Baby Beckett
Sgt. Brandon Beckett (Chad Michael Collins) didn't know his father that well and whilst he became a marine he was more interested in face to face combat than killing from a distance. But whilst on a UN peace keeping mission he and a team are sent into rebel territory to try to locate and extract an European farmer but end up coming under fire from a top sniper. Having been the only one who survived, thanks to a man called Martin Chandler (Patrick Lyster), Beckett gives himself the mission of returning to find the sniper and kill him with the help of Martin, Lieutenant Ellen Abramowitz (Annabel Wright) and his father's protege, Richard Miller (Billy Zane).
I love it when a movie ends up pleasantly surprising me by not being the stinking pile of excrement I expected it to be and to be honest I really expected "Sniper: Reloaded" to be a really big pile of steaming excrement. Now don't mistake what I have just said as me telling you that "Sniper: Reloaded" is a great movie as it isn't, this is one of those movies which tosses in a sex scene just because that is the norm in a direct to video action movie. But this is a movie which reminds of the make believe adventures I would have played in the back garden as a child; running around like I was Beckett and doing the heroic thing of taking on my imaginary sniper hiding in the tree at the bottom of the garden.
As such what you get in "Sniper: Reloaded" is simply a nice little action movie were we watch Brandon Beckett not only heroically return to base with a bullet in his shoulder we also see him cleverly work out who the sniper is and then outsmarting him after luring him out. Don't worry there is more to the storyline than that but this isn't a complicated movie and is more a case of an easy to read thriller being a decent vehicle for the action which isn't spectacular but good enough.
But the thing about "Sniper: Reloaded" which makes the movie work is the casting of Chad Michael Collins as Brandon Beckett for the simple reason there is something about his looks which is similar to Tom Berenger who played Beckett's father in the original "Sniper" movies. In fairness he also plays his part well and certainly stands out for the right reason as some of those around him sadly come across as forced although maybe that is down to some dodgy sounding accents.
What this all boils down to is that "Sniper: Reloaded" ended up more entertaining than I was expecting with an okay thriller and some okay action. But it is nothing special and in truth is little more than a time filler for those looking for some thing to watch whilst channel surfing.
