Movie review - Seven Snipers

Seven Snipers ** (out of 5) As anyone can tell from the title, this Australian drama is an action flick. What you can’t tell is that the level of action may be less than genre fans would prefer. Radha Mitchell stars as a former topnotch army sniper, now not only retired to a remote ranch with her teen daughter (Annabel Wolfe), but apparently hiding from someone or something (or both) in her past. Early on, she’s discovered by one who wants to relay her location to a grudge holder, forcing her to summon whomever she can among her old colleagues to help her defend against the imminent attack. Six of them answer the call.

It becomes likely that the guy who put a big bounty on her head is “Dragon” (Tim Roth), the most vicious, if not psychotic, player in their previous military endeavors (or endeavours, for the cast of Aussies and Brits), and his looming presence scares the (insert your own synonym for excrement) out of several. They all thought he had been killed long ago. They all gonna be proven wrong quite soonly.

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So that gives us seven good guys (in the word's gender-neutral sense), plus the daughter and her boyfriend vs. Roth, with all the action occurring in and around Mitchell’s isolated homestead, interlaced with several flashbacks. What unfolds is a mixed bag of plot, character development and action that adds up to a so-so package. Roth is quite adept at playing smugly creepy, evil characters, conveying menace levels beyond his slight stature, in the vein of actors like Steve Buscemi, Joe Pantoliano or Jackie Earle Haley. Here, he does a lot of damage in relatively little screen time or dialog. And we eventually learn why he’s been dogging Mitchell for years with such determination.

It’s hard to stretch out that small cast and setup for 87 minutes. Unfortunately, Andrew O’Keefe’s script does that by having its characters make a number of annoyingly illogical moves, especially for seasoned soldiers. Those watching for bloodlust will get rewarded by a number of shots with serious doses of splatter. Mitchell, Wolfe and Roth are all worth watching, even in a vehicle that doesn’t give any of them their best chance to shine.

So, with suitably modulated expectations, this little flick may be enjoyable enough for fans of shoot-em-ups and the principals.

(Seven Snipers debuts on digital formats from Well Go USA on 6/5/26)