The Gunman (2015)

Boring, predictable and not much to see. Penn, comes across as an old guy who would be very unlikely to pull off 1/2 of the movies plot. Very disappointed. If you nothing else to do and feel like throwing your money away, you might consider seeing it. Just another rehashed shoot um up bang bang special effects looser. How many times are they going to take the same plot, add different names and characters and call it a new movie? The same plot has been done to death. No creativity here folks, move on to something else. The cast ties their best, but there isn't much to work with here. I would have preferred to stay home and get some rest.

Fmovies: From start to finish, this movie was out of sorts. It couldn't build up a head of steam and thus in the process failed to deliver any sort of impact. Javier Bardem was on point in his brief cameo, and even Sean Penn managed to pull off the traditionally burly action hero enigma, but everything else was frail and flavorless. I usually watch my movies with concentration, but this one was hard to pay attention to, thus I allowed myself some shut eye in between. The protagonist's motive to fight was not strong, and things were happening too conveniently for my liking. The action sequences were somewhat realistic, and the cinematography was nice. But that's almost it. Pretty disappointing.

Greetings again from the darkness. Sean Penn becomes the latest addition to the AARP action hero club Â… a very crowded club these days. Unfortunately for Mr. Penn, he lacks the smirky charm of Bruce Wills, the uber-cool of Denzel Washington, and he fails to generate the empathy of Liam Neeson. He simply doesn't come across as a very likable guy, and certainly not someone we can root for.

Based on the novel of Jean-Patrick Manchette, the movie starts out in the Democratic Republic of Congo where Penn is a mercenary disguised as part of a mining security detail. The first 20 minutes are convoluted and introduce numerous characters and sub-plots that leave us wondering if there are any good guys here Â… other than Penn's idealistic doctor girlfriend played by Jasmine Trinca. A sure sign of a weak script is a film that is bookended by "newscasts" to explain both what is going to happen as well as what just happened.

Pierre Morel directed the first Taken movie, and his cast is stellar: Sean Penn, Javier Bardem, Idris Elba, Ray Winstone, and Mark Rylance. Somehow that combination delivers a hokey, over-acted, cheesy dialogue mess featuring absurd shoot-outs and action sequences that try to convince us Penn is some kind of quasi-superhero. His transformation from geopolitical hit-man to humanitarian is tough to buy, and it's downright chuckle-inducing to see the times he manages to show off his sculpted torso. We can only assume his personal trainer received a bonus for each shirtless scene.

The story bounces from Africa to London to Barcelona to Gibraltar and back to Barcelona. It does include the best use of a live bull so far this year, though the actual bullfighting is somehow one of the least gruesome segments of the entire film. The film isn't as sneaky as it thinks it is in making a statement about multinational corporations raiding Third World resources. Evidently, the message is that former assassins can be forgiven if they are re-born as committed to humanitarian causes, but capitalistic companies cannot possibly justify their work in impoverished areas.

All of the above could be shrugged off if so many wasted opportunities didn't consistently frustrate. Penn has scenes with all of the other actors mentioned above, but there is almost no interaction between the others. Why no confrontations between Idris and Javier? How about one sequence with Penn, Javier and Winstone squaring off? So many fun actors, but so little cross-over. Frustration may be the best overall description for this one, and it encompasses everything from script to dialogue to camera work.

The Gunman fmovies. Based on the novel The Prone Gunman, by Jean-Patrick Manchette, 'The Gunman' is a decent action-thriller, that's engaging, but only in parts. While the action has sharpness to it, the thriller aspect doesn't entirely work.

'The Gunman' Synopsis: A sniper on a mercenary assassination team, kills the minister of mines of the Congo. Terrier's successful kill shot forces him into hiding. Returning to the Congo years later, he becomes the target of a hit squad himself.

'The Gunman' begins with force, but loses momentum mid-way. I wasn't rooting for the hero on the run, after a point. Also, the identity of the culprit, lacks the bite & offers no shock value. Its predictable to the core. But, the action-sequences work! Not only are they sharply choreographed & executed, they also lend toughness to the narrative.

Don Macpherson, Pete Travis & Sean Penn's Screenplay is okay. Though it isn't without merit, it still isn't powerful enough. Pierre Morel's Direction is stylish. Cinematography is impressive. Editing is ordinary. Marco Beltrami's Score is fine.

