‘Shooter’: Almost An Exciting New Thriller

Shooter, based on the Bob Lee Swagger novels by Stephen Hunter and premiering Tuesday night on the USA network, has a lot going for it. Ryan Phillippe stars as super-marksman Swagger, and he does an even better job than Mark Wahlberg did in embodying this tough-but-sensitive character. (Wahlberg is an executive producer of the show.) The 2007 film was directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), who’s an executive producer on this show; the TV series has some tense, tight pacing. And the plot is based on Hunter’s Point of Impact, the first and one of the best of the Swagger series.