The “Sniper” series started in 1993 (!) with Tom Berenger as a sniper in a rather dark action story for the cinema. Ten years later it was continued as a home theater series, which quickly found some fans, but only really took off in Germany in the summer of 2022. The eighth part “Sniper: Assassin’s End” became a great success on the Netflix streaming service in this country and also brought more attention to other parts of the series.
The eighth film also expanded the cast with Chad Michael Collins, who has led the franchise since Part 4 (“Sniper: Reloaded”), and two colleagues who are now also the focus of the tenth film “Sniper: GRIT” – and it shows to be the better version of the Expendables.
“Sniper: GRIT”: Bloody action meets humor
In “Sniper: GRIT” former sniper Brandon Beckett (Chad Michael Collins) Part of a new super-secret elite unit, the Global Response & Intelligence Team, or GRIT for short. This also includes buddy Zero (Ryan Robbins) and ex-hitman Lady Death (cast newcomer Luna Fujimoto replaces Sayaka Akimoto, who previously dressed the role). Beckett’s old confidante Gabriel Stone (Dennis Haysbert) is in charge. Their latest assignment takes the team to Malta, where the leader of a cult has taken over. But taking them down is just the start of a bloody adventure that will soon require the help of computer nerd Intel Pete (Josh Brener).
The author of these lines has already seen “Sniper: GRIT” and considers it one of the strongest parts of the series. Anyone who was currently disappointed by “The Expendables 4” in theaters should take note of the action sequel. Here too, there is a strangely composed team with loose statements on a bloody mission. In terms of content, you simply have to accept certain developments that change the mission goal several times and the humor is not always sufficient.
But it’s not just the action staging that’s significantly better than its cinematic competition with Sylvester Stallone. Especially Luna Fujimoto (“Blade of the 47 Ronin“) impressively shows in the finale why she was brought on board. Furthermore, the film not only offers very bloody and varied conflicts, but is also quite entertaining.
You’ll have to wait a little longer until you can watch “Sniper: GRIT.” No release date for Germany has been announced yet. If we take the predecessor as a benchmark, this could take until the spring of 2024After all, the (significantly weaker) ninth part “Sniper: Rogue Mission” only appeared in this country in February 2023.