Sniper: Ultimate Kill (2017)

Sniper: Ultimate Kill (2017)- * *1\2

Directed by: Cladio Fah

Starring: Chad Michael Collins, Tom Berenger, Joe Lando, Juan Calero, Felipe Calero, Danay Garcia, and Billy Zane

Our longtime friend Thomas Beckett (Berenger, of course) is now working for the DEA in Colombia. He’s down there because a drug lord named Jesus Morales (Juan Calero) is causing all sorts of havoc and mayhem by employing a sniper named El Diablo (Felipe Calero) to eliminate his enemies using the latest in high tech sniping technology. Beckett’s son Brandon (Collins), who is also an expert sniper (as you may remember if you’ve seen the latest spate of Sniper films) also travels to Colombia to try and take down Jesus Morales and El Diablo. Working with local agent Kate Estrada (Garcia) as well as John Samson (Lando), and, of course, Miller (Zane), will the power of everyone involved be enough to stop the sniper-on-sniper violence?

Here’s a question: why are there SEVEN Sniper movies to date? No, really. We demand answers. I want someone to explain to me why these stories need to be told over and over again. That, really is the main problem with this, the latest installment in the Sniper saga. It’s not a bad movie. It’s really not. It’s competently made, and delivers pretty much what you’d expect of a DTV Sniper movie from 2017. But that’s just it – I think it’s fair to say that this series has overstayed its welcome at this point, and even the movie at its best can’t overcome that. 

While it was nice to see both Berenger and Zane back together, they mostly stayed in an office capacity while young sniper Brandon got in on the action. Not to tempt any filmmakers out there who may be considering a Sniper 8, but we had an idea for what this movie should’ve been. The evil sniper puts Brandon in the hospital, so Berenger and Zane have to go back into the field even though they’re getting on in years, to put their combined skills together to get revenge and show they’re still the ultimate snipers. Well, the offer is on the table. Get in touch if you’re interested.

While Brandon is called “the best”, and he still calls his own father “Master Guns”, the problem is that Chad Michael Collins is still bland and faceless. You don’t know what he looks like even when you’re looking right at him. That aside, we do get some “bullet time” for a new generation, and there is a good amount of violence and nudity – probably because the filmmakers have to compete with big-budget Hollywood product like Shooter (2007) and Sicario (2015). Sometimes it tries to be overly slick, but not as bad as some other DTV outings we’ve seen.

We assume there has to be an audience for this, otherwise they wouldn’t keep making them. We applaud fan favorites Berenger and Zane for still even wanting to be involved. While, as we said, the movie itself isn’t bad, we can’t really recommend it unless you’re a die-hard Sniper fan. We suspect there’s only so much sniping a human being can reasonably stand.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Sniper: Legacy (2014)

Sniper: Legacy (2014)- * *1\2

Directed by: Don Michael Paul

Starring: Chad Michael Collins, Mercedes Mason, Dominic Mafham, Dennis Haysbert, and Tom Berenger









Brandon Beckett (Collins) returns, and this time he’s not in Africa, as he was in prior installment Sniper: Reloaded (2011), this time he’s fighting terrorists in the Middle East. Now that sniping is his life, he just wants to carry on killing the baddies, helped along by his spotter, Sanaa (Mason). However, just like the previous film’s “The Italian”, yet another rogue sniper is going around killing people, using his top-notch military training against the people who taught it to him. While a man known only as “The Colonel” (Haysbert) is trying to get answers, especially from military brass such as Bidwell (Mafham), the real surprise comes when Brandon is suddenly reunited with his estranged father, the legendary Thomas Beckett (Berenger). Will father and son snipers join forces to stop the rogue sniper? You’ll just have to look through the scope and find out…

Sniper: Legacy is an improvement upon the aforementioned Sniper: Reloaded. It makes a lot more sense that our heroic snipers are fighting the Taliban and other terrorists, and because of that, the audience is more engaged. The subject matter is a lot more relevant than any goings-on in Africa, especially considering that in 2014, the year this movie came out, the very high profile – not to mention excellent – film American Sniper was also released. Hence, the role of snipers in our military was more front-and-center in our nation’s consciousness than ever before. What with the millions of people worldwide who saw American Sniper, the timing must have seemed right not just to make another Sniper sequel, but to bring back the classic character of Thomas Beckett.

