The Gunman

Overview

Sean Penn’s one of those guys who definitely has nicknames for his biceps. Best bet: ‘Humanitarian’ / ‘Crisis’. In his latest film, The Gunman, the two biggest guns are to be found either side of his almost unceasingly topless torso. For a man of 54 he’s definitely sporting an impressive rig, but - as a man of 54, that rig is weirdly distracting and afforded unfathomable screen time.

The film itself is unfortunately less impressive, a ‘political thriller' that’s neither. Beginning in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we meet Penn in the role of Jimmy Terrier, a hitman masquerading as a private security contractor for a construction company. When said company has him assassinate the Congolese Mining Minister, Terrier is forced to disappear, leaving behind him not just an imperilled country but also the love of his life, Annie (Italian actress Jasmine Trinca).

Fast forward eight years and Annie has shacked up with Terrier’s old boss Felix (Javier Bardem), the company has expanded into a giant multinational and Terrier finds himself on the receiving end of an assassination attempt. If you’ve already had a guess at who’s behind the plot, you’re right.

With a setup that offered genuine promise, The Gunman sadly proves predictable to the point of soporific. Directed by Pierre Morel, it combines the ultra violence of his most successful film Taken with a plot about as dull as his woeful follow-up, From Paris with Love. The performances offer little to celebrate, either, with Penn rarely lifting above ‘disinterested’ and Bardem channeling the camp pantomime he displayed in The Counselor.

Idris Elba and Ray Winstone both cameo in roles that might actually have provided substance had they been given more than a few minutes each, leaving Trinca as the lone source of enjoyment to be found. She extracts every bit of emotion and performance from a character who had little to work with in terms of script.

The Gunman is ultimately an action film without substance: too violent to be taken seriously, but too serious to be any fun.