The Marksman

The Marksman is a 2021 American action thriller film directed by Robert Lorenz. The plot follows a rancher and former Marine (Liam Neeson), living in an Arizona border town, who must help a young boy (Jacob Perez) escape a Mexican drug cartel. Katheryn Winnick, Juan Pablo Raba, and Teresa Ruiz also star.

The film was theatrically released in the United States on January 15, 2021, by Open Road Films and Briarcliff Entertainment. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Neeson's performance but criticized the film as being formulaic.

Former United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper and Vietnam War veteran Jim Hanson, a widower and alcoholic lives along the Arizona-Mexico border alongside his dog, Jackson, and reports attempted illegal crossings to the United States Border Patrol, for whom his step-daughter Sarah Pennington works. One day, while on patrol, he encounters Rosa and her son Miguel, Mexican citizens on the run from the cartel. Hanson calls border patrol on them before he sees a cartel truck approaching. He ends the call and gets involved in a shootout with a cartel gang led by Mauricio. Hanson shoots and kills Mauricio's brother. Rosa is fatally wounded by one of the cartel members. Before she dies, she gives Hanson a note that lists her family's address in Chicago. Hanson reluctantly agrees to take Miguel to her family in Chicago.

Border patrol show up after her death and take in Miguel. One of the cartel members comes in and claims that he's a relative of Miguel. Hanson happens to see their car there and sneaks Miguel out to go to Chicago. The cartel use fake passports to get into America to follow Hanson and Miguel. A corrupt border patrol officer sees their gang tattoos, recognizes that the passports are fake, and allows them in anyway. After Hanson uses his credit card to repair his truck, Mauricio tracks the pair to Route 66 in Texas. A corrupt cop follows Hanson and Miguel and pulls them over after they found out where they were. The cop tells Hanson to get in the police vehicle while he “goes and talks to the boy”. The cop takes Hanson's driver's license and keys and searches his pickup truck, but never actually talks to Miguel. Realizing the officer is corrupt Hanson subdues the officer and retrieves his keys. A short while later, Mauricio and the rest of the cartel catch up with the corrupt officer and kill him while Hanson and Miguel watch from a distance.

Hanson and Miguel continue to make their way north. While staying at a motel, Hanson bribes the receptionist to not register him and Miguel as guests before the cartel shows up and during the escape, they kill Jackson. The patch on the truck's radiator fails while attempting to get away from the cartel and they are forced to stop. Eventually, Mauricio and his men catch up to Hanson and a firefight breaks out on a nearby farm. Hanson manages to kill three of the cartel members, but Mauricio captures Miguel. After a skirmish, Hanson is stabbed but seriously wounds Mauricio with a gunshot. Hanson offers him a coup de grâce leaving a single bullet in his gun or a choice to shoot Hanson. As Hanson and Miguel leave the farm, they hear a gunshot, indicating that Mauricio chose to commit suicide. The pair eventually reach Miguel's family in Chicago and the film ends with Hanson getting on a city bus. Realizing he's been fatally wounded, he finally closes his eyes and presumably dies.