The Gunman

The Gunman (2015)

16% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 146 reviews)

Runtime: 115 minutes

Directed by: Pierre Morel

Starring: Sean Penn, Jasmine Trinca, Mark Rylance, Javier Bardem, Idris Elba

From: Many different companies, including... Amazon Prime Instant Video?

Despite what I heard, I still watched this on Instant (Netflix, not Amazon) Sunday night; well, the general consensus is true: the movie is bad. Read why below in my Letterboxd review:

Even though I heard plenty of trustworthy people bag this movie and say it was a huge disappointment, curiosity got the best of me and when I saw I could watch it for free on Netflix Instant. Turns out, what I heard was correct; I can't say this was God-awful or unwatchable, but in no way was it any good.

Really, the biggest thing about the movie is that Sean Penn finally decided to get into the “Old Man Action” genre, in an attempt to help his box office appeal as he's in his mid 50's. I don't really have an opinion about him either way... unless those horrific rumors of what he allegedly did to then-wife Madonna are true. His humanitarian work is nice and all and his long-standard hatred of the Hollywood press, I don't blame him for despising them .

The plot isn't too complex; mercenary Jim Terrier (Sean Penn, who I am sure only lifted weights to achieve such a massive physique and wasn't aided in any way by “chemical enhancements”... anyhow, the movie wastes no opportunity to show off his figure) does a hit on a major person in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, so he has to vanish for 8 years. He comes back into sight after someone is targeting him. I knew beforehand this wasn't action-packed and only had a few setpieces, which is fine by me... as long as the story was interesting, which it unfortunately wasn't. Maybe the novel version of it (it was based on an old French book from the author Jean-Patrick Manchette. I have no idea what the differences are between the two are) was better.

Here, Terrier is a conflicted guy who happens to get involved in a love triangle with an old flame. That is not handled well. Neither is the fact that he has post-concussion syndrome; they make it a plot device and little more. The cast has some famous faces but none of the performances are great. Penn looked uncomfortable in something outside of his wheelhouse, Idris Elba has an incredibly thankless role which is short and he mainly speaks an extended metaphor about... tree houses. I hope he was paid well. As for Javier Bardem, I have no idea what he was doing here, except that his performance as a usually drunk and somehow successful businessman despite his obvious alcohol issues... “over the top” doesn't even begin to describe it.

The action we do get is fine but when it's surrounded by a story that comes off as boring and offers little in the way of surprises or interest, it doesn't really matter. While there are some wacky moments that made me chortle (what a death for the main villain), most of it is rather rote. This dog ends up having little bite... director Pierre Morel also did Taken, which started the Old Man Action subgenre; honestly, it's better to watch that for the first time or see it again rather than watch this motion picture.