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.
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| Pretty much how I felt while watching The Gunman. |
