“The Marksman” (2021) stars Liam Neeson as Jim, a widow whose ranch is on the Mexican border. He routinely encounters undocumented Mexicans in need. He offers help along with a dutiful transmission to his stepdaughter, Sarah (Katheryn Winnick), a Border Patrol agent. When he believes that the government will not be able to protect a young boy, Miguel (Jacob Perez), on the run from drug cartel assassins, he decides to take Miguel to Chicago with the cartel in hot pursuit so Miguel can reunite with his family. 

“The Marksman” is not your standard Neeson flick. Robert Lorenz, the director and one of three cowriters, usually produces Clint Eastwood flicks, and even the film’s bonus features reference them. Neeson makes a more affable protagonist than curmudgeon Eastwood, who wields his grumpiness and age like weapons. Neeson succeeds at taking a different tact—a man who got accustomed to living his life a certain way, but is flooded with unexpected challenges. The movie is more about him learning to let go and heed the call to sacrifice again. The movie demands that he rise above the quotidian grind for one last spectacular act of duty. 

It feels as if Neeson took the role as an attempt to rehabilitate his disastrous public image, and the filmmakers wanted “The Marksman” to convert Americans against Presidon’t. The film takes great pains to depict Jim as an all-American everyman. He has ordinary problems-a dead wife, debt, and a foreclosure on the horizon. When he gets his first of many bad tidings, he is literally draped in the American flag. His relationship to the Border Patrol proves that he has faith in the US government, and he served in the Marine Corps. I understood that he was a vet, but if multiple characters did not explicitly say it, I would not have recognized the tattoo on his arm. When he encounters Miguel’s mom, he protests, “I’m not a smuggler, lady. Border Patrol will help you out.” All his guns are registered, and he obeys highway patrol even while on the run. So when Jim starts breaking the rules, ordinary viewers cannot dismiss him as a bleeding heart liberal. There is even a scene devoted to the inconvenience of background checks before purchasing a gun to reassure their target audience that they are in the right place. The film suggests that if someone like Jim is willing to break the law and protect a child, then it is not a bad thing—as if it ever was, but all this heavy-handed patriotism serves another purpose.

The dig against Presidon’t is the most subtle part of “The Marksman.” Jim never mentions him by name, but when he tries to explain his reasons for rescuing Miguel to Sarah, he makes a clear reference to the federal government’s treatment of undocumented children. He scoffs at Sarah’s reassurance that Miguel could get asylum. It is a clear criticism of the government-that the government is either incapable, unwilling or too corrupt to protect children. So Jim performs the function that the government cannot as a throwback to a time when it could—if it ever did since hurting children seems to be a feature, not a flaw. The film suggests that true Americans would act similarly to the protagonist. Jim challenges the cartel, but also the government by saying, “These illegals are mine,” which is cringe worthy. Bear in mind that the border has vigilantes who have the same impulse but use it as an excuse to hurt undocumented immigrants. The film tries to reclaim that language and use a macho action hero to persuade those people in the audience to listen to the angels of their better nature. 

I do not think that “The Marksman” succeeded. Reason cannot reach zealots, and this film does not even make good propaganda. The Neeson kicking ass action scenes are sparse. Neeson protecting a kid should be a hit, but the film waits until the end of the film to flesh out the lead villain’s backstory, which means there is a lack of tension between him and Jim other than a bit of vengeance. 

Instead the film makes the villain, Mauricio (Juan Pablo Raba), an anti-Jim, a man who calls himself a soldier, but has no morality. Without any foreshadowing, by the end, “The Marksman” reveals that he is a spectre of Miguel’s future if the US returns him to Mexico. It perpetuates a stereotype about Mexicans being criminals to motivate Americans to keep undocumented workers. If the film wanted to take that direction, the story should have been written in a way that would make the audience draw parallels between Miguel and Mauricio, but both are just archetypes and are two dimensional. 

It also felt as if “The Marksman” cut a lot of Sarah’s scenes. The film shows different law enforcement officers taking bribes from the cartel. Near the end, Sarah decides against sharing information with her partner. I incorrectly thought this reticence was a portend, and later in the film, we would discover that her partner was also corrupt. Cue a showdown. Nope. She just decides to side with her father figure never to be seen again. It was a missed opportunity, especially since Winnick is a television action star in “Vikings,” but the film gives her no fight scenes. A complete waste! After “Unknown” (2011), I expected that studios promised experience to expand their range from being objectified to handing out ass whoopings to his blonde women costars, but no, I suppose they could be dedicated daughters to. 

“The Marksman” makes such a specific choice to allude to Jim’s background-late marriage, no biological children, but not consider and use how that could influence his actions late in his life. His involvement is categorized as a continuation of his relationship, and he discourages Miguel from violence, but could not it also be a combination of his life prior to marriage, being a Vietnam vet? The film suggests no trauma. Somehow after Vietnam, he is a perfect spouse and stepdad to a single mom with a daughter despite being an alcoholic. Sarah does not go no contact once her mom dies, which should tell us something about Jim’s relationship to children. He does not get violent so he is not a mean drunk, but he is not a happy one. He gets sleepy. When they made the man, they did not consider his psychological profile.

You will have to wait until one hour twenty-six minutes for the movie to deliver on the title’s promise. You do get a taste of how Jim became a marksman after Jim initially meets Miguel and faces off with the cartel. I do not think that it is enough to make up for the torture that Jim goes through. With no attachments, Jim has nothing to lose, but Neeson chooses melancholy over a more sensational emotion. It is the right choice, but does not make for a thrilling action film. “The Marksman” strips Jim of everything, which makes the film more of a melodrama. The real heart of the film is Jim not having much reason to keep going except Miguel. There is a dog, Jackson, and I should have stopped watching as soon as he appeared. It is a brief murder scene that exists to make us hate the cartel more and sympathize with Jim. By the denouement, you should be able to predict Jim’s future. Neeson manages to tug some heart strings. If Taylor Sheridan decided to do a remake, the film would make a great neo-Western.