Jake Gyllenhaal gives a dead-on-target performance as a marine followed from boot camp to his assignment as an elite sniper during Operation Desert Storm. The superb film is based on the memoir of ex-leatherneck Anthony Swofford (Gyllenhaal). Sam Mendes ("American Beauty") directed from a script by William Broyles Jr. Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris Cooper, Lucas Black, Brianne Davis, Jacob Vargas.