The Marksman review

It's nice having these Liam Neeson flicks to get us through the largely barren wasteland of the COVID era movie release schedule. Last fall we got the pretty good Honest Thief and now we get The Marksman, which is very formulaic but is also a really well done formulaic. It's among my favorites of the post-Taken Neeson era.

Neeson is a widowed rancher who runs across a mother and son crossing the border to escape some evil cartel goons. He ends up trying to get the kid to family in Chicago, but the whole way they are trailed by the impossibly well connected cartel goons.

Given the title you'd expect a lot of gunplay but the movie doesn't have a ton of action. I didn't mind. Neeson is very compelling even when he isn't cracking skulls. As usual he plays a guy with a particular set of skills, in this case as an ex-marine. And the bad guys make the mistake of fucking with his dog. Didn't they see John Wick?

The movie doesn't burst with originality. But I was into it the whole way. I wouldn't put it as high as something like Cold Pursuit or the first Taken, but it's definitely top 5 for the Neeson action star era. 

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