Kris Hendricks (Radha Mitchell, Olympus Has Fallen, Rogue) lives in a secluded 130-hectare ranch property in Australia with her 16-year-old daughter Anja (Annabel Wolfe, Home and Away). For over a decade, she has been able to escape some mysterious past. However, when a man named Peter Phillips (Ryan Kwanten, True Blood) arrives on her property, claiming to be a real-estate agent, she suspects that her past has caught up to her. Hendricks is a retired sniper, and this man knows who she is, referring to her as “Voodoo Child”, and warning that “He is Coming”, and “Long Live The Dragon”. She’s been off the grid for a long time, but The Dragon has managed to find her and will stop at nothing to get the retribution he wants.

Kris knows it’s time for her and her daughter to run, but when she calls Anja’s school, she discovers that her daughter has been playing hooky for the past 2 weeks, in order to spend time with her boyfriend, Michael (Lee Tiger Halley, Beast of War). While Kris tries to locate her daughter, she also calls in support from an old colleague/friend Malcolm aka “White Dog” (Damien Ryan, Venus & Adonis: A Film About a Play About a Poem), who assembles a crack team of snipers, including his own son Junior (Charles Cottier, Home and Away), Kris’ former partner Milk (Ioan Gruffudd, Fantastic Four franchise, San Andreas), ex KFOR Kaldayev (Bianca Wallace, Elvis), and former colleague Nico (Pacharo Mzembe, Love and Monsters).

Dog believes that The Dragon has been dead for over a decade, but wanted to be there for Kris anyway. However, when several of the other team members hear who they may be up against, they’re upset. The Dragon had put a $10M bounty on Kris’ head, and they wonder why they don’t just collect on that and leave. Their fears about The Dragon quickly prove to be justified. Shortly after the crew take their positions around the ranch, The Dragon (Tim Roth, Rob Roy, Pulp Fiction, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, The Hateful Eight, The Incredible Hulk) makes his presence known, and starts taking out the snipers one-by-one. It is a tense game of cat and mouse as the snipers try to hunt down The Dragon before he kills them first. Only Kris knows the truth about why The Dragon has returned, and she is determined to protect her daughter and eliminate this threat once and for all.

Seven Snipers is directed by Sandra Sciberras (The Dustwalker) and is loosely inspired by the Akira Kurosawa masterpiece Seven Samurai. At just under 90 minutes the film doesn’t overstay its welcome. Sciberras is able to maintain a level of tension throughout, keeping you guessing who The Dragon will go after next, with many of the shots coming on suddenly without warning. While I think the so-called “reveal” is quite evident to anyone who’s seen pretty much any movie, the film does take some unexpected turns and keeps the audience on their toes, no knowing what is going to happen next. That said, some of the stuff these characters do is just plain stupid—especially teenager Anja, who’s constantly running into danger. But that is pretty much par for the course in these types of films.

The sprawling ranch setting is both beautiful and perfect for this type of scenario, with loads of hiding place both outside in the green grass, as well as with the many passageways within the home itself. The cast is also wonderful, filled with lots of recognizable faces. Radha Mitchell is great, delivering on the drama and conveying the traumatic past of this character. Tim Roth also makes a convincing villain. And several of the other snipers are at least given some type of backstory and/or arc before being hunted down by The Dragon..

Well Go USA has released Seven Snipers on Blu-ray, DVD and digital. We were sent the Blu-ray version for review, which looks and sounds great. The picture is crisp and clean and captures the beauty and lushness of the Australian ranch. The audio track is also impressive, making nice use of the stereo and surround sound to capture the whizzing of the bullets, and to provide an immersive ambiance both with the nature outside, and with sounds coming from inside the house. The film’s score also sounds full and adds to the tone of the film.

Well Go’s Blu-ray release does not include any bonus material besides the usual trailer and previews. The Blu-ray disc comes packed in a standard HD keepcase. There is no digital copy, and our review copy did include a slightly-embossed slipcover.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:28:07)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Stereo
• Subtitles: English, French

Extras:

• Trailer (1:50)
• Previews:
  • Broken Land (1:35)
  • Rise of the Conqueror (1:34)
  • The Yeti (2:09)

Final Thoughts:

Seven Snipers is a solid cat-and-mouse thriller following a team of snipers who are being hunted down by the sniper they are trying to take out. It features an excellent, recognizable cast and a beautiful setting. The movie isn’t going to shock and surprise, but it is entertaining and worth a watch for fans of the cast or of this type of tense thriller. Well Go’s Blu-ray looks and sounds great, but is barebones and doesn’t include any bonus material.