Well, someone’s been hitting the gym. Since Liam Neeson announced his looming retirement from AARP action movies, Sean Penn and his bulging, hairless pecs are well prepared to work with Taken maestro Pierre Morel. Together they’ve updated a 1981 French novel to our present age of African strife: mercenaries and aid workers mixing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, conflict minerals, covert assassinations, and—after an eight-year surfing safari from that dirty game—a U.S. congressional subpoena that pulls shirtless Jim Terrier (Penn) back in. You know the rest: Jim’s mad killing skills are wrenched back into service; the baddies nab the only woman he ever loved (no, not Madonna); and we hear weary professions of disgust at the whole sordid business (mercenary-dom, not movies). Though The Gunman does offer one genre twist: Jim’s a TBI concussion case, brain-addled almost to the point of Still Alice, who must write everything down in notebooks.
As ever, Penn is the grim, humorless professional, squinting out each line like a kidney stone. What elevates The Gunman slightly above the median Taken are the supporting players. (Neeson never has any beyond Albanian Gangster 1, 2, and 3.) There’s a bit of pleasure in watching Javier Bardem, Ray Winstone, and Mark Rylance tick off scenes before their characters’ inevitable demise. I will bet you they had a backstage bet as to who could do the least amount of acting for the biggest paycheck. (Winstone wins; though Bardem is the most giggly fun, his performance wobbling like a teacup in a cracked saucer.)
Action doesn’t fully erupt until minute 60, and Morel is competent enough in that department. (The script, however, sounds like it was run through the beta version of Google Translate.) Through London, Barcelona, and Gibraltar, Penn serviceably kills dozens of flak-jacketed rejects from the Bourne movies’ Operation Treadstone. Here one must note that Matt Damon is leaving such muscular super-agent roles behind. But Penn is a proudly fit-looking 54, his Milk and Mystic River Oscars on the mantle and fellow Oscar winner Charlize Theron on his arm. There’s no reason to begrudge him a simple money role, though The Gunman won’t make much coin. To sop Penn’s conscience, and Jim’s (“I did some bad things!”), there are many scenes of noble NGO workers helping cheerful Africans—which to the pure-action demo will feel like unwanted moral prodding. (Bro, isn’t it enough that I buy sustainably grown coffee beans?)
The Cialis-revenge genre isn’t built around such fine ethical sentiments. If Penn wants to do more of these movies, Jim and his g.f. need to adopt an adorable African orphan ASAP! Because there’s an evil gang of Albanian kidnappers Morel would like to introduce to them very soon.
bmiller@seattleweekly.com
THE GUNMAN Opens Fri., March 20 at Sundance and other theaters. Rated R. 115 minutes.
