A rancher on the Arizona border becomes the unlikely defender of a young Mexican boy desperately fleeing the cartel assassins who’ve pursued him into the U.S.
Liam Neeson was known as a dramatic actor throughout his career, starring in such films as “Lamb,” “The Mission,” “Nell,” “Michael Collins,” and who could forget his Oscar-nominated turn in Steven Spielberg’s towering masterpiece, “Schindler’s List”? But all that changed in 2009 when he starred in a low-budget thriller called “Taken,” where he starred as a distraught father who tracks down his daughter’s kidnappers while on a trip to France with a friend and uses “a very particular set of skills” to bring them to justice. With the expected “Taken 2” and “Taken 3” sequels, he began to make a name for himself as an action hero, at a sprightly 57 years young and appeared in other action vehicles like “Clash of the Titans” and its less-than-stellar sequel, “Wrath of the Titans,” as well as “The A-Team,” “Unknown,” “The Grey,” “Battleship,” and “Non-Stop,” to name but a few.
At a now energetic 68, Mr. Neeson shows no signs of slowing down as he is working on six films in various stages of production. While he has opened up a new niche in his career, not all of those movies have been big hits or good films. And sadly, that is the case with “The Marksman.” Overall, it is entertaining, but it is banal and characteristic of so many other better-produced films in the action-thriller genre.
Neeson plays Jim Hanson, a former U.S. Marines sniper, Vietnam War veteran, widower, and drunk who now lives on the Arizona-Mexico border, reporting attempted illegal crossings into the US to his step-daughter Sarah (Katheryn Winnick), who is an agent at the local United States Border Patrol office. When he encounters a Mexican mother, Rosa (Teresa Ruiz), and her young son Miguel (Jacob Perez), who have just crossed the border, they are chased by a group of men who work for one of the Mexican Cartels. Rosa pleads with Jim to help and while reluctant to get involved, when the Cartel opens fire on them, he shoots back, killing two of the men. He escapes from the scene with Rosa and Miguel in his truck but shortly thereafter, Rosa dies from a gunshot wound and begs Jim to take Miguel to waiting family in Chicago, handing him an address.
Jim turns to Sarah, who takes Miguel to the Border Patrol office where he is to be deported back to Mexico. He learns that Rosa’s brother stole money from the Cartel and gave it to Rosa so she could have a better life for her and Miguel but they found out about it and tracked her down. Jim discovers bundles of cash in Rosa’s purse and her words of helping get Miguel safely to Chicago come back to haunt him. He knows if he returns to Mexico he will be killed so he sneaks Miguel out of the Border Patrol office and the duo head off to Chicago but with the Cartel not far behind, Jim must rely on his instincts and former military training, if they are to make it to the Windy City in one piece.
“The Marksman” has all the makings of a good thriller but sadly, it resorts to every clichéd trope in the book and adds nothing new to the movie. Neeson is the film’s only saving grace and without him, the movie would have suffered even more. Initially, Jim and Miguel do not like each other but over the course of the story, they slowly begin to bond and trust in each other but then there is the inevitable final shootout, where the main antagonist of the film comes face to face with Jim, and they engage in a fight to the death. Naturally, Jim saves the day and manages to get Miguel safely to his final destination in Chicago, only to leave him there and pass away on a city bus, knowing he did the right thing. There are a few exciting shootouts and the finale’s big brawl is, at times, intensified but a few good scenes do not a good movie make. “The Marksman” is for die-hard Neeson fans only.
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