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Shooter

Force Recon Scout Snipers Gunnery Sergeant Bob Lee Swagger and his spotter Donnie Fenn provide overwatch for a black ops mission in Ethiopia. The mission is successful, but while covering the retreat of friendly forces, an enemy attack helicopter assaults their position, resulting in Fenn's death. The CIA officer supervising the operation disavows the mission and strands them in enemy territory without any backup, though Swagger survives.

Three years later, a retired Swagger is approached by Colonel Isaac Johnson to seek his help in preventing a possible assassination attempt on the President during a public event. Swagger identifies Philadelphia as the best location for the act, and pinpoints likely sniper spots.

Swagger joins Johnson at an overwatch position during the event, where a sniper kills Ethiopian Archbishop Desmond Mutumbo. Officer Stanley Timmons, a Philadelphia Police Department officer bribed by Johnson, shoots Swagger, who falls through a window. Swagger disarms rookie FBI Agent Nick Memphis and warns him about Timmons, before jumping into the Delaware River and escaping under a ferry. Soon, news reports are released naming Swagger as the assassin and that he used his CheyTac M200 sniper rifle to kill Mutumbo. Evading authorities, Swagger travels to Kentucky and meets Fenn's widow, Sarah, who treats his injuries.

Memphis grows suspicious of the unusually rapid conclusions, exacerbated by Timmons' odd death off-duty during an alleged mugging, begins his own investigation and realizes that the assassination was conducted with a remotely controlled gun. Sarah and Swagger discreetly feed Memphis information, furthering his investigation until he catches Johnson's attention, who orders his men to kidnap and kill Memphis. In captivity, Memphis is strapped with a brace that could force him to shoot himself, while his abductors force-feed him water in order to get him to urinate the ruphylin from his system. Before they can stage Memphis' suicide, Swagger kills them, releases Memphis and requests his help bringing down Johnson. The two travel to Tennessee and meet with firearms expert Mr. Rate, who explains paper-patching can be used to confuse ballistic fingerprinting and deduces that the only other person alive capable of making such a long-range shot is the crippled Serbian sniper Mikhaylo Sczerbiak, whom Swagger has unawarely met when working for Johnson. Swagger concludes that he was used to conduct reconnaissance for the wheelchair-using Sczerbiak, who performed the actual assassination remotely. At the same time, Sarah's connection to Swagger is uncovered, and she is abducted by Payne.

In Virginia, Swagger and Memphis infiltrate Sczerbiak's estate, who reveals Johnson works for U.S. Senator Charles Meachum on behalf of oil conglomerates exploiting developing nations for profit. Swagger and Fenn had unknowingly covered PMCs who massacred an entire village on the Eritrea–Ethiopia border to make way for pipelines, and were deliberately abandoned as part of the cover-up. Johnson then ordered Sczerbiak to assassinate Mutumbo, who was going to discuss the massacre during his speech, to prevent Johnson's crimes against humanity from being revealed to the public. Sczerbiak also informs Swagger about Sarah's abduction, and then commits suicide as mercenaries close in on the estate. With Sczerbiak's confession recorded, Swagger and Memphis fight their way out and escape to Montana, tip off the FBI, and arrange a private meeting with Meachum and Johnson.

Johnson, Meachum, and their men arrive at the meeting point on a snowy mountaintop, with Sarah held hostage. Memphis acts as a decoy, allowing Swagger to eliminate Johnson's sharpshooters and rescue Sarah, in which Sarah guns down Payne after the hell he put her through. Meachum cryptically implies he is not the only politician involved and arrogantly tells Swagger to give up. Deducing that the proof will get them murdered as witnesses, Swagger destroys the recording as the FBI arrests him.

Swagger requests a plea hearing with United States Attorney General Russert. With Memphis's assistance, Swagger reveals that his personal rifles, including the supposed murder weapon, have all had their firing pins replaced, making them unusable. Johnson's men had stolen the rifle, retrieved a previous fired practice bullet and paper-patched it for Mutumbo's assassination, and planned to frame Swagger. Swagger's name is cleared, and Memphis also provides Russert with evidence cataloging Johnson's involvement in the village massacre and other crimes, but no legal action may be taken against him as the crimes fall outside U.S. jurisdiction. Afterwards, Russert casually hints that extrajudicial measures may be necessary to address the corruption before ordering Swagger's release.

Boasting impunity at a private gathering, Meachum, Johnson and their associates discuss their next operation, but Swagger attacks the villa and kills them all. He frames the dead Johnson as the assailant, and ruptures the gas line causing a gas explosion before leaving the area with Sarah.