2015 Directed by Pierre Morel
Eight years after fleeing the Congo following his assassination of that country's minister of mining, former assassin Jim Terrier is back, suffering from PTSD and digging wells to atone for his violent past. After an attempt is made on his life, Terrier flies to London to find out who wants him dead -- and why. Terrier's search leads him to a reunion with Annie, a woman he once loved, who is now married to an oily businessman with dealings in Africa.
Sean Penn Jasmine Trinca Javier Bardem Ray Winstone Mark Rylance Idris Elba Peter Franzén Mark Billingham Daniel Adegboyega Ade Oyefeso Sarah Moyle Rachel Lascar Mark Schardan Carla Pérez Prasanna Puwanarajah Annick Weerts Dacio Caballero Cuco Usín Oscar Foronda Angela Fuente Melina Matthews David Blakeley Miquel Àngel Ripeu Txiki Blasi Alito Rodgers San Yélamos Paulina Boneva Ancuta Breaban
Ron Halpern Andrew Rona Alex Heineman Sean Penn Adam Kuhn Stephen Bender Carmel Musgrove Ethan Erwin Ray Kybartas
Jordi Casares Steve McQuillan Glenn Foster Markos Rounthwaite Zarene Dallas Antonio Arnalte Levan Doran
StudioCanal Silver Pictures Nostromo Pictures Anton Capital Entertainment ICEC Prone Gunman Prone Gunman A.I.E. Canal+ TF1 Films Production
Le tireur, O Franco Atirador, Gunman: El objetivo, Ґанмен, Ганмен, 卧底枪手, Gunman, Caza al asesino, מתנקש על הכוונת, 使命召唤, The Gunman: Σε Θέση Βολής, Gunman: Odkupienie, The Gunman - O Atirador, Gunman: Muž na odstřel, Tetikçi, 더 건맨, The Gunman. Pe viață și pe moarte, O Franco-Atirador, Стрелецът, Gunman: Muž na odstrel, Šāvējs, Стрілець, 全面逃殺, Šaulys, Caça a l'assassí, 猛火鎗, The Gunman: El objetivo, ザ・ガンマン, Strelec, Xạ Thủ, กันแมน คนเหี้ยมคืนสังเวียนฆ่า
UK15
Belgium
Argentina16
Australia
Azerbaijan
Kazakhstan
New Zealand16
Russian Federation18+
Ukraine
Iceland
India
Singapore
Romania
Denmark
Norway15
USAR
Greece15
Portugal
LithuaniaN-16
Netherlands16
Sweden
Germany16
Brazil16
ItalyT
France12
Netherlands16
Netherlands16
Argentina
Australia
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Brazil
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Iceland
India
Italy
Kazakhstan
Lithuania
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Romania
Russian Federation
Singapore
Sweden
UK
USA
Ukraine
In the hands of a better director, this really could have been something.
Somewhat satisfying in its action and the cast delivers, but the story, despite some interesting allusions (hence the better director), is where this unfortunately forgettable thriller falters.
There's no reason Sean Penn can't kickstart his own Middle-aged Ass-kicking Canon, Neeson-style, but Pierre Morel is not the man for this job, even if his work here is relatively clean. This would've made a hell of a Tony Scott movie.
Everyone has been talking up The Gunman as the action based renaissance of Sean Penn, known typically for his brooding intensity (given, well, he's quite brooding and intense in real life) and character based roles. Throw in Pierre Morel behind the camera, the man who single handedly invented the 'geri-action' hero with Liam Neeson in Taken, and surely you had a recipe for Penn to move into a brand new phase of his career as an ageing badass who kicks arse, takes names etc... well not on the evidence of The Gunman. In fairness to Penn, he's as solid a screen presence as usual, having pumped up he certainly looks every inch the part of retired hitman Jim Terrier, who's…
The November Man of 2015. Aside from the solid lead performance from Sean Penn and a couple entertaining action sequences, The Gunman is just another convoluted and generic spy thriller. It wastes its very talented supporting cast including Javier Bardem and especially Idris Elba and the love triangle is just so silly and dumb. There's also no tension to be found here because all of the characters are underdeveloped and flat which causes you to not care about any of them. The Gunman is sadly a dull, lifeless and excruciatingly boring thriller.