So while the movie gets points for relevance – and letting us know right from the first scene that this is an especially trenchant new iteration in the now-long-running series with a Homeland-esque scenario – Thomas Beckett himself doesn’t show up until 55 minutes into the movie, and even then it’s just a glorified cameo. This despite the top billing of Berenger. Other characters talk about Beckett and his legendary status more than he’s actually seen. Even his own son calls him “Master Guns” and not “dad”. Of course, this is probably purposeful to highlight the distance between father and son.

As for returning younger Beckett Chad Michael Collins (not to be confused with the director, Don Michael Paul, or co-star Mark Lewis Jones), he acquits himself well enough, but he’s still just as bland and faceless as he was before. He’s just an empty ghillie suit. His only character arc consists of him being initially resistant to being a sniper, and now he’s an expert and a master marksman. But even after having seen two movies that he’s starred in, it’s doubtful I could pick his face out of a lineup. This time he’s backed up by some quality co-stars, like Jones, Mafham, Berenger, and Haysbert – who at any moment you think is going to ask us if we’re in good hands with Allstate.

Seemingly every couple minutes we’re in a new location and an on-screen title card is telling us where we now are. This seemed a bit much and as audience members we were practically getting jet lag from all the location changes. Couldn’t they just stick with Bulgaria? Maybe they were embarrassed about that, so they tried to distract us with all the changes. Finally, we have to note that we were not happy with the herky-jerky fight scenes, and the CGI smoke, blood, bullets, etc. It would have been much cooler if they toned down – or got rid of entirely – the CGI. That truly would be honoring the Legacy they claim to respect. 

So while the movie does slow down considerably by the midway point, and Berenger is underused, we still say it is an improvement over the prior entry in the series. If you’re interested in seeing every single Sniper movie, perhaps see this one before seeing Reloaded, unless you want to get the weaker entry out of the way first.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

The Substitute (1996)

The Substitute (1996)- * *1\2

Directed by: Robert Mandel

Starring: Tom Berenger, Ernie Hudson, Glenn Plummer, Raymond Cruz, William Forsythe, Marc Anthony, Diane Venora, Richard Brooks, Cliff DeYoung, Willis Sparks, and Luis Guzman

“Don’t cry, sit down and have a shrimp roll” - Shale

Shale (Berenger) is a Vietnam vet and mercenary. He has a team of mercenary buddies that he does missions with – Rem (Guzman), Wellman (Brooks), the reliable Joey (Cruz), and the unhinged Hollan (Forsythe). After having gone through hell and back during numerous wars and dangerous escapades, nothing can prepare them for the most threatening and perilous mission yet – high school!

When Shale’s love interest Jane (Venora) is attacked in true Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding fashion, Shale does the only logical thing – he goes undercover as her substitute while she’s out convalescing. Unfortunately for Shale, the school is a chaotic jungle of drugs, gangs, bad language and tardiness. Principal Claude Rolle (Hudson) seems to be doing his best, but a gang called the Kings of Destruction rule the school. KOD (not to be confused with “Youth of the Nation” band POD) is led by Juan Lacas  (Anthony), so Shale, now teaming up with not just his merc buddies but also some teachers and a few of the better students, try to get to the bottom of all the criminality going on at that particular Miami high school. Will the baddies succeed, or will they graduate from SHALE University? Find out today…

The Substitute is a movie that was a popular enough rental on VHS that it spawned three sequels to date, and in our minds remains tied to the video store era. It almost feels like cheating for us to re-watch it on DVD (never mind Blu-Ray), but it’s hard to resist the inexpensive DVD collection that compiles all four Substitute movies for one low price. It has a junkier, grainier look than we remembered from those golden days when we chose it from among the many options at our local video store. It’s also significantly longer than we remembered – at almost two hours, it’s unnecessarily lengthy. But, then again, it did play in theaters, and “theater movies” always think they have to be longer than they need to be. Needless to say, this would never make it to the theater today.

If you take all the “bad school” movies that have been with us for such a long time – everything from Blackboard Jungle (1955), to The Principal (1987), Class of 1984 (1982), Class of 1999 (1990), Dangerous Minds (1995), Detention (2003), and, of course Class of 1999 II: The Substitute (1994), not forgetting the parody of such films, High School High (1996), and amalgamate them, and add some “Mercenary Humor”, you get The Substitute. One thing the aforementioned movies don’t have, of course, are Tom Berenger’s stunning purple shorts. Or Raymond Cruz’s man bun. He was quite ahead of the current man bun trend. We think that’s what The Substitute will really be remembered for.

