The Marksman

Rule number one of cinema. Never threaten a child. Just don't do it. Things won't end well for you. Rule number two of cinema. Never ever threaten a dog. That's the first ingredient of your demise. Especially if said dog belongs to Liam Neeson and you already know he's a dab hand with a sniper rifle. Then you've no one to blame but yourself for what happens next.

Jim Hanson's existing on the Texas/Mexico border. After his wife's death a few years before he's let his life fall into disrepair and he's about to lose his home to the bank, a fact that doesn't really seem to bother him at all. While driving along the border fence at the edge of his land he almost collides with Rosa (Teresa Ruiz) and Miguel (Jacob Perez), a mother and son on the run from a gang of cartel hitmen led by a killer called Mauricio (Juan Pablo Raba). They plead with Jim for help and he gets caught up in a shootout that sees a gang member being killed by a bullet from ex-marine Jim's weapon. Now he's on the run with a new ward to care for and finally a reason to live again. 

There's so little originality in Liam Neeson's latest action thriller you'll wonder why he signed up for it at all. You've seen it all a thousand times before. Trouble along the border? Check. Ornery ol' cuss forced to take a stray under his wing? Check. Evil foreign villain supported by faceless goons? Check. Ornery ol'cuss bonding with stray? Double check. At no point during The Marksman will you not be able to guess what's going to happen next. You could fall asleep at the 20 minute mark and snooze for an hour and easily work out what you'd missed. It feels lazy and pointless and yet....

Neeson. The man can make anything watchable. Even when he's on autopilot, which he very much is here, you'll be glued to him. Hearing Jim talk about his wife while knowing about Neeson losing Natasha Richardson in tragic circumstances gives the film a much needed sliver of depth and helps you empathise with his character. He gives the film a touch of gravitas and it makes his scenes with little Jacob Perez that bit more believable. Perez is a decent young actor who somehow manages to sell a character arc verging on ridiculousness and he fares better than the other cast members especially Katheryn Winnick who's wasted in an absolutely pointless role as Jim's stepdaughter/border agent and Juan Pablo Raba who's Mauricio is nothing but a remorseless killing machine. Only in his final seconds does the film give him any bit of shading but it's far too little too late.

The Marksman is streaming and available on disc now. A solid Neeson turn aside it's really only one for completists.