The Marksman (2021)

Routine Action Thriller - The Marksman review by GI

A routine action thriller with Liam Neeson toning down his usual action man stuff. This is the sort of film that at one time Clint Eastwood would have starred in and indeed director Robert Lorenz has worked on Eastwood films in the past. Neeson plays Jim, a widowed Arizona rancher down on his luck. He ends up promising a dying woman to take her young son Miguel (Jacob Perez) to her family in Chicago. But the boy is being hunted by nasty Cartel baddies which cues a long road movie, where the curmudgeonly Jim bonds with the boy whilst they manage to get away from the tattooed nasties. It all points to the inevitable confrontation which is a bit of a disappointment especially as the title and the narrative all allude to Jim's past as a Marine sniper but he's forever losing his guns and doesn't do much sniping. The film rips from Sicario (2015) even using the same music and there's numerous examples of similar stories that have all been better. Average stuff, entertaining in parts but nothing memorable.