The Gunman (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.
5 connections found
View:
5 films that influenced The Gunman
What critics say influenced The Gunman
It's clear Penn, who cowrote with Don MacPherson (1998's "The Avengers") and Pete Travis ("Dredd"), is at least trying to say something about relief work in third world countries, but the film slips so quickly into generic thriller mode it feels like it mutated in post-production.
If there’s one individual embodying the bizarre yet still crass schizophrenia of the film, it’s Penn, who not only gets to be soulful before murdering countless private contractors, but who also snags a co-writing credit alongside Don Macpherson and Pete Travis (director of the embattled cult hit "Dredd").
It’s easy to point the finger at the script, credited to the unlikely trio of Penn, Dredd director Pete Travis, and re-write specialist Don MacPherson; if ever a movie felt like it was glued together from unrelated drafts, this is it.
Penn and his co-writers Don MacPherson (The Avengers) and Pete Travis (Dredd) haven’t worked their pens as hard as Sean did his biceps.
Unfortunately, a lot of the positive momentum on the directorial front is lost by Don MacPherson (The Avengers – 1998 version) and Pete Travis’ (director of Dredd) script adaptation of the novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette.
It's Rambo tailored to Penn's humanitarian interests, a geopolitical mystery fueled by the Congo's real life quarrels with British corporations (which makes Netflix's stunning, Oscar-nominated documentary Virunga the perfect double feature pairing).
Escape Plan and The Expendables trilogy coasted on nostalgia.
But Morel aside, it could as easily have been Penn’s RED or The Expendables or November Man or The Book of Eli or Escape Plan or any of a dozen other examples.
Maybe the blazingly talented Sean Penn has given a worse performance at some point in his film career, whether it was in “Shanghai Surprise” or even in “I Am Sam,” Oscar nomination for the latter notwithstanding.
(His lunatic willingness to go for it in I Am Sam reportedly inspired Simple Jack from Tropic Thunder.)
Advertisement
Less Blood Diamond than bloodbath.