[REVIEW] The Gunman (2015)

Runtime: 108 Mins
Rated: R
What To Expect: Weak as shit screenplay attended by solid cast

Pierre Morel kind of reinvented the career of Liam Neeson, who at the time was really getting on in years.  The story is pretty well known now.  The first Taken was the best, especially the European cut – I assume, it’s the only one I’ve ever seen.  Morel then followed that up with From Paris with Love and although not as good as Taken, that was another solid actioner, didn’t do the same for John Travolta though.  I guess one aged action king was enough for Hollywood.  It looks like Sean Penn wants the same treatment for his career.  Here the dude comes, all jacked up and shit and ready to go.  But then… it turns out that The Gunman, which should’ve been his Taken, is a flop.

Sean Penn is an ex mercenary.  Immediately, the words Steven, Seagal and direct-to-video spring to mind.  And to be honest, that’s where this screenplay belongs. He’s an ex-mercenary who was once up to some shady shit in the Congo, in a bid to ‘influence’ which way the resources went in that country.  It’s full of gold, cobalt, diamonds etc.  Eight years later, someone is out to kill Penn.  Penn wants to know who.  So do we.  But after 108 minutes the question becomes boring and we’re willing the movie to ‘get the fuck on with it’.  Hell, after half an hour the movie should’ve progressed from there.  That’s what good espionage is about.

You see deep into the movie, fuck all has happened, barely 20 minutes pass before the feeling of stagnation sets in.  And deeper still into the movie Penn yells “WHO SENT YOU? WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?!”.  I mean, neither Morel nor Penn objected to the single most whored out line in action cinema history?  I couldn’t believe it when he said it.  It’s a repetitive affair, this movie, with growing pains.  And also a waste of some good actors, like Javier Bardem and Ray Winstone.  First Bardier is wasted in Skyfall, now this.

I guess, on the up side, production values are good.  I really like the gun work in this movie.  Each pull of the trigger has immediate consequence, the gun reports, especially in doors, sound heavy and oppressive, their percussive effects reverberate off the walls.  So when a gunfight occurs it feels like serious business.  Shaking camera work is also at a minimum – maybe we’re finally getting passed this shit – however there is still a touch of harsh editing, you know, when something important happens, such as a punch or what have you, then the angle cuts immediately before you can appreciate it?  I don’t like that.  It’s stupid and unintuitive.

Look, man.  The Gunman isn’t terrible.  I feel like maybe they can get a decent sequel out of this.  However, Sean Penn’s late action franchise is thus far a lazy man’s Taken and a poor man’s Bourne.  Save yourself some trouble and go watch something random by John Frankenheimer.