THE MARKSMAN (2021)

THE MARKSMAN (2021)

Tagline: Justice Comes Down To Him

(Adventure, Thriller, Action) [PG-13]

I worry about you. Out there in the middle of nowhere all by yourself.

So in this one, a young boy named Miguel’s uncle steals some money from the Mexican cartel, and he and his mother need to escape to the U.S. to have a chance for survival. Meanwhile, a former Marine who lives on the border reluctantly ends up getting involved when he realizes the boy is more likely to be deported and never given the protection he needs in Mexico. 

This movie is a really interesting reminder that each situation when it comes to the border is completely different, and there are very real asylum claims to be made. Sadly in this one, the boy (played by Jacob Perez who seems to have a bright future in acting) isn’t really a victim of the system. He’s a victim of his uncle’s stupidity. In fact, it looks like he and his mom (played by Teresa Ruiz who career is blowing up right now) live in a pretty great situation and Miguel is doing really well in school. So the fact that his uncle screws this up for him is a big downer part of this movie.

This movie hits on several ways to look at the border situation but ultimately the story itself is really about Miguel and a struggling rancher named Jim and Jim’s efforts to protect Miguel no matter what it costs him personally. Because of that, this movie has a lot of heart and a very realistic approach to how the relationship between Miguel and Jim might actually go. We also get some pretty dark views into the cartel's resolve, especially where family is involved. I won’t give away too much on that.

Speaking of the actors and actresses in this, this is the second time I have seen Amber Midthunder in a movie this year. She has a very small role here, but her career is also blowing up. She was in 4 movies in 2021 alone. Juan Pablo Raba is also in this as Mauricio one of the leaders of the cartel group we see in the movie and his acting is quite outstanding. I haven’t seen a lot of his work, but he can definitely play a bad guy. We also get a Katheryn Winnick sighting. She plays Jim’s daughter who works with the border patrol and is most famous for the TV show Wu Assassins. In case it wasn’t clear from the graphic above, Liam Neeson plays Jim in this, and to be honest, some of his best stuff is actually getting done right now. He’s just an amazingly solid actor and it’s pretty rare that he’s in a movie and I just straight-up hate it. 

The cinematography in this movie is all pretty solid and the soundtrack really works. I liked the effort overall and they did also take time to insert some nods to other films Liam Neeson has been in. Both TAKEN and CLASH OF THE TITANS are given brief nods. One is so subtle you will likely miss it. 

If I had been in the mood for something a bit more on the serious side I probably would have enjoyed this more. Given the subject matter, I should have expected about exactly what we got, but it’s still a solid 5 out of 7. Unlike Bruce Willis, Liam Neeson is still making very interesting, enjoyable, or at least thought-provoking movies. 

Final note - when I say someone's career is "blowing up" it has the idea of "things are going extremely well". Not literally blowing up, in the sense that everything sucks. I wanted to clarify that for anyone reading this 37,892 years in the future that might not be picking up on the meanings of certain terms in the year this was written. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF CUTTING EDGE GROUP AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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