Le vétéran

Perhaps some people expect a fast action movie from Liam Neeson, but The Marksman is a slower and touchy story with enough tension and violence to satisfy many viewers. A star rating of 7 is justified.

Enjoyable but in the end, sad film. Liam has a role where he can act his age, which is a plus (no sex with hot women half his age). You care about the characters. Sure, it is a bit contrived, but you need to have a story. But it has a bittersweet ending.

Jim Hanson (Liam Neeson) has a shrinking property on the American Mexican border. The bank is foreclosing on what's left of his property including the hill where he spread his late wife's ashes. Her medical treatments had drained their life savings. He often finds illegals crossing his property. One day, he comes across Rosa and her son Miguel. They're on the run from the Mexican cartel. Jim gets into a gun battle and kills one of the cartel gunmen. Rosa is killed. Eventually, Jim is on the run with Miguel. Jim's stepdaughter Sarah Pennington (Katheryn Winnick) is a border agent.

This needs a few script changes including several situations during the final confrontation. There are some bad old fashion holdouts with the ending. Jim would never lay down his gun. As soon as that happens, both him and the kid would be killed. The biggest change I would make is to get rid of the money. It muddies Jim's motivation in helping Miguel. It would also heighten the danger by taking away a resource. In addition, Jim should have used the money to buy a car. The bad guys know the car and he knows the bad guys know it after the corrupt cop. It's also shot up to heck and on its last legs. Another change is Miguel's declaration that he wants to go home. Here's the deal. The kid is written as a real smart character. He wouldn't be dumb enough to want to go home where he can expect certain death. Overall, I like this lone marine who wants to do the right thing and Liam Neeson playing it. The script for this simplistic story has a few flaws that needs cleaning up.

Liam Neeson's talent is wasted here. The story points are so predictable, with some being stupid. For someone who is alert to his surroundings (the hero lives on a border town), Liam's character never gave a thought as to how the bad guys keep ending up where they are. And to burn the cartel money while still basically on the run and the hero not having much money (he hasn't paid his mortgage for 6 months)!!?... Plain loco moves.

Good storyline... Liam Neeson was good. I just expected more than the movie delivered... the SUV rollover scene was ordinary at best.... Good undertone of a message about choosing our own way in life.