The Gunman (2015)

A sniper on a mercenary assassination team, kills the minister of mines of the Congo. Terrier's successful kill shot forces him into hiding. Returning to the Congo years later, he becomes the target of a hit squad himself.

Director:

Pierre Morel

Writers:

Jean-Patrick Manchette (novel), Don MacPherson (screenplay)

Stars:

Sean Penn, Idris Elba, Jasmine Trinca

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Penn	...	Terrier
Jasmine Trinca	...	Annie
Javier Bardem	...	Felix
Ray Winstone	...	Stanley
Mark Rylance	...	Terrance Cox
Idris Elba	...	Barnes
Peter Franzén	...	Reiniger (as Peter Franzen)
Billy Billingham	...	Reed (as Sir Billy Billingham)
Daniel Adegboyega	...	Bryson
Ade Oyefeso	...	Eugene
Alejandro Talavante	...	Bullfighter
Florian Barisey	...	Village Boy
Ismael Tunkara	...	Village Boy
Amara Tunkara	...	Village Boy
Rachel Lascar	...	Camille

Storyline

A sniper on a mercenary assassination team, working for an unknown client, kills the minister of mines of the Congo. Terrier's (Sean Penn's) successful kill shot forces him to go into hiding to protect himself and the members of the team from retribution. This includes abruptly abandoning his girlfriend who has no idea what is going on. The assassination, paid for by a foreign mining company, triggers wide spread chaos and death in an already inflamed Congo. Terrier returns to the Congo years later working for an NGO, but eventually finds himself to be the target of a paid hit squad somehow connected to the ministers assassination. This leads to immediate deaths and the endangerment of the people working around him, and forces him back into hiding. In trying to discover who has put a price on his head, he begins to reconnect to the members of his old assassination team, including his old girlfriend. Always aware there is no path to redemption for his crimes, he is also periodically ...

---

Plot Keywords:

blood vomiting | interpol | kicked in the face | eye gouging | impalement | 

---

Taglines:

Guard the truth.

---

Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Spain UK France

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

20 March 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Prone Gunman

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,028,702, 22 March 2015, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$10,640,645, 26 April 2015

Company Credits

Production Co:

StudioCanal,Anton Capital Entertainment (ACE),Silver Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sean Penn was widely considered too old for his character in this film.

---

Goofs

When being attacked by approaching gunmen Annie is told to get dressed. She clearly has no clothes on under the towel and pulls a pink t-shirt on over her head. In a scene later you can clearly see that she has a bra on under her shirt.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
News Anchor: The Democratic Republic of Congo is the scene of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations.
News Anchor: In what is being described as the world's deadliest conflict since World War II, millions of people have been killed. Massacres and rape, routinely used as weapons of war, have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
News Anchor: For years, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations, NGOs, have been providing humanitarian relief in an ...
[...]

---

Connections

Version of Le choc (1982)

---

Soundtracks

Hope Part 1 & 2
Composed and Produced by Marco Beltrami (ASCAP)
Co-Produced by Buck Sanders
(P) 2014 Pianella Music, Inc.
(C) Studiocanal (SACEM / SABAM)
Courtesy of Marco Beltrami & Pianella Music, Inc.

User Reviews

A Terrible Misfire

There's nothing much to say about 'The Gunman', but I'll keep going until I've said too much for an action flick that deserves an assessment no more than a "disaster".

It will be a real wonder to be able to find something that is of any interest through the movie's entire two hours. The film itself strikes as a mere guessing game that pushes the audience to asking themselves which asset (if there's any) it actually aims to present: the bad-ass hit-man story the writers seem to claim the film has, or Sean Penn's overexposed shirtless bulging physique. Unfortunately, two hours isn't enough to achieve a sensible answer, as both eventually grow to become extremely irritating toward the end of the film. A handful of overqualified actors and aesthetic settings may come across as efforts to salvage the wreckage, but none of this attempts seems to have manifested an evident result. The plot is plagued with predictability and clichés, but bears no real shocker twists to shake its overly familiar course.

'The Gunman' feels like just another attempt to make another Liam Neeson out of another over-50 star. Unfortunately, with its utterly thin and convolutedly-written material, the result is neither near 'convincing', nor far from 'misfire'. OK, I've said more than too much already.