Sure, there’s a lot of silly dialogue, a couple of brain-numbing action scenes, and your typical 35-year-old teenagers, and that’s all well and good, but sadly there’s some bathroom humor, mostly typified by the character of Wolfson (De Young). Just why an overlong movie felt it had the time to include bathroom-humor scenes remains a frustrating question. That aside, the library scene is a winner, even though you have to wait almost an hour to get there. The presence of Marc Anthony as Lacas makes you understand why J. Lo fell so madly in love with him. One thing you have to give The Substitute is that the cast is really strong, with plenty of names/faces we all know and love. Although, not to be mean, Berenger looks a little chunky to be a mercenary in fighting-fit shape. Maybe that’s why he didn’t return for the sequels and the great Treat Williams took his place. Or perhaps we should say substituted for him. Sorry about that, but I guess we have substitutions on the brain, as this movie teaches us that the practice of substituting solves all of life’s problems.

Finally, special mention should go out to one Willis Sparks as the character of John Janus. He was a competing mercenary who even had a truly awesome “mercenary demo reel”, which was unquestionably a movie highlight. (It ought to be; Janus informed us that it was created by a guy who normally does “rock videos”). Janus’s demo reel should have been this movie. Or it at least should have spun off into a movie of its own. It would have done in the 80’s, but by this point we were firmly entrenched in the 90’s, so, consequently there was no John Janus spinoff movie. Too bad.

At this point in our nation’s history, The Substitute has attained “Video Store Classic” status, so anyone who remembers it from that time will appreciate it still, but to be honest it’s not without some significant flaws. In other words, it’s no Substitute 3: Winner Takes All (1999), that much we can tell you.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Sniper 3 (2004)

Sniper 3 (2004)-* *1\2

Directed by: P.J. Pesce

Starring: Tom Berenger and Byron Mann










Beckett’s back! Yay? This time around, Beckett (Berenger, of course) is summoned to back to Vietnam to kill some terrorists. He teams up with a local cop to clean up Ho Chi Minh City, but as his mission is getting underway, he realizes a former ‘Nam buddy had stayed behind and now is his nemesis. Beckett will now have to grapple with demons from his past, his current alcoholism, and a sort of culture shock to dust off his old sniping skills. Can he do it?

Okay, okay, we get it. Thomas Beckett. He’s a sniper. He’s the best. Why on God’s green earth there needs to be THREE movies to tell us this cannot possibly be explained. There’s no possible way anyone demanded another Sniper movie after the lackluster Sniper 2 (2002). Now there’s even a fourth one, but Berenger had the good sense to steer clear. But Billy Zane returns, so it’s not a total loss. However,  the movie at hand today is not Sniper: Reloaded (2010), it’s part three of the Berenger trilogy.  But the problem is, there are only so many ways you can snipe. There are only so many times you can say “One shot, one kill” before it starts to lose all meaning.

We see what they were trying to do here. They were trying to bring it back to a more dark, serious and human level after a mediocre part 2, exactly what happened with the Universal Soldier series. Part two of that was lame, but Regeneration redeemed itself by dispensing with the stupidity and going for the jugular. While Sniper 3 appears to be following that formula, the results are not the same. While we appreciated Beckett calling the city “Saigon” and reminiscing about his past, and his struggles with alcohol, somehow it’s just getting harder and harder to care. Not that there aren’t some cool moments, such as the scene at the nightclub. But if there must be a Sniper 3, they should have gone in a grittier direction and stuck with it, not just give Beckett yet another temporary partner and call it a day. But because it’s a DTV film of the 2000’s, there’s plenty of techno on the soundtrack. Due to the presence of Vietnam vet Thomas Beckett, a new genre is formed: “Beckno”.

The four Sniper movies made to date have four different directors. Coincidence? Perhaps no director has come back because after they finish directing it, they feel they’ve taken a movie about sniping as far as they can and feel no need to return. Apparently that rule doesn’t apply to the viewing public. The people behind the Sniper series seem to think there’s an endless appetite for this out there. While Sniper 3 is not a bad movie by any means, it’s unnecessary on top of unnecessary. Even the presence of the great Tom Berenger can’t save it from feeling like a retread. It’s hard to get very enthusiastic about a third Sniper movie. To date, the best one remains the first one.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Sniper 2 (2002)

Sniper 2 (2002)-* *

Directed by: Craig R. Baxley

Starring: Tom Berenger and Bokeem Woodbine



“We’re the ones that unscrew the problems the diplomats make”.








