Set in Australian farmland, Seven Snipers is a film about a former military sniper and daughter who live a quiet life away from the prying eye of the public. She teaches her daughter survival skills, criticizing her about how she handles a bow, but the daughter is far more interested in her boyfriend and a normal life. Her mother, a “Sarah Connor” survivalist type, carries herself as though she never left the military. One morning, her daughter leaves with her boyfriend to skip school and camp out in a nearby field. While away, the mother is visited by a man who seemingly wishes to purchase her land. This is the exact moment that the film starts filling the viewer with questions. After rejecting his offer, our main character goes inside her home, assembles a sniper rifle, and uses it to blowout the apparent real estate agent’s tires, causing his vehicle to flip as he leaves. In response, he leaves his vehicle and begins to prep a sniper rifle of his own. Turns out, the would-be land buyer is working for a warlord the mother once stood against, and he’s come looking for revenge. After learning his true intentions, which comes after shooting at him, our hero calls in backup for an attack she believes is on the horizon. The film’s plot carries the same level of knee-jerk pacing throughout.
You may notice that I haven’t given any of the characters any names thus far. The film doesn’t do much better. You’ll meet the mother, Voodoo Child, and her team which is made up of people with names like Junior, White Dog, and Milk. Feeling more like a Call of Duty side campaign than a full narrative, these characters come and go with little to no character development. This is a shame since the cast is composed of multiple actors that I like including Walking Dead and Silent Hill alumni, Radha Mitchell who portrays our lead… The aforementioned Voodoo Child. Former Reed Richards actor, Loan Gruffud, joins the ensemble as elite sniper, Milk. Together, Voodoo Child, Milk, and their crew of elite snipers stand against Tim Roth’s on screen villain… The Dragon. Anyone else with an on-screen presence is given a first or last name only, and offers nothing more than being cannon fodder. Despite her backup being composed of “elite” forces specialists, an alarming amount of these snipers stand right next to windows and are promptly eliminated. There’s not much in this film in terms of shootouts. Due to the sniper nature of the story, folks simply die. Action is minimal, and the tension that would otherwise come from a slow burn thriller is absent due to the fast pace approach this movie takes to get from point A to point Z.
This menagerie of poorly executed concepts, and hollow attempts at character creation, comes from writer Andrew O’Keefe. His previous work includes the likes of2015’s Crime and Punishment, and 2007’s The Independent. With films of his past being solid works of storytelling art, it makes Seven Snipers seem like more of an anomaly. I’m still struggling to figure out how the mind that previously brought us fully comprehensive narratives managed to drop this train wreck on us. Some of the blame may fall on the shoulders of director Sandra Sciberras. However, her other 2026 release, Deathkeeper, reviews well. Meanwhile, Seven Snipers struggles to achieve a 4.5 out of 10 on IMDB. I usually don’t factor other people’s reviews into mine, however, over three thousand folks have rated this film and all it can achieve is a status just below “mid”. With characters simply existing, and events just kind of happening without rhyme or reason, Seven Snipers feels more like a movie that would be in another movie than an actual modern release. As if it was intended to be an action film on a television screen within another action film.
The choreography and cinematography do little to make up for the lack of investment you’ll find. If someone were to make a drinking game out of taking a shot every time the camera was shot through a scope, they would be hospitalized by the time the credits roll. Even so, that kind of unfortunate medical journey would have more twists, turns, and comprehensive cause and effect than the movie itself. If it sounds like I’m giving Seven Snipers a hard time, understand I’m doing so out of spite. It’s very rare for me to see a movie that brings literally nothing to the table, but this movie does exactly that. Unless you’re a glutton for punishment, I can’t possibly recommend this movie to anyone. Though, if you’re still curious and are telling yourself that the movie couldn’t possibly be that lame, you can check it out and decide for yourself.
