What Not To Watch: The Marksman
If I had to sum up the movie The Marksman in one word that word would be “BORING”.
Action movies should be an adrenaline rush. The only feeling that will rush over you while watching The Marksman is apathy. I take that back, you may also feel pity.
I know I definitely felt bad that an action star the caliber of Wesley Snipes had to lower himself to be in such an awful movie. I suppose he only has himself to blame due to some of the poor financial decisions he made in his life, but it is still sad to see.
- Maybe This Movies Isn’t For Me: As I started watching this movie I almost stopped when I realized the serious tone of the film. I like my action over the top. This seemed like it was a movie that was probably geared towards military enthusiasts or people who liked their action films based more in reality. I was almost going to defer this film to my colleague and veteran of the United States Armed Forces, Chad Cruise. But then I went over to IMDB and checked the Goofs section on The Marksman and saw how this movie would actually annoys military enthusiasts with its inaccuracies. So I soldiered on and continued to watch this bore fest.
- The Premise: Some Chechen rebels have reactivated a nuclear power plant in Russia after buying some fuel rods from North Korea. Painter (Wesley Snipes) is called in to shut it down. Painter is accompanied by two things. First, the memory of a mission gone wrong. Second, a group of soldiers who I couldn’t differentiate if you paid me all the money that Wesley Snipes didn’t pay the IRS. They were as generic as characters could be giving the the audience no reason to connect witht them in any way. And its not as if though Painter’s character is someone you really want to emotionally invest in either, the only connection you will make is that it is Wesley Snipes and as I mentioned above, you will feel sorry for him and actually hope he gets killed in the movie so you don’t have to watch him suffer.
“Hello Agent. You’re fired!”
- An Andrew Stevens Joint: This is one of the many military themed movies that Andrew Stevens has produced over the years. Some are passable like Crash Dive. Others like Freedom Strike were bad. But I didn’t know how bad an Andrew Stevens production could truly be until I saw The Marksman. One thing these type of Andrew Stevens productions are known for is their use of military themed stock footage. Once again I consulted IMDB and found that footage from Navy SEALS, Top Gun and Iron Eagle were used in this film. It is safe to say if you own any of those three movies I just mentioned, you can take the DVD case put it on your coffee table and stare at the DVD case for 95 minutes and you’d get more enjoyment out of that than watching The Marksman.
I have absolutely nothing redeeming to say about The Marksman. I am not sure The Marksman could be less entertaining if it tried. Even the worst of movies have a memorable scene or some stupid quote that is mildly amusing, even if it wasn’t meant to be. The Marksman has nothing. I wish I didn’t even know this movie existed.
