No Surrender Cinema: Sniper: Ultimate Kill
With the original Sniper film fast approaching it’s 30th anniversary, this edition of No Surrender Cinema takes a look back at perhaps the most important entry in the franchise it spawned; the one where the originals and the new blood unite to take out a Columbian drug lord and his assassin for hire. Chad Michael Collins heads into action once again, this time joined by Sniper originals Tom Berenger and Billy Zane, in 2017’s Sniper: Ultimate Kill.
After a rather grisly introduction where a drug lord is practically beheaded by a sniper’s bullet (as he’s enjoying a bath with his lady friend, no less), we are reintroduced to Brandon Beckett (Collins), the son of Berenger’s Thomas Beckett. Brandon, who has followed in his father’s footsteps (and thus carried on the Beckett tradition throughout the latter half of the Sniper franchise) is coping with a friend’s suicide and dealing with his own sense of self-doubt when he’s lured back into action by friend and mentor Richard Miller (Billy Zane, star of one of the greatest late night cable films ever, Survival Island). Miller clues Brandon in on the new sniper in town, an assassin that’s been hired by a Colombian kingpin to eliminate his competition. The mission also serves to reunite Brandon with his father, marking the first time in the Sniper franchise where Collins and Berenger share the screen. That was cool to see, given that the Sniper films at times have felt “in name only” despite the character links and the inclusion of Zane a pair of previous sequels. It was also the moment that I realized Tom Berenger could make a hell of a General Ross in any future MCU projects, because the white hair, mustache, and badass sense of authority he exudes as the elder Beckett would make him a perfect fit for the role.
The younger Beckett is paired up with DEA agent Kate Estrada to locate and capture their intended target, but as you might imagine given that it’s only 20 minutes into the film’s runtime, things don’t go so smoothly. The team is led into a trap and find themselves under attack by “El Diablo”, until Brandon is able to locate the rival sniper’s position and take a shot that nearly eliminates his new foe. After mass casualties and injuries, the team comes under fire by Agent Samson from Homeland Security (played by Joe Lando, the long-haired guy from Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, who has traded in that long mane for short, gray locks). Samson thinks that it’s too dangerous to put any more people in harm’s way, but Beckett buys his son and Estrada two more days to get the job done. Unfortunately for the pair, they may not make it another 48 hours, not when El Diablo discovers their safe house and takes a shot at Brandon, leading our heroes to believe that someone on the inside might be slipping pertinent info to the bad guys. Oh, and it probably doesn’t help that El Diablo is using the latest in smart weapons, like laser guided bullets that can change course and kill someone from a mile away. Technology really is going to kill us all!
After several battles against Morales’ thugs and the death of Kate’s friend Father Carlos at the hands of El Diablo, our heroes manage to capture Morales and bring him back stateside. This is where a plan is put in motion to use Morales as bait so that El Diablo can be brought to justice. It’s also here in the third act that Zane, Berenger, and Collins are all together in the same room as one happy Sniper family. With Thomas Beckett acting as the brains of the operation and Miller supplying Brandon with a little cutting edge weaponry of his own, the battle lines have been drawn. Will this plan be successful thanks to the Sniper dream team, or is El Diablo a more formidable foe than anyone has given him credit for? Plus, there’s the issue of an inside man (or woman) that might put this whole thing in the enemy’s favor.
Though I haven’t seen every film in the Sniper franchise (there are 9 as of this writing, with Collins confirming recently that a 10th was on the way), the original was a favorite to watch back in my teenage days. I’ve caught a couple of the sequels over the years, and out of the ones that I have seen, I’d put Sniper: Ultimate Kill behind only the original as my favorite. Could that change as I eventually make it through the series in full? Was a lot of my affection for this film based solely on the nostalgia of seeing Berenger and Zane return? I’d say that’s more than definitely a possibility, but that’s not to discount the work of Chad Michael Collins as Brandon Beckett. CMC brings a smoldering intensity to Brandon, and he looks and acts the part whether it’s chasing down a gangbanger or having a heavy father/son moment with Berenger. Collins has done this franchise proud by carrying the torch of the world built by Berenger and Zane back in 1993, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen with the next installment.
Sniper‘s lifespan might be surprising to some (I certainly didn’t expect to be discussing new entries into the series here three decades later), but it delivers what action fans want, and really, that’s all the matters. I’ve given a little added favoritism to Sniper: Ultimate Kill for bringing the three major players together finally, and I think that anyone who grew up renting the original or watching one of it’s many airings on HBO would feel the same. Check this one out on Amazon Prime or Tubi (other entries in the series are currently streaming as well) and see for yourself. Who knows, with Chad Michael Collins’ Brandon Beckett as the heart of the franchise, we might be talking about the Sniper films series for many more years to come.
