- Director : Robert Lorenz
- Writers : Chris Charles, Danny Kravitz, Robert Lorenz
- Producers : Tai Duncan, Mark Williams, Warren Goz, Eric Gold, Robert Lorenz
- Actors : Liam Neeson, Katheryn Winnick, Juan Pablo Raba, Teresa Ruiz
- MPAA rating : PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
- Aspect Ratio : 2.39:1
- Media Format : Digital_copy, NTSC, Subtitled
- Run time : 1 hour and 48 minutes
- Release date : May 11, 2021
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1), Spanish (DTS 5.1)
- Studio : Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Everything about The Marksman feels very carefully constructed, but done so by a group of producers rather than storytellers. The difference between the two is often creativity: whereas a screenwriter or director are interested in the best way to tell a story, a producer is most interested in how to sell tickets. As a result, we get a production that is made up of Clint Eastwood collaborators making a movie that is similar to the ones he used to make. The casting of Liam Neeson in the title role is an acceptable stand-in for Eastwood, but also brings to mind any number of thrillers that have become his bread-and-butter since the success of the Taken franchise. The Marksman (originally The Minuteman) even has a plot which is intentionally timely, adding another reason to convince audiences to buy those tickets.
Neeson stars as Jim, a rancher living in Arizona on the border of Mexico, who usually calls immigration when he sees illegal activity. This routine changes when Jim comes between a group of cartel assassins chasing a woman (Teresa Ruiz) and her young boy, Miguel (Jacob Perez). After promising his mother, Jim takes it upon himself to get Miguel to his family living in Chicago, with the dangerous killers on their tail. The themes of a film involving a border patroller who suddenly has a change of heart after meeting a young Mexican boy are transparent from the very beginning, despite the film’s attempt to stay mostly apolitical and Neeson’s inability to stop using an accent that makes him also sound foreign.
The bigger problem the film has is follow-through. Although the basic premise is socially relevant and the story exactly what you would expect for Neeson, it is also plagued by the most generic plotting and contrived relationships. Only action can save a movie like this, and The Marksman just doesn’t have enough to overcome the shortcomings that dominate most of the run-time. While there is the occasional scene of action, more of this run-time is spent as a road trip movie with saccharine intentions. Calling a film The Marksman leaves the audience with expectations of gunplay that this film did not deliver on.
The Blu-ray release for The Marksman does come with multiple ways to watch the film: there is a DVD and digital copy, on top of the Blu-ray disc. Unfortunately, the only extra on the discs themselves is a making-of featurette.
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Quality of Filmmaking: 6/10
Historical Significance: 3/10
Special Features: 3/10
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