THE GUNMAN is the latest action thriller from Pierre Morel, the French director who helmed the outstanding TAKEN and DISTRICT 13. Since then he wobbled a bit with FROM Paris WITH LOVE with its silly, jokey storyline, but he's back on form with this deadly serious international thriller that has much in common with the modern-day likes of the Swedish HAMILTON films.
The story is clichéd and predictable but the film delivers more than adequate thrills and some great action sequences. Sean Penn is a former assassin who's trying to find out which of his former colleagues has betrayed him and sent a hit squad to take him out. To make him a bit more vulnerable, he's studying from a rare form of concussion which makes him lose it every time his head gets knocked about.
THE GUNMAN is quite a lengthy film but it keeps you watching throughout and the location photography in the Congo and Barcelona is well handled. The supporting cast is also a good one with turns for reliably solid Idris Elba, Javier Bardem, and quite surprisingly Mark Rylance, who fits well into the genre despite being better known as a theatre actor. Sean Penn isn't my favourite guy around thanks to his outspoken political views but even I can admit he's a good choice for the part in this.
