The Gunman movie review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic reviews....

The Gunman is yet another B-grade Taken, only this time the "Bryan Mills" role is now being played by Sean Penn. Among Sean Penn is also Idris Elba, Ray Winstone, and Javier Bardem. The film is about a retired mercenary, who's been targeted by a shady organization due to being a loophole in a job he did 8 years prior. The film is based on the book "The Prone Gunman" by Jean-Patrick Manchette, and is directed by the guy who made Taken. So-far, this all sounds for a recipe for success... right?

So, I think the question on most peoples minds is whether or not Sean Penn can sell an action role. This is usually the big question with these movies, and it's usually a hit or miss. In Sean Penns case, I'd say he does a good job as an action lead. He sells the action sequences, and he overall looks the part. However, that's pretty much where the positive side ends. All the actors in this movie seemed like they did not want to be in this movie, and they acted like it to. Don't get me wrong, they're all decent enough, but it's nothing noticeable. Even Idris Elba, the guy who I think can make a movie better most of the time, was just ok in this movie. Even worse was that he and Javier Bardem had almost no screentime. Despite what the marketing would have you believe, neither Idris Elba or Javier Bardem are the villains of this movie, which is a total bummer seeing as how it could've made the movie better.

One of the major flaws of The Gunman is a flaw I've been seeing more and more of in modern action films, which is that it takes itself way too seriously. It's no secret that I love action movies, stuff like Dredd, Kingsman, Olympus has Fallen, I'm always down for a solid action movie. However, what makes those movies good (and what The Gunman lacks) is that they know what they are, and they don't try to be smart spy thrillers. The Gunman spends almost the entire movie acting like it's a really intelligent and sophisticated spy thriller, when really it's just an action movie, and a bad one at that.

If any of you remember my reviews of the remake or Robocop or most other recent bad action films, you may remember that the best part of those films is the action. At it's core, an action movie sets out to do one thing, which is entertain you. And again, The Gunman fails to do even that. Like I said, this movie takes itself way too seriously, which leads the film to have very little action sequences. Now, when the action starts happening, it's fun, it's gritty, and pretty brutal too. So the action scenes themselves are pretty good... yeah, all four of them. I'm not even kidding, there are four, really short action scenes in this movie, I counted them, and they usually stretch a good thirty minutes apart.

Final Rating

The Gunman is a sloppy, messy, self-indulgent stinkpile. It takes itself way too seriously, and it shows nothing for it. To call The Gunman a "b-grade" taken rip-off would be an insult to any student who's ever gotten a b, because The Gunman is way worse than that. If you want to see Sean Penn fiddle with guns and occasionally fire them for about two hours, then The Gunman is the perfect movie for you. Otherwise, avoid The Gunman like the damn plague.

The Gunman: 1/5

Despite The Gunman being an absolutely terrible film, I've still gotta give a shoutout to Scene Creek and Gofobo, they're the guys I won these passes from.