15 Best Sniper Movies Of All Time, Ranked

Terrific sniper scenes can be found in all kinds of movies, from action and war films to thrillers and even comedies. There are fun scenes like the ridiculous curved bullets in "Wanted" and wild train shot in "Gemini Man," and there are gut-wrenching sequences like the ones in "Saving Private Ryan" (one of the most brutal  scenes in the movie) and "Full Metal Jacket." They're just scenes, though, in films focused elsewhere — but there are other movies where the sniper sits as an integral element throughout.

Sniper movies put the shooter and their rifle front and center as main (or necessary to the narrative, at least) characters. Some are heroes, some are villains, and others can exist in the nebulous space between. All of them, though, are integral parts of the story being told. Now, keep reading for a look at the 15 best sniper movies of all time, ranked.

If you had gone to theaters way back in 1993 and watched Luis Llosa's "Sniper," you probably would have walked out thinking it was a pretty solid action film. You most definitely wouldn't have stepped out expecting that 10 sequels (as of this writing) would follow over the next 32 years. One of those follow-ups has secured a spot higher on this list, but it's the movie that started it all that's kicking off our list of the best sniper movies. Tom Berenger stars as a veteran sniper saddled with a new partner in a marksman (Billy Zane) lacking in real-world experience, and together they're on a mission in the South American jungle.

The film finds the expected thrills and action beats, but it lands here because the script spends time detailing the process and behaviors of snipers in the context of their work and their relationship with their spotters. There's a trust there, a shorthand that a two-person team employs to complete the job, and the film explores that through the two leads and their efforts. It's no action classic, not even for the 1990s — hell, not even for 1993 — but it's a solid film that respects its subject.

The unlikeliest of franchises is one with many twists and turns over the years, and that goes as much for the tone and content as it does the storylines. While later entries become almost full-blown action/comedies, this sixth sequel leans into the impending ridiculousness with a sniper using bullets that lock onto their target and turn through the air like heatseeking missiles. It's nonsense that our heroes crack wise about even as they accept its existence in a heartbeat.

"Sniper: Ultimate Kill" is the only one of the sequels to bring back both Tom Berenger and Billy Zane who join forces with the franchise's current lead, Chad Michael Collins, who plays Berenger's character's son. It's also that rarity among direct-to-video action films that looks and feels like a "real" movie as director Claudio Fah puts every penny onscreen to create an attractive widescreen adventure. Berenger and Zane are having a good time, and the film still allows time to consider the mental health of young soldiers tasked with taking lives.

When is a sniper movie not just a sniper movie? When it's also a slasher. "Tower Block" opens with a panicked teenager desperately looking for help from residents in an apartment building, but he's ignored and winds up dead. Some time later, though, those same residents find themselves targeted by a sniper seemingly bent on revenge for their indifference. It's the basic premise of a hundred slashers, as someone is wronged through callousness and then avenged later by an unknown assailant — but the sniper rifle adds a fairly unique touch. (Check out the trailer for a sense of the film's tense setup and execution.)

Jack O'Connell (recently seen in "Sinners") takes something of a lead as a petty crook turned unlikely hero struggling to stay alive and stop the carnage, but it's essentially an ensemble thriller with a very high body count. Co-directors Ronnie Thompson and James Nunn keep the energy high and pace moving, and they don't shy away from the red stuff as bullets do what bullets do. The final reveal as to the killer's identity is actually an engaging surprise that comes with its own bit of social commentary.

Leave it to Hong Kong cinema to tell a sniper story complete with style, wild zooms, flashy thrills, and a wholly generic title. There are actually three snipers equally centered in 2009's "The Sniper," but while all of them start off as cops, one goes rogue after accidentally killing a hostage during a standoff. Newly released from jail and out for revenge against his former unit leader, it's up to Hartman and newcomer OJ to neutralize the threat.

Director Dante Lam has delivered some unforgettable action films over the years from "Beast Cops" to "Beast Stalker," and while this can't quite reach their highs, it's still a slickly entertaining sniper movie. There's a near fetishization of the sniper early on as we move through training lessons and short speeches on breathing and focus, but Lam quickly moves things forward by ramping up the competing egos and wild card of cop turned villain. Plenty of blood squibs, sweat-drenched foreheads, and highly improbable — but cool — rifle shots follow.

Author Stephen Hunter's bestselling novels about a U.S. Marine veteran sniper named Bob Lee Swagger were adapted to television for three seasons, but the first book hit the big screen a decade earlier with "Shooter." Swagger is tasked with helping stop a presidential assassination only to be double-crossed and framed for the shooting. Now on the run as the most wanted man in America, he's forced to unravel a conspiracy in the hopes of clearing his name.

