Canada: Friday, April 02, 2021
Nationwide: Friday, January 15, 2021
Briarcliff Entertainment
for violence, some bloody images and brief strong language.
Hardened Arizona rancher Jim Hanson simply wants to be left alone as he fends off eviction notices and tries to make a living on an isolated stretch of borderland. But everything changes when Hanson, an ex-Marine sharpshooter, witnesses 11-year-old migrant Miguel fleeing with his mother Rosa from drug cartel assassins led by the ruthless Mauricio. After being caught in a shoot-out, a dying Rosa begs Jim to take her son to safety to her family in Chicago. Defying his cop daughter Sarah, Jim sneaks Miguel out of the local U.S. Customs and Border Patrol station and together, they hit the road with the group of killers in pursuit.
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Gregory M. - Rated it 3 out of 5
"The Markman" Hardened Arizona rancher Jim Hanson (Liam Neeson) simply wants to be left alone as he fends off eviction notices and tries to make a living on an isolated stretch of borderland. But everything changes when Hanson, an ex-Marine, witnesses 11-year-old migrant Miguel (Jacob Perez) fleeing with his mother Rosa (Teresa Ruiz) from drug cartel assassins led by the ruthless Mauricio (Juan Pablo Raba). After being caught in a shoot out, an injured Rosa begs Jim to take her son to safety to her family in Chicago. Defying his stepdaughter Sarah (Katheryn Winnick), Jim sneaks Miguel out of the local 'U.S. Customs And Border Patrol' station and together, they hit the road with the group of killers in pursuit. Jim and Miguel slowly begin to overcome their differences and begin to forge an unlikely friendship, while Mauricio and his fellow assassins blaze a cold-blooded trail, hot on their heels. At the beginning of the movie, Jim Hanson's kind of indifferent to the plight of these 'Mexican' immigrant folks. He's got his own problems to deal with. But over the course of the story, Jim finds his salvation by helping someone else. Jim redeems himself by going through this transformation where he becomes less selfish and more selfless. The title character is being 'Very Eastwoodian'. True to the iconic Clint Eastwood persona, sharp-shooting rancher Jim Hanson is a taciturn loner doing the right thing with a minimum of fuss or fanfare. Jim is character representative of a lot of people in this country. A guy and this kid being pursued by 'The Cartel. In between the big action scenes, "The Marksman" includes several talking-and driving sequences that dramatize Jim and Miguel's evolving relationship. One of the favorite moments in the movie happened in the cab of the pickup truck, where Jim and Miguel give each other a fist bump. That's totally improvised, and it looks natural. For this story to work you've to feel like the villain is ruthles. He can't just be sort of a bad guy. Cartel assassin Maurico creates tension and raises the stakes for Jim and Miguel's journey, so he's got to seem dangerous. The character doesn't have relationships with others. Maurico's more like a dog. He sees something, he doesn't think about it. And everything in 'The United States' is new to him, so that makes a lot of noise in his head. Sarah (Katheryn Winnick) directs the local 'Border Patrol' office while navigating a somewhat strained relationship with her stepfather. She's very compassionate in the way she goes about her job. This being in many ways a road movie, it's important for the audience to move from this kind of desolate stark landscape of the southwest to the lush green heartland of America. The film wants you to feel that these characters are on an American journey. "The Marksman" offers moviegoers an opportunity to immerse themselves in a timely American journey rich with possibility. In a world filled with alienation and friction, "The Marksman" is ultimately a story of two very unlikely souls coming together and forming what you could call a family. We can all benefit from applying that to our lives. It's a western, in a way, and it's also a road movie, which lent itself well to telling stories with pictures. "The Marksman" captures the diversity of this country. But there's no agenda. It's a human story that cuts across all the different viewpoints and allows people to respond on an emotional level. A riveting blend of character study, contemporary western, road movie and action thriller, "The Marksman" aims to stir audiences on a visceral level. written by Gregory Mann
