The Sniper (Short)
“The Sniper” takes place after a period of civil war in an unknown country. Two snipers (Steven Manzino and Charles Roth) are hunting each other at a place in the country. A woman who lives there tries to tell an officer delivering medicine for her mother about one of them (Manzino), but winds up dead, leading the second one (Roth). It then becomes a game of cat-and-mouse where each one tries to get the upper hand on the other.
The title card for the film, “Two snipers who’ve become shells of their former selves, wander into the sinister recesses of their inner darkness,” makes Gabriel Fowler’s film seem deeper and more about the human condition than it really is, but that doesn’t keep it from being an exciting thriller, nonetheless. It’s well-directed, shot produced overall, and it grabs you as the best thrillers do. That there isn’t more dramatic meat on the bones makes you wish there were a bit more to the characters to really get you into their heads, or actually a couple of minutes more of context for the story, but it’s an entertaining exercise in tension, regardless.
