction to the art of murder, though the director's inventive bullets' eye-view shots still fail to dispel the suspicion that the film has little new to say.
- 50ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliAction fans probably won't be offended, provided they're not expecting Berenger to be America's answer to James Bond. There are occasions when Sniper shows flashes of promise, although most of these are short-lived. The film is capable of providing a one-hundred minute diversion for anyone who has nothing better to do. The potential is here for something much better, but, unfortunately, Sniper shoots itself in the foot.
- 40Washington PostRichard HarringtonWashington PostRichard HarringtonOnly mildly exciting as it grinds toward its conclusion, Sniper falls apart in the last reel as writers Michael Frost Beckner and Crash Leyland dispense with credibility by turning the rebel and drug lord's forces into the Keystone Kartel, invoking a Magic Bullet and attempting an Oliver Stone denouement. Unfortunately, director Luis Llosa is no Oliver Stone.
- 30Los Angeles TimesMichael WilmingtonLos Angeles TimesMichael WilmingtonA movie for people with time to waste, Sniper is about as compelling as a Soldier of Fortune magazine cover set to music.
- 30The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyAs written, directed and played, Miller is as much of a nonentity as Beckett. Their initial enmity and subsequent reconciliation have no more dramatic impact than the battle scenes, which look as if they were planned by amateurs. The two central characters remain as vague as their targets, who are briefly seen at a distance through gun sights.
- It's for those of us for whom killing people with high-powered guns in the movies is not only as good as sex but maybe better -- a sacrament for our age... [A] poorly written, badly directed film.