Familiar targets
Liam Neeson chases more bad guys in ‘The Marksman’
There he goes again. Is it time again for Liam Neeson, the screen’s increasingly wrinkled and creaky avenging father figure, to shoot several more swarthy adversaries? Apparently it is, because we have “The Marksman,” an action film in which Neeson plays a rural Arizonian, ex-Marine version of his retired CIA operative Brian Mills. He’s big Jim Hanson, a grizzled Vietnam veteran, who can usually be found in his truck with his dog Jackson and his scope equipped M-14 at hand (he needs it to kill coyotes at “American Sniper” distances).
Jim is about to lose his ranch when he comes across a desperate young mother named Rosa (Teresa Ruiz) and her elementary school age son Miguel (Jacob Perez) illegally crossing into the U.S. with a truckload of cartel murderers on their trail. The cartel killers want to make an example of Rosa and Jacob after their loser uncle stole from them. A shootout breaks out. Jim’s truck gets drilled with bullets; Rosa is grievously wounded. Jim kills the brother of the leader of the bad guys, a psycho hombre named Mauricio (a scary Juan Pablo Raba), who leaves a trail of dead bodies. Against the advice of his police officer daughter Sarah (an underused Katheryn Winnick of “Vikings”), Jim decides to drive Miguel to relatives in Chicago, paying for gas, booze and food with his credit card. Jason Bourne, he ain’t.
Director Robert Lorenz, the producer of the Clint Eastwood classics “Mystic River” and “American Sniper,” made his directing debut with the middling Eastwood effort ”Trouble with the Curve.” “The Marksman,” which was shot in New Mexico, is a step down from that entertaining effort. Perhaps Lorenz had hoped to get Eastwood, who can be spotted in a scene from “Hang ‘Em High” (1968) on a motel TV screen, to star in “The Marksman.” That would explain why the character of Jim seems older than 68-year-old Neeson. “The Marksman” is one long, chase movie. It’s not bad. It’s just obvious, familiar and at times tiresome.
Co-written by first-timers Chris Charles, Danny Kravitz and Lorenz, “The Marksman” is a bit vague in plotting and staging. Jim’s laments about losing his wife are mostly hagiographic cliches. More could be made of Jim and Miguel as mismatched road-buddies. Perez has a strong enough presence to make Miguel’s silences interesting.
Mauricio addresses Jim as “old man” when they meet. Jim responds by addressing the Mexican as “Pancho.” Them’s fightin’ palabras. The glaring, assault-rifletoting members of Mauricio’s team are just human targets for Jim to punch holes in. You’d think Jim’s shot-up truck would get stopped by the cops on the way north more than once. Why does Mauricio steal Jim’s Silver Star before burning his ranch down?
In the final showdown, Mauricio goes all Darth Vader, offering to turn Miguel into a “soldier” for the cartel. How do you think this is going to end?