‘The Marksman’ Film Review: Liam Neeson Shoots Straight but the Script Is Scattershot
You’ve seen an armed, angry Neeson in countless films more interesting than this oneAlonso Duralde | January 12, 2021 @ 6:16 AM
Open Road
As surely as the ball drops in Times Square, the beginning of every new year always yields a new movie in which Liam Neeson is armed and wronged, which brings us to 2021 and “The Marksman.”
Granted, Neeson’s reign as an action hero of a certain age has yielded at least one genuinely worthwhile film (“The Grey”) alongside some delightfully trashy collaborations with director Jaume Collet-Serra (“Unknown,” “Non-Stop,” “Run All Night,” “The Commuter”). “The Marksman,” alas, plods along without any sense of vitality or absurdity; director and co-writer Robert Lorenz (“Trouble With the Curve”) has spent much of his career working almost exclusively with Clint Eastwood, so it’s not a stretch to surmise that this vehicle was crafted to follow in the well-worn path of “Gran Torino” and “The Mule.”