When a young mother and her son cross the Mexico-Arizona border with a cartel and the United States Border Patrol on their tail, they find help in the most unexpected place — a rancher and retired Marine who begrudgingly promises to get the son to family in Chicago, no matter what it takes. But will this lone former soldier’s training be enough to evade the deadly enemies hunting them?
The Marksman stars Liam Neeson (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Juan Pablo Raba (Freelance), and Katheryn Winnick (Vikings). The gritty action thriller is directed by three-time Oscar-nominated producer Robert Lorenz, known for his work with Clint Eastwood. The 2021 film is Lorenz and Neeson’s first together; Lorenz would go on to direct Neeson in 2023’s In the Land of Saints and Sinners.
When the local cartel kills her brother for allegedly betraying them, young mother Rosa (Ruiz) takes her son Miguel (Perez) and makes a desperate dash for the US border in order to escape the same deadly fate. Abandoned by their coyote, Rosa and Miguel somehow manage to make it through a spot in the border fence, only to be stopped by a down-on-his-luck American rancher, Jim Hanson (Neeson). Rosa begs him to let them go on their way, but Jim calls the US Border Patrol to look at Rosa’s injuries she sustained during the inhospitable crossing — though before border patrol can reach them, the cartel pulls up. Jim, who also happens to be a retired Marine, refuses to allow the cartel to take Rosa and Miguel, and a violent shoot-out ensues, leaving Rosa gravely wounded. As Jim tries to stop Rosa’s bleeding, Rosa hands him her cousin’s address in Chicago and begs Jim with her dying breath to take Miguel there.
Torn up with guilt over his part in Rosa’s death — and realizing the cash Rosa had stashed in her bag to pay the coyote could possibly save his ranch from foreclosure — Jim takes on a job that even his years of military service haven’t prepared him for. This lone marksman must now shepherd a grieving young boy who hates him all the way north before the cartel — and border patrol agents — catch up with them.
No, The Marksman is not based on a book, though a novelization of the movie was released after the film debuted.
The Marksman takes place along the Mexico-Arizona border and follows the main characters on the road throughout various locations in the United States.
