The Gunman
Director: Pierre Morelt
Starring: Sean Penn, Idris Elba, Jasmine Trinca
115 mins; Class 15;
KRS Releasing Ltd
It is clearly a trend for 50-something Hollywood leading men to try their hand at the action genre. Liam Neeson made something of a habit of it recently and the latest – admittedly surprising – addition to this roster is Sean Penn.
The actor has forged a career built on acclaimed dramatic roles over the past 30 years, earning kudos for his performances in films such as Dead Man Walking, Mystic River, and Milk (winning Oscars for the latter two), to name but a few and it is not easy to imagine him at the centre of a bullet-riddled film .Yet, here he is and while his commitment to the role is absolute, this political action thriller is a bit muddled and doesn’t quite satisfy.
In fact, it takes a while to really cotton on to what is going on in the opening scenes with Penn’s Jim Terrier and some colleagues of his winding down after a day at work in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
What that work is, is not too clear. But Terrier and his gun-toting companions seem to double up as security for a mining company and protection for a voluntary organisation led by Annie (Jasmine Trinca), Terrier’s lover. Terrier’s role in the assassination of the DRC’s Minister of Mining, however, leaves no doubt as to his actual job.
Terrier’s actions catch up with him eight years later when he is himself targeted by assassins and he flees to London to hook up with his ex-colleagues to discover what is really going on.
The cast is smothered by the ferocious gunplay and fight sequences which pepper the proceedings
Many violent fisticuffs and gunplay ensue, set against numerous diverse backdrops from the DRC’s ravaged villages to London’s imposing financial centre and Barcelona’s bullring which plays host to the bloody showdown.
It is easy to see what drew Penn to the role. The actor is also known for his humanitarian work and political activism.
With the action set against the backdrop of the political instability that has reigned in the Democratic Republic of Congo for years, his role as a voluntary worker with a murky past fits him to a tee and he effortlessly embodies the character’s complexities, flaws, humanity and vulnerability.
The supporting cast includes Spanish heavyweight Javier Bardem and British theatre great Mark Rylance as Terrier’s former comrades now turned ‘legitimate’ businessmen.
There is the ever-reliable Ray Winstone as a boozy old friend; the acclaimed Idris Elba as an Inter-pol agent; and the lesser known Italian actress Trinca (who more than holds her own in the middle of this exceptional group of actors) as Annie.
Penn is surrounded by a powerful ensemble; so powerful, in fact, that it is not long before the film’s biggest flaw emerges: that the cast who for the most part breathes life into the characters from the outset is soon smothered by the ferocious gunplay and fight sequences which pepper the proceedings.
The action is all very sturdily done, admittedly, but it all takes place at the expense of story and character.
A shame, considering the undertones of greed, corruption, violence and political gain in the African republic which permeate, but are never really properly explored.