Thomas Beckett (Berenger) is called back into action because not only was he “The Best”, but he’s still “The Best” all these years later. He thought he left his sniping days behind, now that he’s taking yahoos on hunting trips. But the government offers him anything he wants to go to Serbia and assassinate Valstoria, an official who has been behind some sort of ethnic cleansing. Sensing a trick, because if the government is offering him anything, they think he won’t return alive, Beckett simply asks for a restoration of his rank. So they team up Master Gunnery Sergeant Beckett with a prisoner, Cole (Woodbine), who has a chance to earn his freedom if he backs up Beckett on this mission. But as we know, Beckett has a history of losing partners. Can they execute their mission...and their target?

It’s easy to think this installment in the Sniper series was made sometime in the 90’s, right after the first movie. It seems very 90’s. But surprisingly, it was released in 2002. Seeing as the first Sniper was released in 1993, why the filmmakers thought that fans were clamoring for a new Sniper vehicle nine years after the fact remains a mystery. And thus, Sniper 2 does have a “this never needed to be made” kind of feeling throughout. They probably thought it would be worthwhile to have Beckett talk about such things as al-Qaida and Guantanamo Bay, and say things like “Freedom isn’t free”, thus dating the proceedings to the Bush administration. By comparison, the first Sniper movie has more of a timeless feel, not dating to any one era.

It seems like a Nu-Image movie, and it was shot in Hungary instead of Bulgaria. Not helping matters is the awful CGI, which was worse - if such a thing is possible - in 2002 than it is today. So points have to be detracted for that. Come on, that’s a betrayal of everything Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett stands for! He shouldn’t have to tolerate CGI stupidity. It should be only the real deal for him. He has enough problems as it is (there’s some good continuity from the first movie regarding his injuries from torture he suffered). Woodbine, as the backup this time around, makes a worthy foil for Beckett, and he has a very distinctive voice. He should really do voice-overs and cartoons and such. His voice carries his performance here.

Director Baxley, who we’re normally a fan of, because of Action Jackson (1988), I Come In Peace (1990) and Stone Cold (1991), seems to be taking kind of a paycheck assignment here. He’s a competent director, and that shows, but he should have brought the same verve he brought to the aforementioned three movies to this one. He should have made Beckett be able to stand alongside Jackson , Jack Caine, and John Stone as some of his more memorable men of action. Berenger does do his normal high-quality job, but something seems to be missing.

As it stands, Sniper 2 is okay. For a movie that doesn’t need to exist, it’s decent. It’s not offensively bad, it’s just a bit dull and unnecessary. It’s good that it isn’t jokey, and we appreciate that, but there’s no need to run out and see this.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Sniper (1993)

Sniper (1993)-* * *

Directed by: Luis Llosa

Starring: Tom Berenger, Billy Zane, and J.T. Walsh












Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett is “The Best”. The best at being a sniper, that is. He’s a hardcore, dedicated Marine who gives his all to his craft. He’s truly turned sniping into an art. Beckett is stationed in the jungles of Panama, and his mission is to eliminate a rebel leader, as well as his drug lord financier. Beckett is infamous because his “spotters” all end up getting shot, but his latest one is one Richard Miller (Zane), a government flack who was an Olympic marksman. Miller is green and Beckett has to show him the ropes. But after spending some time in the jungle, Miller gets cocky and he challenges Beckett often.  Not only do they still have to execute their mission, but there is also an evil sniper trying to out-snipe them, and he may or may not be a traitorous American. Will Beckett and Miller live to snipe another day?

While, plotwise, Sniper may be a fairly standard “El Presidente” movie, it can also probably stand as the ultimate sniper movie. That may seem obvious, but this movie goes into many of the ins and outs of the sniper’s creed. It can best be boiled down to one line: “One shot. One kill. No exceptions.” The pace of the movie follows suit, as Beckett explains there is a lot of waiting and setup before he can take his shot. The movie mirrors that. But there’s plenty of jungle-based machine gun shooting as well. Sniper was a Hollywood movie that was released to theaters, so it has high production values and a somewhat classy feel.

