The Marksman - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Marksman



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Liam Neeson reminds me of Keanu Reeves in many ways. He was really big during the 80s and 90s, and even into the early 2000s, but his career petered off after awhile. However, the Taken franchise restarted his career in much the same way that the John Wick movies did to Reeves. The 55+ year old actor was once again doing action movies and he had a fanbase once more. However, he has gone the way of many aging action stars and started to play very easy roles that he can do in his sleep. Neeson is not at the point where he’s doing Steven Seagal level Direct to Video movies just yet, but the 69 year old actor has been putting out movie after movie after movie with the same basic plot. He’s a super thief who has to kick some butt before turning himself in. He’s a super agent on a plane who has to catch a bad guy. He’s a super ex super commando marksman who has to save a kid and shoot bunches of bad guys while doing so. You get the picture.

The Marksman is like most of the recent Neeson pictures. It starts out with an aging man named Jim (Neeson) who is just informed that his Arizona ranch is being foreclosed on by the bank due to the economic down turn. The poor rancher has just lost his wife a year ago, and now the last remaining things he has left are his dog Jackson and this ranch. He’s ready to just call it quits when a mother and her son jump the border across his ranch where he witnesses the Cartel try to murder the two. Refusing to let the two illegal immigrants get executed on his watch, Jim shoots at the cartel members and happens to kill one of them. Unfortunately the mother takes a bullet to the gut and dies on site, leaving her son Miguel (Jacob Perez) alone with a bag full of Cartel money in Jim’s care.

Miguel is going to be returned across the border where he’s sure to be killed by the cartel (or worse, turned into a child soldier), leaving Jim with no choice. His mother had begged him before her death to take Miguel to Chicago where he had relatives, and now the rancher with nothing left to lose figures he might as well honor her wish before the kid is put into even worse hands. Now it’s a cross country trek to get Miguel back home as the two dodge the cartel members hot on their heels, and Jim tries to find some meaning in his ending life.

As I said a paragraph or so above. The Marksman is pretty much the same old plot that Neeson’s had the last few movies. He’s an ex Marine sniper with skills that make him a nightmare to people like you, and he’s going to use his arthritic super soldier body to do some justice before he gets too old. Director Robert Lorenz tries to imbue the story with a heart, blending some sympathy for the plight of Miguel and his family coming from Cartel ridden Mexico, but it gets lost among the many cliches and typical action sequences that feel like they are right out of the Liam Neeson post 2010 playbook. Grumble a bit, shoot some bad guys, do a good deed, shoot some more bad guys.

The dialog can be a big cringey at times, with Neeson’s charisma making up for some of the obviously stilted writing and weak direction. The movie itself is not BAD by any means, but if you’ve seen the last few Neeson movies, then you’ve already seen this one too. Neeson does a solid job as the ex Marine with a mission (although there is a SUPER painful scene to watch inside of a gun store that any gun owner would just wince at watching), and Perez does a decent job as Miguel. Personally, I’m a fan of Neeson’s work, and even though this is not top tier Liam, it’s certainly entertaining as basic popcorn film fodder.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for violence, some bloody images and brief strong language




Video:

Shot on digital cameras, The Markman is what one would expect for a modern movie with a big name actor attached to it. Shiny, glossy, full of colors, and more than capable of handling all of the fine details. The craggy face of 69 year old (next month almost to the day) shows up incredibly well, as does the green grass of Illinois, or the dusty ranch of his down in Southern Arizona (right up by me by no more than an hour or two according to the script). Clarity is razor sharp throughout, although I did notice some black crush inside the barn at the end of the shoot out, as well as the bar where Neeson’s character is getting hammered over learning that his ranch is being foreclosed on. There’s some minor softness to some faces here than there, but overall contrast and up close detailing is excellent. An all around great looking video encode with very few, if any, flaws.






Audio:

The one slightly disappointing part of the whole package was the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track. Don’t get me wrong, the track is perfectly serviceable and there isn’t any glaring PROBLEMS per se, but it IS a bit underwhelming. Dialog is the highlight of the 5.1 mix, with strong center presence and great surround usage for the action bits. I just had to notice that the surrounds were just a HAIR low and the bass is rather anemic. Bass IS there and you can make out it’s presence when needed, but the pop and punch that you would expect for an action movie just weren’t there. I actually had a few scenes that I was really expecting them to light up and had to go over to my subs and make sure that the amp light was on and sending signal. Good sound, a bit softer on the bass than I’d like, but a decent mix that is more than serviceable.
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Extras:

• The Making of The Marksman

Final Score: ​

The Marksman follows straight down the path that the last several Liam Neeson movies have done. A simple film with a cookie cutter plot made for a craggy and aging Liam Neeson Super Taken action star. He punches a few times, he shoots lots of bad guys, and the script just sort of sputters along with what would be at home in your average DTV film if not for Liam adding some much needed charisma to the endeavor. Great video, decent audio, but definitely skimpy on the extras. There’s a decent movie inside of The Marksman, but just don’t go in expecting another Taken….well, maybe Taken 3. Rental for sure.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Liam Neeson, Jacob Perez, Teresa Ruiz, Antonio Leyba, Katheryn Winnick
Directed by: Robert Lorenz
Written by: Chris Charles, Danny Kravitz, Robert Lorenz
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, German
Studio: Universal
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 108 minutes
Blu-Ray Release May 11th, 2021

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will check it out once available on amazon prime/netflix.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I've always liked Neeson in whatever he's played in... going way back... great actor for sure.

For a guy that seems to have so much controversy over our second amendment rights, he sure does use a lot of guns in his films.

You have me curious about the gun store scene now.

 

[Michael Scott]

I've always liked Neeson in whatever he's played in... going way back... great actor for sure.

For a guy that seems to have so much controversy over our second amendment rights, he sure does use a lot of guns in his films.

You have me curious about the gun store scene now.

lol, as someone like yourself who is BEHIND the counter, you'll get a wincing chuckle out of that scene.