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)
Mark 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 ...

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Plot Keywords:

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

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Taglines:

Armed with the truth

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

The line, "Annie, are you okay?", which was asked when the phone was held to Annie's head, is the same as the lyric from the Michael Jackson song, Smooth Criminal.

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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.

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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 ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Someone Has to Review It!: The Gunman (2015)

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Soundtracks

La Entrada
Composed by Quintín Esquembre (SGAE)
(P) 2014 Prone Gunman Ltd.
Courtesy of SGAE

User Reviews

Very dull action movie by Sean Penn.

I don't think I ever saw Sean Penn do an action movie.

Not sure if he's at that point in his career were he does not care or he just feels he can't be a well diverse actor without having this on his resume.

Either way he does a good performance as one, and was impressively built but not overdone for the role.

The movie does go over some political satire with his character playing a Metaphor of the guilt we all should all feel about our own involvement in what's going on in the Congo.

Guess he felt this will be a better way to spread his word to the masses. Penn was wrong about that. I got very little from this flick.

Although the movie is mostly laid with espionage and sprinkled with action, neither elements got my pulse pounding.

Javier Barton is good in this movie. He's a great actor and it's fun to see him on the big screen as Penn's rival for the affections of a woman.

But if you are fans of Idris Elba, like I am, don't let his top billing fool you. He's barely in it, and his role does nothing to help the film.

I like the film but I snoozed though it. Penn brought nothing new to the genre and I was hoping he would but he did not.

Catch on DVD.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Spain UK France

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

20 March 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Gunman

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,028,702, 22 March 2015

Gross USA:

$10,664,749

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$24,177,137

Company Credits

Production Co:

Open Road Films (II), StudioCanal, Anton

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1