Jim Terrier (Sean Penn) finds his past catching up to relating to the assassination of the Minister of Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo years ago.   He also has to deal with Post Traumatic Concussion Syndrome which is causing him headaches and to black out.  Someone is out to kill him and other people involved with the operation known as Cavalier.   He races against time to find the truth which takes him to Spain as killers close in on him.

 

THE GUNMAN is a well directed and shot movie, but the script is very thin.   It is based on the novel The Prone Gunman, but I wonder if something got lost in translation or ended up on the cutting room floor as all you know is someone is trying to kill Terrier for some reason and the reasons aren’t revealed until the third act.  THE GUNMAN sounds like Sean Penn trying to get into the Liam Nesson action game or it could be an excuse to make a movie so the actors could visit Spain and Africa.   Idris Elba is an Interpol agent who doesn’t have much to do in this movie other than come in for a few scenes like talking thick metaphors of building tree houses together.  

 

THE GUNMAN tries to be a smarted thriller than it is, but I think it would have been a smarted movie if they took the time to connect the dots more and flesh out the plot more.  Instead, you have a movie entertaining enough for one viewing and likely to be forgotten soon afterwards.   You may want to wait for rental unless you’re a big fan of the actors involved.

 

This review is ©3-22-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

Like Enterline Media on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/enterlinemediaweb and follow on tumblr at http://enterlinemedia.tumblr.com