The Gunman

An almost astonishingly dull and misguided thriller, The Gunman follows Sean Penn’s Jim Terrier as he becomes the target of deadly assassins while working on a humanitarian basis in the Congo – with the movie detailing the very long, very slow battle that ensues between Jim and his pursuers. It’s clear right from the outset that filmmaker Pierre Morel, working from a script by Penn and Pete Travis, isn’t looking to cultivate an atmosphere of coherence or even entertainment, as The Gunman, by and large, suffers from a hopeless lack of narrative propulsion that’s compounded by Penn’s unusually wooden performance and a storyline that remains impenetrable from start to finish – which ensures that the viewer remains entirely unable to work up an ounce of interest in or sympathy for the central character’s plight. The remarkably uninvolving vibe grows more and more suffocating as time slowly progresses, with The Gunman‘s few action sequences, which admittedly aren’t terrible, consequently unable to pack the visceral punch that Morel has clearly intended. It’s ultimately difficult not to wonder just which demographic The Gunman has been geared towards, as the movie fails across all levels and boasts virtually zero attributes designed to even fleetingly sustain one’s attention – which finally does confirm the film’s place nothing less than a jawdropping trainwreck of decidedly epic proportions.

no stars out of ****