I have recently taken to the novels of Jean-Patrick Manchette - readily being turned out by NYRB Classics. Playfully black crime novels, so increasingly grim one can't help but smile - which remind me at times of Fargo (a comparison made more cartoonishly clear by the brilliant Tardi graphic adaptations). I can understand why Sean Penn might be attracted to the role of Martin Terrier - as the source material is a compelling character study of a tough guy stereotype that slowly unravels into a no longer posturing clown. The Prone Gunman could have been something special... instead we're left with palette swap Taken.
Director Pierre Morel comes out of the Luc Besson action world, initially as a cinematographer on…
Sean Penn recruits the director of Taken in what appears to be a shameless attempt to reinvent himself in the Liam Neeson or Denzel Washington action mold. Penn is excessively buffed and some of the action is solid, but his navel-gazing self seriousness is both tiresome and laughable. He's seldom been the kind of actor to invite audience identification, but I think he overestimated his appeal a bit this time. Penn's not above making interesting films, though, as This Must Be the Place recently proved.
First off, this is easily the most built I've seen Sean Penn. Dude looks so jacked I thought he was using a body double for the first couple shirtless scenes! Not bad for an old man!
This was really competent! The camera was a little shakier than I typically prefer, but it fit the frenetic nature of the action, which itself was solid.
The film makes it really easy to spot the weasels and betrayers, but the cast is over-qualified for this type of movie anyway.
This is absolutely a worthwhile action flick.
"Let me ask you, what does humanity pay a well-intentioned well digger these days? Or is that a penance, Saint Jim?"
Mechanically dull. As an international thriller, the action and conspiracy elements are often stagnant, or at the very worst repetitive with little variety in their components. Same goes for the dramatic beats, each comprised of thinly-drawn dynamics that seldom show any effort to delve into these characters while the paltry political mystery recycles itself until the end credits. Given the film's humanitarian interests (painfully broad as they are), Sean Penn’s role as actor-producer-writer makes total sense. But there isn’t remotely enough intrigue or momentum on the page from him and fellow screenwriters Don Macpherson and Pete Travis to hold…
Sean Penn is often very selective with his roles, and we the audience have come to expect something of quality if Penn is attached.
So I can only assume that he fancied having a crack at playing an action-man for a change, since a lot of other actors his age were already having fun doing the running, shooting and fighting thing.
But he really dropped the ball when he signed up to this dreck of a show. There isn't a single original piece of filmmaking in this whole thing.
Ex-mercenary gets back-stabbed double-crossed from ex-buddies and has to go on the run, and also kill everyone in the process and save the ex-girlfriend. Riveting.
Although Penn himself does pull off…
There's an almost fatal flaw to this movie. Jasmine Trinca. She's not for a minute believable in the role. And I hope that her bad acting is due because its her first acting role not in her native tongue. Penn can pull off the action role almost effortlessly but everything stops dead in the tracks once the shitty love triangle gets in the way and becomes a telenovela. Once that crap is out of the way Morel puts together potent action set pieces. When the action is on, its motherfucking on! But thenTrinca comes back on! At least she doesn't speak much and she's mercifully sedated. Worth a watch just to see Penn giving himself 100%right into his best Stallone type role.
Father forgive me, for I have had positive thoughts about this Sean Penn ego vehicle.
It’s easy to get hung up on the Penniness. I bailed early on my first watch attempt a few years back. But this baby’s got the goods. Punchy violence. Gorgeous scenery. Shady dealings. Cool locations like a bull fight arena and the water processing plant under an aquariam. Hit squads curling up European apartment stairs. Bardem, Rylance, Elba, and Winstone scuzzing it up. Sean Penn is out here living Steven Seagal's best life. He’s really tough, but also, like, conscientious and shit. at least Penn bothered to work on his arms.
Penn’s a tool, but he’s the right tool for this job. Or the wrong tool, but this is the right job? I dunno man. I'm an easy mark for these “Bourne, Again” eurospy thrillers.
I probably enjoyed this one a little more than I would have originally being that I got into a screening for free. A friend of mine, an aspiring film critic who’s willing to see anything, works for an AMC theater and so every now and then we'll see a film for free. That's always nice, especially since I didn't expect for him to use his employee powers when I agreed to see this. That's probably where a half-a-star came from in this rating.
But not really. I'll make this short because my complaints for this film don't go any further than it's just pretty boring. It's overlong, it's far too preachy for what it should be, and the direction is…
