THE GUNMAN

Excited. That's what I was. The director of Taken putting one of greatest actors of his generation in an action film? With Idris Elba and fucking Ray Winstone! What could be better than that?

Everything apparently. Well, that's too harsh. What should be ex-assassin turns back into killing machine turns into a few good action scenes with a lot of sappy bullshit in between.

While Sean Penn on-screen as Terrier makes The Gunman watchable, I have a strong feeling off-screen Sean Penn as writer/producer is what makes The Gunman boring as hell for much of its run time. Penn has never hidden his humanitarian nature, and there is nothing wrong with that. He is in a position to influence and help people less fortunate and I am all for that. While I have never read the book the film is based on it seems as if Penn and company are trying to get a message across about how people value money and power over human life. No shit. Chalk it up to human nature and lets move on. Instead The Gunman gets caught up in that message, and honestly I really didn't care.

It is a damn shame Director Pierre Morel didn't put his foot down and go the Taken route. Let the middle aged ass kicker do some ass kicking. Penn looks the part. While he seems to take care of himself in real life, besides the pack a day habit, Penn seems to have added a little muscle and trimmed down to look the part of an assassin. Watching the action scenes you couldn't tell the man is 54 years old.

Everyone else does a good job with what they are given, which isn't much. Elba and Winstone are always bring an air of class to a film and this is no different. They just are stuck with throw a way parts. Javier Bardem was a bit all over the place. Honestly all I could think of was Javier Bardem playing Nicolas Cage as a character in this. It was strange to say the least, but with a film that drags like this it was a nice change of pace from the boredom.

The Gunman isn't a bad film it is just mediocrity spread thick on a television screen. It could have been so much more than what it is. The little bit of action, especially the brutal knife fight, is well staged and exciting. But ultimately The Gunman is a wanna-be political message with some action in it as opposed to a full blown action film (which it should be). And as either one of those it's simply a time waster.

Pretty much how I felt while watching The Gunman. 

THE BEAUTIFUL ONES

What we have here is a modern day retelling of Romeo and Juliet, just with L.A. gangsters. Trancredi (Ross McCall) gets told by his Aunt (Julie Warner) to get close to a rival ganster's daughter (Fernanda Andrade). Obviously things don't go as planned and we end up with feuding 'families.' Throwing gas to the fire is Casper (Brian Tee) who seems to have some bad history with Trancredi.

I am a firm believer that at this point in time that there are very few truly 'original' stories. What makes stories great, whether it be on screen or written is how they are told. All of the films that Johnson has written bring to mind something 'classical.' He likes to pay homage without ripping off and it is refreshing in this day and age. All of the characters seem to be transplanted from a late 60's to early 70's film, but none of them play it as a character from a specific film. Trancredi for instance loves Steve McQueen. He even purchases a pair of the classic Persol 714 McQueen wore on screen. Even with the McQueen love, you never once feel Trancredi is written as McQueen, nor is Ross McCall trying to play Mcqueen. He's just a cool guy, played by a great actor.

The rest of the cast is excellent as well. I've loved Julie Warner since "Tommy Boy" and Ed Lauter (in his final role) can do wrong. Eric Roberts is always a joy to watch. Brian Tee is becoming someone exciting to watch as well.

As far as action goes, "The Beautiful Ones" action has more to do with straight up violence and consequence rather than looking 'cool.' Don't get me wrong, what Johnson and stunt coordinator Luke LaFontaine crafted for the gun and knife battles are fantastic, but don't go in expecting non-stop gun play. Instead look for something more old school and  real with squibs and blood as opposed to CG bullshit. You might wait for it, but when it hits it hits hard.

It should be said that "The Beautiful Ones" is a different kind of gangster film. Art-house gangster maybe? While that definition leaves much to be desired "The Beautiful Ones" really doesn't fall into your normal gangster category but that probably has to do more with the film feeling quite a bit more personal than the norm. And that is something that has been lacking in most of the films I watch now.

Check it out when it gets a wide release. Until then, here is the trailer.