Sniper: Rogue Mission Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Sniper: Rogue Mission Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 16, 2022

The sniper's creed is "one shot, one kill." That is certainly not true of this longstanding film franchise, which has made the transition from the big screen to the direct to video marketplace. Hardly a "one shot" affair, the original Sniper worked well enough as a standalone film but has spawned a number of sequels, too numerous to list here, some of which return original cast members Tom Berenger and Billy Zane, some of which do not. This latest film (or this film, if read a couple of years from the publication date when an even newer entry will be on the market) falls into the latter category, but for continuity's sake it does return the lead from the last Sniper film, Sniper: Assassin's End, which did feature Tom Berenger. Continuity in the lead, however, is not enough to save Rogue Mission from going rogue, as in turning bad. This is one of the worst films in the series, largely because the plot is pointless and overly complex. It's uninteresting and somehow manages to be both underdeveloped and overwrought at the same time: in other words, there are too many moving parts for too little reward.

Plot? It's mostly about cam girls, killers, rogue agents, and so one and so forth: the usual soupy morass of overdeveloped and underrealized DTV content fodder. Here's a bit more of a breakdown: Beckett (Chad Michael Collins) is no longer sniping in the field. He's now a rookie CIA pencil pusher, but when he brings in a corrupt agent he believes has gone wrong, he earns a tear-down from his supervisor, Gabriel Stone (Dennis Haysbert). He himself goes rogue after a botched operation to prevent the murder of a number of sex trafficked cam girls, teaming up with a homeland Security Agent known as "Zero" (Ryan Robbins) and the deadly assassin known as "Lady Death" (Sayaka Akimoto). As they attempt to protect the sole surviving cam girl, known as "Mary Jane" (Jocelyn Hudon), the team discovers a vast conspiracy that goes far beyond their missional focus.

So, the material is fairly bland and generic. The plot is so trite that it’s hard to become too involved in or engaged with it. It’s all rote, with a bland blend of lightweight action and overcooked governmental bureaucracy entangling the characters within the uninteresting and familiar story parameters. Add in a rogue’s gallery that is not menacing and absolutely forgettable – not to mention the usual “corruption up the chain” angle – and the story cannot help but to be a complete head scratcher for both core plot dynamics intelligibility and film agreeability. There is just not always, or even often, a lot of sense to be made of what is happening, or why. The action seems to play out with only moderate connection to the story; if it were presented with a little more dynamism and populated with more interestingly defined characters, maybe it would be a little more palatable even going through the structural motions, but as it is there’s just not enough reason to care.

Worse, the movie takes various stabs at hip and cool music and characterization which largely fall flat. It seems to want to be some edgy Caper flick one minute and a gruff Action film the next, and it does neither very well. Action scenes uniformly fall flat, and various examples of CGI blood are painfully comical (watch as one of the cam girls is gunned down outside after trying to escape near film’s start; she just falls in an overly dramatic way, suddenly covered by a splotch of obvious computer-generated blood). The acting is bland, the production design offers nothing of any visual interest, and the editing is sloppy. The movie feels much longer than its 90-something minute runtime. It’s almost entirely devoid of anything of even remote novelty or interest and ranks as arguably the worst in this never-ending freight train of a franchise.

Sniper: Rogue Mission Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As one would expect of a new release shot on video, the 1080p Blu-ray transfer delivers a crisp, clean, and efficient image. The picture is not a standout – there is nothing that sets it apart from the field – but its general excellence and as-expected clarity certainly allow it to impress as a fine example of a run-of-the-mill Blu-ray. Clarity soars and reveals complex facial and clothing textures with just the sort of ease and intimacy viewers expect. The picture showcases environmental details with equal precision. Color excellence is commonplace. The palette offers robust hues and nicely nuanced color content that brings out the best of every stitch of clothing and location detail, not to mention red blood. Skin tones look healthy and accurate, black level depth is solid, and whites are pleasantly crisp and efficient. Noise is minimal and there are no other source flaws or encode problems to report.

Sniper: Rogue Mission Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is lively and full. Score is consistently energized and boisterous, offering high yield volume and clarity through the entire range of engaged channels. Front width and surround engagement are constant; the track rarely allows itself to fizzle down, especially during music, which flows through a wide spectrum of styles. However, there is always wonderfully realized clarity at work and fine point instrumental localization and detail in evidence no matter what the film throws the track's way. Action scenes are fine, nothing special in terms of explosive excitement, gunfire, and the like; the stage is well engaged and clarity is fine. Support atmospherics are nicely integrated as well. Dialogue is clear and center positioned for the duration.

Sniper: Rogue Mission Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Bare bones. This Blu-ray release of Sniper: Rogue Mission includes no supplemental content. The main menu screen offers only options for "Play," "Steup," and "Scenes." No DVD copy is included. However, Sony has included a Movies Anywhere digital code voucher. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

Sniper: Rogue Mission Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Whoever had Sniper as one of the films primed to spawn the most direct-to-video franchise entries for a midlevel 90s Action film, come forward and receive due kudos. What started with a decent little Action flick has morphed into a powerhouse on the DTV landscape, for whatever reason. Unlike many of its predecessors before it, this one is pretty bad, offering almost nothing of serious cinematic value. Obviously, these films are making enough to make Sony some profit, so if this one follows suit, expect another one around 2024-2025. Sony's Blu-ray is featureless, but as expected of a new studio film (albeit DTV) the video and audio presentations are fine. Skip it, even at the somewhat budget friendly price of $15 at release.