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The Gunman

The Gunman

Movie · 2015 · 15 people

Adapted from French crime writer Jean-Patrick Manchette's 1981 novel La Position du tireur couché (The Prone Gunman), the 2015 action thriller The Gunman was directed by Pierre Morel and is a co-production of France, the United States and Spain. Morel, who made Liam Neeson a middle-aged action star with the first Taken, tried the same trick here with Sean Penn.

Penn plays Jim Terrier, a former mercenary who in 2006 assassinated the mining minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo on the orders of multinational mining companies. Eight years later he has left that life behind and is preparing a quiet future with his girlfriend Anne when he discovers that his old bosses and colleagues are after him. Hit squads from a powerful private security company target him and those close to him, and he must fight to survive and protect Anne. Javier Bardem, Idris Elba, Ray Winstone, Mark Rylance and Jasmine Trinca join Penn.

The screenplay is credited to Don Macpherson, Pete Travis and Sean Penn. The film premiered in London on 16 February 2015 and reached US cinemas through Open Road Films on 20 March, with Germany following on 30 April and Russia on 18 June. It earned $24 million against a $40 million budget and received poor reviews.

DirectorPierre Morel
Production companyStudioCanal

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Idris Elba Idris Elba Actor · 54 years old Jasmine Trinca Jasmine Trinca Actor · 45 years old Sean Penn Javier Bardem Ray Winstone Mark Rylance Peter Franzén Emilio Buale Carla Pérez Pep Munné Clive Curtis Dermot Murnaghan Natasha Kaplinsky Peter Brooke Deborah Rosan

Through different eyes

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

The director of Taken, a retired mercenary, hit squads on his trail and a girlfriend to protect: on paper, a solid action skeleton. The problem is that the skeleton is too familiar; Morel tries to build the same formula around Sean Penn this time, and little room is left for surprise. Worth a look if you want to see Penn in this kind of role, but don't expect a new Taken.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

The Gunman is pulled in two directions at once. On one side is a dark story of conscience drawn from a French crime novel, in which multinational mining companies order the killing of a minister; on the other is a star vehicle trying to do for Sean Penn what Taken did for Liam Neeson. Penn co-writing the script deepens this split rather than resolving it, in my view: the political background wants to be taken seriously while the storytelling leans on the genre's familiar chase patterns. In a production with such a strong supporting cast, that imbalance goes a long way towards explaining the negative critical response. Interesting as an idea, indecisive in execution.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film's background touches a more serious subject than the average action film: the interests of multinational mining companies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the mercenaries and powerful private security firms that do their work. This economy of violence, where private companies take the place of the state, is still debated today. Yet the film ties the subject to one hero's personal redemption, and in my view the Congo risks ending up as mere scenery. It can be a way into the issue for those interested, but don't expect depth.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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