Sniper is a 1993 American action film directed by Luis Llosa. The film stars Tom Berenger and Billy Zane as snipers on an assassination mission in Panama. It is the first installment in the Sniper film series, and was followed by ten direct-to-video sequels: Sniper 2, Sniper 3, Sniper: Reloaded, Sniper: Legacy, Sniper: Ghost Shooter, Sniper: Ultimate Kill, Sniper: Assassin's End, Sniper: Rogue Mission, Sniper: G.R.I.T. – Global Response & Intelligence Team and Sniper: The Last Stand. It was shot in Queensland, Australia, and debuted at number two in the United States.

REAR COVER

Set in the foreboding jungles of Panama, SNIPER sees Hollywood favourite

TOM BERENGER play a hardened Marine marksman sent on a mission with an expires or esses nat on, highly shited in the art of death. but their latest mission is about to become even more deadly when the two hired killers begin a battle against each other. Co-starring BILLY ZANE, J.T. WALSH and ADEN YOUNG, SNIPER is loaded with hair trigger suspense and non-stop action that's right on target.

CASTING

Billy Zane was cast after his starring role in Dead Calm raised his profile. Director Luis Llosa, who grew up watching American films, called modern films "cartoonish and antiseptic" in their depiction of violence; he said that he wanted to bring back a sense of impact to killing.

FILMING

Principal filming begain in August 1991[1] at locations in Queensland, Australia including Port Douglas, Paronella Park, and Kurunda. Some additional filming was done in Panama.

BOX OFFICE

Sniper was held back from release in 1992. It debuted at number two at the box office on January 29, 1993,

in 1551 theaters and went on to gross $18,994,653 in the US.

CRITICAL RESPONSE

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 36% of 14 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 4.7/10. Roger Ebert rated it 3/4 stars and wrote, "Sniper expresses a cool competence that is a pleasure to watch. It isn't a particularly original film, but what it does, it does well." Variety called it "an expertly directed, yet ultimately unsatisfying psychological thriller" that is "undermined by underdeveloped characters and pedestrian dialogue.” Vincent Canby of The New York Times described it as "partly a badly choreographed action drama and partly a psychological exploration of Beckett's mind, which comes up empty."

Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times called it a shallow film that does not explore the themes suggested by the script and instead turns into a bloodless, macho video game. Clifford Terry of the Chicago Tribune called it a formulaic male-bonding drama that features a Hollywood odd-coupling.Richard Harrington of The Washington Post criticized the lack of character progression and the implausible conclusion.

Stephen Wigler of The Baltimore Sun called it a "poorly written, badly directed film" that substitutes violence for sex.Marjorie Baumgarten of the Austin Chronicle rated it 3.5/5 stars and wrote, "Sniper does little that's terribly original but that which it does, it does with great competence and grace."