Mark Wahlberg gives Swagger a fitting mix of competence and cockiness while the supporting player roster is rich in talent including Michael Pena, Danny Glover, Ned Beatty, and Elias Koteas. The conspiracy is basic enough as politicians are all dirty and the government is deeply corrupt — we even meet Swagger as he's reading the 9/11 Commission Report — but director Antoine Fuqua brings the goods with some stellar set pieces and action sequences as our hero snipes his way towards the truth. Big stunts, practical blood squibs, and some rousing rifle action seal the deal making "Shooter" a great sniper movie, though it didn't quite make our list of Mark Wahlberg's best movies.

Snipers are the villains in nearly half of the films on this list, but none are as cruelly sadistic and coldly efficient as the bad guy in "Downrange." A group of young adults traveling by SUV find themselves stranded on a rural road and targeted by an unknown shooter. The killer takes out most of them while also downing numerous others unfortunate enough to drive into the situation, and the film quickly makes it clear that literally no one is safe.

The film is essentially a single-location thriller, and it makes good use of the stretch of road and wooded surroundings. Director Ryuhei Kitamura creates a pervading sense of dread and danger that rarely lets up, but he punctuates it with gory splatter and some deadly serious beats that seem to almost cross over into the blackly comic. The final moment, in particular, offers such a nihilistic exclamation mark after all that came before that you're likely to laugh aloud in shock. It won't be to everyone's taste, but it definitely feels apiece with the carnage that precedes it.

Sniper films are predominantly male-centric, but the sole exception here is also the rare entry based on a true story. Lyudmila Pavlichenko joined the Russian Red Army in the fight against Nazi oppression during World War II, and she went on to become the most successful female sniper in history. She's credited with over three hundred confirmed kills — all Nazis, making this a highly satisfying story for our times — and many of them unfold over the course of the film's focus on the "Battle for Sevastopol."

There's arguably too much time spent on various romances in the film, but they're forgivable as the story engages throughout. Yulia Peresild does good work in the title role capturing Lyudmila's balance between the struggles of war and those of being a woman (at war), and director Sergey Mokritsky pairs the action and drama with some visually striking sequences and scenery. An interesting side note, the film is a Russian/Ukrainian co-production, and one of the film's co-writers was killed in 2023 while fighting for Russia during their invasion of Ukraine.

The director of "The Last Picture Show" and the star of 1931's "Frankenstein" aren't exactly the two talents you expect to see come together for a film about a mass murdering sniper, but "Targets" is all about defying expectations. Boris Karloff plays a variation on himself, a true legend of horror cinema playing an aging legend of horror cinema, who's set to retire in a couple days but finds himself caught up in the real-life horror of a mass shooting.

The film follows both storylines, destined to collide soon enough, and while they seem disparate enough, there's actually meaning and pathos tying the two together. Karloff's career celebrated classical horrors built on dark fantasy, and part of why he's retiring is his recognition that the genre has gotten far too ugly and mean for his tastes and sensibilities. It's kept pace with the world, though, and those cruelties are found in the actions of a shooter ending lives indiscriminately and coldly from atop a drive-in movie screen. The collision of worlds makes for thrilling genre fare even as its social commentary stings.

Few films date themselves purely through their location as quickly as 2002's "Phone Booth," because, seriously, when's the last time you saw an actual phone booth out in the wild? That realization never gets in the way of the suspenseful fun here, though, as everyone is on their A-game for a tight, eighty-minute thrill ride. Colin Farrell (in one of his best movies) is a big city publicist smooth-talking his way through life, but it all comes screeching to a halt when he answers a ringing phone and finds himself targeted by a sniper who promises to shoot if he hangs up.

Engaging direction from Joel Schumacher pairs beautifully with Larry Cohen's tight, high-concept script — one of the late writer/director's many unforgettable films over the years — that delivers single-location thrills on a busy NYC street corner. Forest Whitaker, Katie Holmes, and Radha Mitchell all come through, but the show belongs to a terrifically good Farrell and the playfully ominous voicework from Kiefer Sutherland. It may be dated, but it's still a terrific little thriller.

While military and police snipers often work in pairs, the role of a shooter is typically one of a loner. It's just them and the world they see through their scope, so it's not surprising when people with deranged, destructive mindsets find themselves on that side of the glass. What is surprising, though, is just how ahead of its time 1952's "The Sniper" is in zeroing in on that dark mentality.

