I know that Liam Neeson has had a few misses as of late, but I really do think that The Marksman is not bad at all. Any time that we get to see Liam Neeson be a tough guy, I am always at the very least going to give that movie a chance. Even though the last few action/thriller movies with him have not been smash hits, The Marksman I feel is one of the better ones he has done recently.
How to Stream or Download The Marksman
You can stream it or you can download the film from a digital store. Click on the Download button located below this review. If you like Liam Neeson, check him out also in Schindler’s List, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Taken, Men in Black: International, or Blacklight.
The Movie Review
To start with I really do like the setting of The Marksman. It takes place in an Arizona border town and stars Liam Neeson as a retired military man, Jim Hanson. Jim has seen his fair share of bad stuff during his military career and now he lives a simple life, reporting illegal border crossings to his daughter as she works for the border patrol. Jim is also an alcoholic and likes to be left alone, well that was the impression I got.
On a “normal” day he catches a border hopper called Rosa and her son Miguel, illegally coming into the USA. Jim learns that Rosa and Miguel are on the run from a Mexican drug cartel and before he can get more of the story, the cartel shows up and kill Rosa. She gives Jim the address of some family in Chicago and Jim decides to try and get the boy to his family as in his heart, he wants to do the right thing.
We have all seen these movies where a grizzled old man tries to protect a kid before and I think that is part of the problem people had with The Marksman. It is not trying to do anything new and it does feel like a movie that you have seen before. However, I will say that The Marksman is still a fun time and while predictable, it does what it does very well and has some cool action scenes that let Mr. Neeson shine!
I think that Liam Neeson is great in his role and the way he and Miguel interact with each other was something I found pretty interesting. Again, we have seen this kind of relationship before so it is nothing new, but I still thought that it was well done. You were also not sure of who you could always trust in the movie which I liked and is an aspect of the movie I do not think that it gets enough credit for.
There are some movies that have a lot of negative buzz around them and I scratch my head and wonder why, The Marksman is one of those movies. I had a lot of fun with this movie and yes, it is playing it safe and not doing anything you have not seen before, but is that really a bad thing if you are entertained? For the little over 90 minutes this movie lasted, I can hand on heart say that I had a great time and was very entertained by it.
