| Sniper Special Ops | |
| Director: | Fred Olen Ray |
| Producer: | Barry Barnholtz Fred Olen Ray Jeffrey Schenck |
| Starring: | Steven Seagal Rob Van Dam Tim Abell |
| Music: | Nick Soole David Buckley |
| Cinematography: | Stuart Brereton |
| Editing: | Ryan Mitchelle |
| Studio: | Steamroller Productions Hybrid |
| Distributor: | Lionsgate Home Entertainment |
| Runtime: | 84 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Sniper Special Ops is a 2016 American war action drama film written and directed by Fred Olen Ray and starring Steven Seagal, who also serves as executive producer for the film. It is unrelated to the long-running Sniper film series.
Sergeant Jake Chandler (Steven Seagal), an expert sniper, joins Sergeant Vic Mosby (Tim Abell) with the Delta Force during an overwatch mission to extract an American Congressman who is being held by the Taliban in a remote Afghan village. At first, the rescue mission is successful until a firefight breaks out. Evac is called in but Chandler and his spotter Pvt. Rich are separated from the squad. During the extraction, several members of the squad are killed or wounded, forcing them to leave without Chandler and Rich.
Upon returning the base, Mosby tries to convince Lieutenant Colonel Jackson (Dale Dye) to let him go back for his fellow soldiers, but is instead ordered to retrieve munitions which could be vital for the base. Accompanied by Vasquez and Jennings, Mosby rendezvouses with Spc. Tyler at his broken down munitions truck. The squad is also accompanied by Janet, a NATO photographer. In addition to the munitions, Tyler also has a woman and child, who are revealed to be the last surviving members of the local Taliban leader's family. They are attacked by local militants, resulting in Tyler's death and Jennings and Janet being wounded.
Mosby orders Jennings back to the camp with Janet and the supplies while he and Vasquez return the woman, her name being revealed to be Jada, and her child to the Taliban in exchange for the safe extraction of Chandler and Rich. During this, Rich has developed a fever and his slowly dying, causing Chandler to call in a risky evacuation. Upon arriving in the city, Mosby and Vasquez seemingly hand over the woman but she is revealed to be Janet in disguise. Janet attaches explosives to the Taliban leader and he is killed in the resulting explosion.
After the fight between the squad and Taliban ends, Chandler and Rich are rescued by Mosby, Vasquez and Janet.
Looper stated ’’The premise doesn't sound too bad, but there's ultimately little to enjoy in this mindless, paint-by-numbers shoot 'em up."[1] Other reviews were also quite negative.[2] [3] [4]