Plot
Tough guy Thomas Beckett is a US Marine working in the Panamanian jungle. His job is to seek out rebels and remove them using his sniper skills...

Release Year: 1993

Rating: 5.9/10 (9,650 voted)

Director: Luis Llosa

Stars: Tom Berenger, Billy Zane, J.T. Walsh

Storyline
Tough guy Thomas Beckett is a US Marine working in the Panamanian jungle. His job is to seek out rebels and remove them using his sniper skills. Beckett is notorious for losing his partners on such missions. This time he's accompanied by crack marksman Richard Miller, who's more of an office-type. Together they plan to seek out an important rebel leader, whilst avoiding a rogue marksman who frequents this part of the jungle.

Writers: Michael Frost Beckner, Crash Leyland

Cast:
Tom Berenger - Thomas Beckett
Billy Zane - Richard Miller
J.T. Walsh - Chester Van Damme
Aden Young - Doug Papich
Ken Radley - El Cirujano
Reynaldo Arenas - Cacique (as Reinaldo Arenas)
Gary Swanson - NSC Officer in Washington
Hank Garrett - Admiral in Washington
Frederick Miragliotta - General Miguel Alavarez
Vanessa Steele - Mrs. Alvarez
Carlos Álvarez - Raul Ochoa
Tyler Coppin - Ripoly (as Tyler Copin)
Teo Gebert - Ripolys Friend
Edward Wiley - DeSilva
William Curtin - Mountain Top Pilot

Taglines: One Shot. One Kill. No Exceptions.

Release Date: 29 January 1993

Filming Locations: Australia

Gross: $18,994,653 (USA)

Runtime: 98 min

Trivia:
If you look closely at the locomotive of the train that inserts Beckett and Miller, the QR symbol of the Queensland Rail can be seen on the side. Queensland was the state of Australia where this movie was shot.

Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Becket is seen to be "deburring" a round with a knife. An real sniper would never do such a thing. Any alteration to the jacket of the round would alter the ballistics of the round (possibly quite severely). If anything a rag would be used to wipe the round down. And if handled correctly, a match grade round wouldn't have any burrs.

Quotes:
[Last lines]
Richard Miller: [to Beckett] There's always Montana.

Good psychological drama

Rating: 9/10

I've heard people who say this movie is dull dull dull. I don't think they were watching the right movie. This isn't the prototypical action movie, thank God.

This is a psychological drama about the rookie and his mentor that just happens to be about killing people. In this way it works extremely well, with terrific performances from Berenger and Zane (who doesn't sleepwalk through the movie like he has in other roles - he actually looks like he's acting).

I was disappointed with the action towards the end - a lot of it didn't make much sense and was unsatisfying given the buildup from the rest of the movie. But watch Zane's face as he panics, alone, while Berenger does the dirty work.

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