‘Seven Snipers’ Review – The Australian Sharpshooter Thriller Misses the Mark
Every once in a while, a low-budget action film surprises audiences with unexpectedly exciting thrills. Unfortunately, “Seven Snipers” isn’t that movie. The Australian action film’s plot is simple: a retired sniper lives in peaceful isolation in the bush with her daughter when a vengeful villain from her past reemerges, threatening to take all she has. While the concept has potential, it suffers from an extremely thin plot, a lack of characterization, and repetitive sniping sequences that lack any unique ingenuity.
The film opens with the retired sniper Kris Hendricks (Radha Mitchell) giving her daughter Anja (Annabel Wolfe) some archery tips. When Anja goes to school, Kris gets an unexpected visitor. He claims to be representing an agricultural company that is interested in buying her land. Kris, suspicious of this stranger, responds by shooting at his car as he drives away. When Kris catches up with him and aims her rifle at his head, he ominously tells her, “He’s coming, Voodoo Child. Long live The Dragon.” Kris, who had the callsign Voodoo Child in her sniper days, gasps in fear and shoots the man.
Dreading the severity of this warning, Kris immediately calls her former squad of snipers for protection for both her and her daughter from the imminent threat of The Dragon. Kris’s contact, White Dog (Damien Ryan), is able to bring a total of five snipers including himself for reinforcements. They have varying degrees of combat experience and willingness to help, but they are all Kris has on her side. The Dragon (Tim Roth) remains hidden in a ghillie suit, taking out snipers and innocents left and right with unmatched sharpshooting accuracy. The Dragon, for reasons not yet explained, is after Kris’s daughter Anja, and he plans on killing everyone on the property until he leaves with her.
