![]() Cinematographer Mark Patten shoots this patriotic imagery as if it were a commercial for Chevy trucks-all that’s missing is Bob Seger singing “Like a Rock.”īut Jim’s peace is shattered when a mother and son cross into the United States from Mexico through a section of fence that borders his land. An American flag waves in the foreground as he approaches his modest house. At the film’s start, we see him driving along dusty roads in his pickup with his pooch riding shotgun as the setting sun bathes the desert landscape in a warm glow. It’s been a year since his wife died of cancer, and he spends his days with his trusty dog, Jackson, patrolling the property he’s in danger of losing to the bank. Neeson stars as rancher Jim Hanson, a Marine and decorated Vietnam War veteran living a quiet life in southern Arizona along the Mexico border. And despite his ever-formidable presence, Neeson seems to be going through the motions, even as he’s kicking ass. Director Robert Lorenz seems to be aiming for the kind of cranky-old-man-on-a-mission movies Clint Eastwood has directed and stars in of late-which makes sense, given that Lorenz has produced several Eastwood films over the past two decades including “ Million Dollar Baby” and “ Gran Torino” and directed him in “Trouble With the Curve.” But while the sheen of such movies exists here-perhaps too much, given the subject matter-the substance is sorely missing. The story is thin, the suspense is wan, and the action sequences are uninspired. There’s not much to the character Neeson plays, or anyone else in the film, for that matter. But this year’s entry in the subgenre, “The Marksman,” is particularly mediocre. It’s time for your annual Liam Neesoning: that cinematic tradition in which the seasoned star plays a grizzled character with a particular set of skills, which come in handy to dispatch bad guys and rescue good ones.
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