Dude! Sean Penn is kinda fu*kin ripped! Like, you'd think with his shirt off he'd have really saggy skin and just a weird rubbery, but coarse body that hangs... this is getting strange. I'm just saying, the dude is in shape and it was surprising to see. The dude is also a self-righteous prick. This is true. But, for some damn reason, he's a very watchable self-righteous prick. He's the asshole that you know is an asshole, but don't mind is an asshole because he's so watchable and [usually] makes good movies. The Gunman is no different. He's clearly preaching his "humanitarian" side and giving long tedious lectures about relief work in third world countries and other monotonous geopolitical Sean Penn themes... but at least he's fun to watch.
It generally pisses me off to the point where I can't enjoy a film when the trailer is spliced together to be as misleading about the film as possible. The purpose of a trailer is to advertise a movie, give you a look at what you're going to see, and hopefully convince you to see it. These days, it's about convincing you to see the movie whether the movie is actually about what you're watching in the trailer or not, who cares, they just want your money. I was severely mislead by the preview for The Gunman. Here's what was advertised to me-- a new addition to the "I'm over 50 so I'm actually more badass than these shaved kids today" action films like Taken or The Expendables. Hell, there were a couple instances in the trailer where it was shoved in your face that The Gunman was directed by the same dude who did Taken. In the trailer, you've got Sean Penn working for some company... looks like a hit man company where he's hired as a contractor to kill people and this is what he's done for his entire life. However, someone (Javier Bardem) has turned. The company is now being led by a new man (Javier Bardem) and he's out to clear house of all loose ends. So, he sends guys to kill Sean Penn. When those guys get dead quick, he kidnaps Penn's wife until Penn shows up and has to kill everyone else. This is exactly what the trailer shows. It might have been my interpretation on a few aspects, but one thing was certain-- Penn was a badass and Javier Bardem was the villain.
Here's what The Gunman is actually about-- Sean Penn is doing humanitarian work in Congo with partner Bardem and love interest. He works for a mining company. The rebels in Congo are being funded weapons by the mining company. The only person standing in the rebels' way of total anarchy is the Mining Minister. Penn is then hired by the company to assassinate the Minister, but the caveat being he must leave the country as soon as it's done. He asks Bardem to care for love interest, does the job, and leaves. Eight years later, he's back in Congo after having spent most of the time away. Now, he's actually an honest man, doing honest humanitarian work, digging wells for the desolate. When three rebels show up to camp to assassinate specifically him... he knows something is afoot and because it's Congo-- it must be because of the last time he was there. So, he goes home and starts putting pieces together and, yes, someone is trying to kill him because of his last job. It must be Javier Bardem, right? Because that's what the trailer shows! NO! It's not. Bardem is now just a sloppy drunk who has married love interest and is just a pawn in the larger game of the story.
It's strange that the trailers mislead you because the idea for the movie isn't so terrible that you'd have to be mislead, but it still gave the movie, and especially Bardem's role, a very strange feel to it. Like I said earlier, Sean Penn is a very watchable actor. I was excited at the prospect of him being a new action badass, and while there are some very cool action/death scenes... they're few and far between and take a loooooooooong time to get going. I'm not entirely sure why Javier Bardem decided to take a very small, very inconsequential role. I understood when I thought he was the villain, but this role wasn't much. I also don't understand why Idris Elba took the role and is actually second billed. He's in the movie probably a total of three minutes. It was just a little bit disappointing expecting an action film that plays out like a more sophisticated version of Taken and winding up with a political thriller that plays out like a much more shitty and pandering version of The Constant Gardner.
The movie isn't without it's merits. The writing isn't bad... it's just too preachy. The acting is solid. There's no doubt about that. And the story is interesting to a point... but after that point the movie just kind of rolls on with your eyes on the screen, but certainly not glued. There are cool fight sequences in the movie and that keeps it going, but once you realize you're in for the Sean Penn preachy hour, you may want to just catch this one at home in five years when it runs every other weekend on TBS.
C
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