THREE THINGS are certain in life: death, taxes and Liam Neeson action movies.
Having safety ensconced his reputation as one of Northern Ireland’s finest ever actors, the Ballymena-born star has been enjoying something of an Indian summer in the realm of action blockbusters.
Beginning with 2008’s Taken, Neeson has starred in a string of enjoyably daft films in which he is tasked with dispatching an array of bad guys.
His new film, The Marksman, is no different.
Neeson plays Jim Hanson, a former Marine sharpshooter and rancher living out his retirement in Arizona on a stretch of quiet borderland.
But things take a turn when he encounters an 11-year-old migrant and his mother fleeing from drug cartel assassins.
Suddenly he finds himself tasked with protecting the young child from a band of murderous criminals and transporting him to the safety of Chicago.
The official synopsis for The Marksman reads as follows:
"Hardened Arizona rancher Jim Hanson (Liam Neeson) simply wants to be left alone as he fends off eviction notices and tries to make a living on an isolated stretch of borderland. But everything changes when Hanson, an ex-Marine sharpshooter, witnesses 11-year-old migrant Miguel (Jacob Perez) fleeing with his mother Rosa (Teresa Ruiz) from drug cartel assassins led by the ruthless Mauricio (Juan Pablo Raba).
“After being caught in a shoot-out, a dying Rosa begs Jim to take her son to safety to her family in Chicago. Defying his cop daughter Sarah (Katheryn Winnick), Jim sneaks Miguel out of the local U.S. Customs and Border Patrol station, and together, they hit the road with the group of killers in pursuit. Jim and Miguel slowly begin to overcome their differences and begin to forge an unlikely friendship, while Mauricio and his fellow assassins blaze a cold-blooded trail, hot on their heels. When they finally meet on a Midwestern farm, a fight to the death ensues as Jim uses his military skills and code of honour to defend the boy he's come to love."
Fasting shaping up to be yet another classic Liam Neeson action thriller, The Marksman will be released on January 22.
