Mark Reviews Movies: THE MARKSMAN (2021)

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Review by Mark Dujsik | January 14, 2021

The attempted thrills of the chase overcome the better story within The Marksman. In it, a set-in-his-ways rancher, who regularly reports migrants from Mexico who cross into the United States, learns to see the desperation, the uncertainty, and the humanity of someone he would have previously dismissed as just an "illegal alien." There's a promising character study here, as well as tale about political evolution by way of decency and empathy.

That's not the story screenwriters Chris Charles, Danny Kravtiz, and Robert Lorenz (the last of whom also directed) set out to tell, though. It's here for sure, though, unmistakable and touching as the rancher and a young boy travel across the country, learning about each other and finding some common ground in their experiences. That tale works.

There's a whole other side to this story, though, and it's definitely the focus and driving force of Lorenz's movie. The American man and the Mexican boy are also on the run from a small group representing a Mexican drug cartel, which is looking for money stolen from them and bloody vengeance for someone daring to steal from them in the first place. It becomes difficult to appreciate the quieter, more thoughtful parts of this story, especially when the engines start revving and the bullets start flying.

The rancher is Jim (Liam Neeson), an Arizona man and Marine Corps veteran whose ranch lies near the U.S.-Mexico border. He has been a widower for about a year, following his wife's death from cancer. The ranch work has suffered for his grief, and a man from the bank tells Jim his property will be auctioned in three months. His stepdaughter Sarah (Katheryn Winnick), a border patrol agent, has to collect him from the bar after receiving the news.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, a man is killed—his body left hanging from an overpass—for robbing from a local cartel. It's not enough that he dies. The cartel also wants to make an example of the man's family, namely his sister Rosa (Teresa Ruiz), who's holding the money for her brother, and her 11-year-old son Miguel (Jacob Perez).

With a warning to flee, mother and son make their way across the border, where Jim happens upon them. The cartel members, led by the murderous Mauricio (Juan Pablo Raba), approaches from the other side of the border fence.

The simple side of this plot should be obvious. Jim fights back against the cartel members, rescues the mother and her son, has to protect the boy after his mother is killed, and then spends the rest of the movie trying to get Miguel to a safe location with family in the U.S., while also trying to outrun, outwit, and outmaneuver the pursuing gang.

Does it need to be stated that Mauricio ends up with a vendetta against Jim after his brother is killed in the first firefight? Does it need to be pointed out that the cartel has all sorts of tools, like a credit card-tracking program, and allies, including a bought-and-paid-for cop who stops the two, at their disposal to maintain the chase from Arizona to the outskirts of Chicago? Is it worth mentioning that most of the resulting encounters are based on convenience (Spies are only watching one of the multiple routes into the city, which just happens to be the one Jim takes), a lack of logic (It takes a while for Jim to realize his credit card might be giving them away, even though he also knows his own government is probably looking for them, too), and bad luck (A radiator shot in the first act is most certainly going to give out by the third act)?

All of this—as well as some car chases, a fight, some close calls out of and sneaking away from danger, and a climactic shootout—should be expected. Lorenz handles the action well enough, even if the setups leading to those sequences leave us with more than a few questions.

We also and likely expect that Jim and Miguel are going to bond in some way on their cross-country adventure. The surprise, though, is how well—with real sympathy and a genuine sense of connection—those scenes are handled here. These are two characters in mourning and filled with uncertainty about the course of their lives, and as they talk (after Miguel gives up his silence, which makes Jim believe the boy can't speak English), they help each other through that feeling of loss, a lot of doubt about what life still has in store for them, and a sense of anger for what fate or the deeds of violent men have brought upon them.

There is, in other words, a compassionate and sensitive story beneath all of the fighting and chasing and shooting. Indeed, as much as we know the action is ultimately the point here, we start to wonder—too much and too often—if that really needed to be the case. There's already plenty conflict between and within these main characters, and isn't that—these two learning to trust each other and growing in their outlooks—the real drama? The filmmakers certainly seem to know that's important to the story of The Marksman, and it's just a shame they didn't consider it was the most important element.

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