Performance-Wise: Sean Penn delivers a committed performance, yet again! He enacts the protagonist with complete honesty & his striking physique stands out. He looks terrific here! Jasmine Trinca is nicely restrained. Javier Bardem looks jaded & least interested in the goings-on. Ray Winstone is, as always, competent. Mark Rylance is fair. Idris Elba is wasted.

On the whole, 'The Gunman' is a so-so fare.

There's nothing much to say about 'The Gunman', but I'll keep going until I've said too much for an action flick that deserves an assessment no more than a "disaster".

It will be a real wonder to be able to find something that is of any interest through the movie's entire two hours. The film itself strikes as a mere guessing game that pushes the audience to asking themselves which asset (if there's any) it actually aims to present: the bad-ass hit-man story the writers seem to claim the film has, or Sean Penn's overexposed shirtless bulging physique. Unfortunately, two hours isn't enough to achieve a sensible answer, as both eventually grow to become extremely irritating toward the end of the film. A handful of overqualified actors and aesthetic settings may come across as efforts to salvage the wreckage, but none of this attempts seems to have manifested an evident result. The plot is plagued with predictability and clichés, but bears no real shocker twists to shake its overly familiar course.

'The Gunman' feels like just another attempt to make another Liam Neeson out of another over-50 star. Unfortunately, with its utterly thin and convolutedly-written material, the result is neither near 'convincing', nor far from 'misfire'. OK, I've said more than too much already.

When you hear a movie titled the Gunman what do you think of? For me I think of a few scenarios that come to mind: an action pack shoot em up movie, something on the lines of James Bond, or following down the rogue agent Bourne pathway. So I can't help but say I was excited for this movie this weekend, especially with Sean Penn leading the cast. With few trailers to give me insight, I eagerly headed to my local theater to give this film a try.

Unfortunately the movie did not go down the expected path, and even worse it took the wrong direction for this reviewer. For those uncertain of the plot, Gunman is about a sniper named Terrier who is targeted for assassination by an unknown group. In order to save himself and his loved ones, he must dig deep into a convoluted scheme that may related back to an incident. I know sounds awesome right, if old hat, but Gunman held some promise of action mixed in with good old fashioned spying.

Not the case my friends. Gunman is actually a snooze fest, being one of the first movies to make me nap in almost half a year. It starts with the pace of the movie, not necessarily too slow, but just enough that you start to lose interest. For me, it wasn't that the plot was boring, but the details they tried to lay out for us were very convoluted, many details ambiguous and confusing in their presentation. May of the scenes involved him obsessing over his former love, which after a few arguments and an unnecessary sex scene, started to grow staler than month old bread. Now don't get me wrong, convoluted plots can be a good thing, but they require a good presentation that keeps one engaged in the movie. And this film did not do it for me.

Perhaps I could have been entertained more if the action had lived up to my, I'll admit, high expectations. The opening shot scene was nothing special, but the following skirmish held some promise for excitement down the line. And in truth, two or three battles brought the flash in the pot, bang in your ear entertainment that I so crave. Despite being an elite shooter, Terrier didn't have perfect accuracy, and had to pull some creative stunts to take down his killers, who by the way could actually hit him. Taking away our hero's invincibility was a smart move, but some battles get led down the wrong path, or are a repeat of an earlier fight. Kills are graphic, the camera not shying away from someone's head getting a new hole, as torrents of red litter the ground. If you are up for this kind of stuff, then by all means stop reading this review and head down to the theater. Looking back over the movie though, I can't say the action was as on point or exciting as I had hoped, nor as fast as these scenes sometime need to be.

Helping save this movie from complete failure was the acting. Sean Penn as Terrier was good. The actor was able to transition across the emotional spectrum, being a relief worker with a little troublemaker streak to an angry killer on the loose. Penn has always had a talent for playing well developed characters, and while annoying as this role is, he still plays it well. Jasmine Trica as Annie was a decent addition to the cast, though I must say her character could have been much stronger than they made her. Trica's main talent involved huffing, puffing, and crying as people died. Her dialog was too shallow for me and they threw her as nothing but an object for Terrier to protect. Javier Barden brings his Hispanic background back to the screen, but his role was very short and unfortuna