Director Llosa also directed Hour of the Assassin (1987), which is pretty similar to this. But while that one starred Erik Estrada, now we have Berenger and Zane. Berenger is completely believable as Beckett. He’s really a great actor, you never once doubt that Beckett is authentic. He carries not only this movie, but the next two sequels as well. Why exactly there are a total of FOUR Sniper movies to date is unknown, but like Steve Guttenberg after the first three Police Academy movies, he realized it was time to bail. Billy Zane is Miller, the guy who has no confirmed kills but is still trying to assert his authority and so is in something of a moral quandary. He does a good job at that as well. J.T. Walsh was in one scene. We would have liked to have seen more Walsh.

And while Sniper could have been a lot dumber, it’s really not that dumb. Thankfully, there are no stupid jokes and corny humor either. We really appreciated that. This easily could have devolved into a Mercenary 2 (1999)-type slog. On the technical front, there are the high tech bullet and reticule effects which were perfect for their time and predate The Matrix (1999). They seemed designed specifically for teenagers of the 90’s to go “Woah.” in true Joey Lawrence fashion. Speaking of the 90’s, Beckett speaks about “feeling the rush”, which is a very 90’s thing to say. Clearly, killing someone from a long distance makes you thirsty for Mountain Dew. Note that Beckett does not talk about “feeling the rush” in the sequels, which were filmed in the 2000’s.

Of the three Sniper movies we’ve seen, this first one is the best one. If jungle action floats your boat, you could sure do a lot worse than this initial Sniper offering.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Cutaway (2000)

Cutaway (2000) -* * *

Directed By: Guy Manos

Starring: Tom Berenger, Dennis Rodman, Ron Silver, Casper Van Dien and Stephen Baldwin









Cutaway is one of the goofiest films ever. Baldwin plays an FBI agent named Vic who goes undercover and meets "Red Line" (Berenger) who is a skydiver. 'Line uses his skydiving skills with the help of "Turbo" (Rodman) to smuggle drugs.



For a DTV film, this has a pretty big B-list cast. It also includes over-the-top performances by Ron Silver and Casper Van Dien. Silver shouts all of his lines, for example: "I'M YOUR PARTNER! THEY WERE SHOOTING AT ME!"

Van Dien is just kinda there. Baldwin is very wooden as usual. He has one expression on his face: boredom. Berenger does a good job, but Rodman tries too hard.

What's good about this film are the skydiving stunts. They look great. The rumor is that the cast did all of their own stunts. The best thing in the movie is a line by Vic's character when he gets "In Too Deep" - (whispering): "I'm Cutting Away". I guess that means you're getting away from life's problems. There's no need to get serious. Speaking of serious, the ending is a perfect example of melodrama.

But overall, "Cutaway" is a fun movie if you're a fan of Stephen Baldwin, or Tom Berenger.


Comeuppance Review by: Ty

Eye See You (2002)

Eye See You (1999) -* * *

Directed By: Jim Gillespie

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Tom Berenger, Charles S. Dutton, Polly Walker, Kris Kristofferson, Jeffrey Wright, Stephen Lang, Robert Patrick, Dina Meyer, Sean Patrick Flanery, Robert Prosky, and Courtney B. Vance







First off: "Eye See You" is a terrible name for a film. An investigation proved that wasn't the real title. It's "D-Tox". Another one for it was "The Outpost". With a title like "Eye See You", no wonder this was on the shelf for almost 4 years. It was supposed to be released in 1999 by Universal, but they dumped it from their schedule and their company all together. They sold it to DEJ Productions and they put it out on video.



Poor Sly. He puts in one of his better performances here.  He plays FBI Agent Jake Malloy. When a serial killer claims his girlfriend, Malloy goes into a drunken stupor. He is sent to a D-Tox program for other alcoholic cops in a remote part of the snowy wilderness. Unfortunately, the killer has followed him there and he's picking off the cops one by one. Can Malloy save the day?



The movie is well-acted, but the writing could've used some work. For example, if you look at the above picture, you can probably hear Sly's voice uttering the words, "Yo, I'm Cold.". The huge supporting cast get their time in the sun, but the best part is the silly ending.

If you like Stallone or the serial killing genre, it's worth watching.


Comeuppance Review by: Ty