The Gunman

Starring: Sean Penn, Jasmine Trinca, Javier Bardem, Ray Winstone, Mark Rylance, Idris Elba, Peter Franzen
Directed by: Pierre Morel
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Drama
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An assassin (Sean Penn) goes into hiding after committing a murder in Africa. Years later, his life is threatened when several men attempt to kill him. This causes him to come out of hiding to find out who wants him dead.

Review:

Tim: The most memorable aspect of The Gunman isn't the story or the characters. It's the absolutely ridiculous physique of Sean Penn. I have no idea what his training regime was for this film, but he is jacked beyond belief. It's distracting. I give the guy credit for getting totally ripped for this role, but if that's the most memorable aspect of the film, you have some issues. The movie as a whole is fine, but it's surprisingly generic. It's a forgettable film.

The movie is a bit too long at 1 hour, 55 minutes. There's never a real sense of urgency for the story to move forward. It kind of plods along. There's the main characters, side characters, we jump ahead in time. It's all thrown at us and the film forgets to tell us why we should care. I never felt any emotional connection with Penn, so I wasn't overly invested in anything happening on screen. Most of the film is just average- not good, not bad, just average.

Penn is a strong actor and brings that talent to the film. He's super serious, which is fine. I might not have loved his performance, but I certainly had no fault with it. Jasmine Trinca was okay. I would have liked a stronger actress, but she worked well enough. I liked seeing Javier Bardem, but his role felt like an odd one. At times, I didn't believe his performance at all. Other times, his talent managed to shine through. All in all, it felt like director Pierre Morel didn't quite know how to get the most out of Bardem. I liked seeing Ray Winstone here- he's so excellent in these smaller supporting roles. Idris Elba was a complete waste- I like Elba a lot, but he had almost nothing to do. Anyone could have played his role. His talent demands a better role than what he got here.

The different sequences are all over the place. I really liked the scene in Africa where the men come to kill Penn's character. I also loved the shootout at Bardem's home. Those were well shot, dramatic, intense sequences that felt believable. We also get a number of lackluster sequences. Most notably, the bizarrely toothless conclusion at the bullfight. I just wasn't into that scene at all. It just wasn't an effective sequence at all and ended the movie with a bit of a whimper. There's a lot of talking in this film. That's not a bad thing in itself, but when the conversation isn't all that interesting, you do wish for a bit more excitement.

The Gunman attempted to be a serious, mature, intelligent action film. While it certainly shoots higher than much of the mindless variety of action films, it's not nearly as impressive or effective as it wishes it was. It ends up being a bit pretentious and a bit dull. This is a decent movie, but it's not much fun and not overly entertaining. I was fine with the film, but I have no desire to ever see it again.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6.5



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