Review // The Gunman

[projekktor id=’18111′]

If you’ve been wondering what Sean Penn’s been up to lately, apparently he’s been at the gym. Penn’s newest The Gunman hits theatres this weekend and feels like a veiny-armed grasp at latter-career action stardom by the fifty-five year old Oscar winner. Unfortunately for Penn the film is more a mess of action cliches, clunky geopolitical commentary and squandered talent than it is a bold new career move.

Penn plays Jim Terrier, the titular gunman who is working as a private security contractor for a mining outfit in the Congo. The work seems pretty easy and Penn enjoys coming home from a hard day of security-keeping to the arms of his loving wife Annie (Jasmine Trinca), a doctor working for an NGO nearby. However Terrier is not who he seems, he’s actually an international assassin hired by the mining company to take out the Congo’s incoming Minister of Mining. With the job done he’s forced to flee, leaving a confused Annie to be consoled by Jim’s friend and partner in crime Felix (Javier Bardem).

Years after the assassination, Jim has returned to Africa to atone for his sins by helping dig wells. However when armed gunmen storm the village and attempt to kill him, he sets off on a globe-trotting adventure to find out what specter from his past wants him dead. Along the way Jim is aided by his old war buddy Stanley (Ray Winstone) who expresses concern about Jim’s failing health (years of fisticuffs and percussive weaponry have left Jim with splitting headaches and memory issues). Jim also discovers that Felix embraced his parting request to take care of Annie a little too enthusiastically, as the pair now live a luxurious life as husband and wife in rural Spain.

The film moves forward at a quick enough clip to keep you interested, and director Pierre Morel (Taken) certainly knows how to infuse an action scene with sufficient tension and panic. However there’s a sense of waiting for things to get interesting that lingers throughout the movie. Though the film starts off suggesting it may have something to say about the exploitation of natural resources in the third world by multinational companies, it quickly drops that angle in favour of action film box-checking.

For his part Penn does the most with what he’s given. He certainly looks the part of a grizzled old veteran, and there’s no escaping the fact that the man has presence, but we’re never really given a lot to like about Terrier. Apart from his love for Annie and his friendliness to the Congolese locals, Terrier is essentially a murderer who doesn’t want to get murdered. Whereas a Bryan Mills or Jason Bourne have intriguing back stories and real motivation, Terrier has headaches. Sure he’s got some sensitive information that the mining company wouldn’t want to get out, but it only occurs to him to use it as a bargaining chip for his own life. What a hero.

As the cowardly villain Felix, Bardem seems as if he’s still in character from Skyfall, only not half as smart. Mark Rylance provides a bit more of a menacing presence as the assassin-turned mining CEO Cox, but he feels a little too far from the action until the film’s finale. Jasmine Trinca is given little to do besides scowl angrily at whatever jerk she’s stuck with, and Idris Elba – despite being heavily favoured in the film’s marketing – is woefully underused as the Interpol agent Dupont.

Despite the occasional interesting action sequence, The Gunman is a drag. From it’s done to death hitman-on-the-run premise to it’s morally bankrupt protagonist it’s the type of empty violence that too often clutters movie screens. While this type of film seems like par for the course for Morel, let’s hope it’s a one-off experiment for Penn. Someone should tell him you’re allowed to take your shirt off in interesting roles as well.

Reviewed by Evan Arppe.