The film follows a young man who begins killing women with a sniper rifle. He's fueled by misogyny and a clear prototype for the incels of today, and it's made clear that society and the systems meant to identify people in need with mental illness are failing at every turn. Director Edward Dmytryk pairs that social commentary with an unusual attention given to the film's female victims. They're not just skirts walking down the street, and instead they're people we spend time with well before they enter the killer's crosshairs. The result is an affecting and sad drama in the form of a thriller.

Lee Child's intelligent but jacked former Army investigator is currently riding high on both the bestseller lists and television, but 2012's feature debut for the character remains a wildly entertaining good time. "Jack Reacher" stars Tom Cruise — yes, he's shorter and smaller than the character is described in the books, but Cruise makes it work thanks to his presence and confidence despite what Child himself has to say on the subject — as Reacher, and he arrives in town after a former acquaintance is charged with killing several people by sniping them from across a river.

Director Christopher McQuarrie recognizes the importance of the sniper elements here and affords them the time they deserve through both visuals and dialogue. The opening attack unfolds without talk as we simply watch the setup and execution, and later scenes explore the sniper's psyche as Reacher details the man's training, practice, and frustration at missing out on action while in the service. Back in the present, the film delivers even more sniper beats with a third-act firefight as Reacher and a friend take on several baddies.

Most war films explore past conflicts for a reason, but sometimes, a movie about a conflict is produced and released while the conflict is still raging. "Sniper: The White Raven" was shot immediately prior to Russia's full-force invasion of Ukraine and follows a teacher-turned-sniper who joins the fight after Russian soldiers kill his wife and burn his home. The premise is every bit the generic revenge setup of a thousand action films, but reality and the film itself make it feel like so much more.

The film follows Mykola's initial training and quick application of his skills in the field, and we watch as his numerous missions eventually see him cross paths with the two soldiers who took everything from him. The film's take on the invading Russians is both harsh and accurate to the moment, and additional thrills are found in the arrival of a Russian sniper sent to deal with Mykola. Like most war films produced during a war, this is arguably propaganda — but you're on the wrong side of history if you're arguing against it.

Sniper films are well-suited for single-location thrillers, so it's no surprise that one more has made our list. It's 2007, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq has been declared victorious, but for a sniper and his spotter, there's still more nightmare to come. The pair are targeted by a legendary Sunni sniper, and with one man (John Cena) down, the other (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is forced into the fight of his life from behind an old, crumbling wall.

Doug Liman steps back from his blockbuster filmography with "The Wall," a tight two-hander between an American soldier and an enemy voice on the radio. Like "Phone Booth" above, the core of the film becomes the relationship between these two men — the motivations and outcomes are vastly different, but it's still conversation punctuated by personal realizations and rifle shots. Liman finds real tension and suspense in a short running-time managing visceral and emotional thrills along the way. There's some commentary on the war itself, but it's a personal sadness that stays with you.

We sometimes think of mass shootings as a modern invention, but one of the deadliest remains one that unfolded on a summer day in 1966. A man ascended a university clock tower overlooking the grounds and opened fire with a rifle as people ran, hid, and died below. The incident inspired a couple of the films on this list, and it was actually dramatized less than a decade later with a young Kurt Russell as the shooter, but it's "Tower" that tells the story in the most humane way while still generating drama, thrills, and heart-wrenching emotions.

Director Keith Maitland uses archival footage and newly produced elements but reimagines things through rotoscope animation. It's reality and live action, but the animation element leaves it one step removed from the point of impact. The humanity and pain come through, though, in the words of survivors recounting what they experienced and witnessed that day. The focus is entirely on the victims and witnesses, the living and the dead, and the result is a film that's less entertainment and more captivating truth.

You can never have too many movies about Nazis being put in the ground, and the best sniper movie on our list celebrates just that as a Russian sniper unleashes his skills on German invaders. World War II rages, and the Germans have pushed their way to Stalingrad where resilient forces await. Vassili (Jude Law) becomes a legendary sniper and a propaganda tool for a struggling Russian military. His success draws a more experienced German sniper, and soon the two are in a head-to-head battle for the final head shot.

Easily the biggest, most lavish film on this list, "Enemy at the Gates" is a beautifully crafted tale of brutality and bravery on the battlefield. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud breathes life into his tale with thrilling cinematography and production design that sets the stage with the war-torn urban landscape of a bombed city. It looks incredible, and Annaud crafts memorable sequences showcasing Vassili's skills as well as those of his immediate counterpart (Ed Harris). Rachel Weisz co-stars as the former's love interest, a soldier in her own right, and she adds a sliver of humanity amid the bloody carnage and crumbling ruins.