The Gunman

Open Road Films

Reviewed by: Tami Smith, Guest Reviewer for Shockya.

Grade: B

Director: Pierre Morel

Screenwriter: Don MacPherson and Pete Travis. Based on The Prone Gunman, a Novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette

Cast: Sean Penn, Jasmine Trinca, Javier Bardem, Ray Winstone, Mark Rylance, Peter Franzén, Idris Elba,

Opens: March 20, 2015

Martin Terrier (Sean Penn) leads a double life. By mornings and evenings he is a humanitarian aid worker who “does good” in Congo, and has a great time palling around in the local bar with his co-workers and girlfriend Annie (Jasmine Trinca). By late night he is an “assassin-for-hire”, shooting any target on command without asking questions. Martin wants “out” of this routine but life become more complicated when he becomes a marked target himself.

Not knowing who wants him dead prompts Martin to fly to London and Barcelona, where he meets his ex-co-workers Cox (Mark Rylance) and Felix (Javier Bardem) who owns a legitimate not-for-profit corporation, and is married to Annie. Things go strange at this point and Terrier seems to be followed at every move he makes. A casual Lunch at the Barcelona country side ends with fire, and the death of Felix that causes Martin and Annie to run for their lives. Things go downhill from there and the corpses pile up wherever Terrier makes an appearance. The non-stop chase ends, with a grand finale, at the bull ring, where the main characters meet with their killers, the Spanish police and the Interpol, not to mention thousands of fight spectators whose thirst for animal blood is unstoppable.

Director Morel keeps the tempo going throughout the entire 115 minutes of this action thriller, and cinematographer Flavio Martines Labiano lenses some beautiful Barcelona and other countryside locations.

Sean Pen, at 54, is too “mature” for the role of Martin, which requires him to be athletically active most of the time. Jasmine Trinca is underutilized as Annie, and at 33 she is too young for Penn’s character. She accompanies Terrier in bed and during the chase, while in the last segment she seems drugged, with eyes partly closed. Javier Bardem, in the role of Felix, does not have much to do, so he stays drunk during many scenes till his death by sniper’s fire, while holding a glass of wine.

A good stunt work is done by a large group of performers, under the supervision of Markos Rounthwaite. Notable mentions go to Antonio Arnalte and Zarene Dallas as stunt doubles for Javier Bardem and Jasmine Trinca respectively.

Story: B
Acting: B+

Technical: A-
Overall: B

Unrated. 115 minutes.  © Tami Smith, Guest Reviewer