Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Gunman Blu-ray Movie Review

Firing blanks.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 22, 2015

Director Pierre Morel gained notoriety, and was met with critical acclaim and fan adoration alike, when he directed the stunning Action film Taken, a picture that embodied everything that's good about the modern Action landscape. It's a lean, focused film, one with a simple surface and an accessible but structurally reserved meaning behind the action. Morel returns to the genre with The Gunman, a film starring a beefed-up Sean Penn in a role that's not wholly dissimilar from Liam Neeson's middle-aged Action hero part in Morel's 2008 film. But beyond that, the films couldn't be any more different. Where Taken enjoyed the fruits of its simplicity, The Gunman falls apart under the weight of an unbearably difficult plot. Where Taken features simple and precise characterization, The Gunman suffers from needless complications. Where Taken crafted a subtle underbelly of darker intrigue, The Gunman forces a larger subtext in the middle and loses focus on every part. Add in a distinct absence of creativity from every side -- writing and execution in particular -- and The Gunman presents audiences with a disappointing look at a director falling to the other extreme from excellence, far removed from the memorable qualities that defined his finest film.

The Penn is mightier than the sword.

Jim Terrier (Penn) is a black ops specialist ordered to kill the Minister of Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He executes the assassination flawlessly. But it destroyed his life. He's forced on the run and forced to leave behind his love Annie (Jasmine Trinca), a health care specialist devoting her life and career to the betterment of third-world patients. Eight years later, Jim is working to make amends for his past by spending his time on various good samaritan projects around the DRC. One day, he's ambushed by several thugs whom he dispatches with relative ease. He quickly realizes that the attack was retaliation for the hit some years ago. He's forced on the run through Europe where he reconnects with Annie and discovers she's now attached to a former colleague of his, a man named Felix (Javier Bardem). As Terrier muscles and shoots his way through endless bad guys, he works to unravel the plot of who's behind the attacks, why, and who remains that he can trust with his life.

The Gunman never quite settles into a rhythm, never quite comes to identify its core purpose, never quite finds a stride and sticks to it. The film attempts to wrench in a disproportionate amount of side-story, fringe details, and haphazard subtexts, all of which overwhelm the basics and destroy what little rhythm, character depth, or mainline focus and meaning the film has on display. Its failure to identify more prominently and purposefully prevents it from building, never mind maintaining, any sort of linear story impact or character definition. Certainly the action is at its core, action which never amounts to much more than Penn busting and blasting random waves of bad guys in various African and European locales. Sure the action is slick and Penn looks surprisingly good doing it. Squarely in the midst of middle age, he's ripped and more than capable of pushing both the fisticuffs and the gunplay as hard as Morel allows, which to their credit, and to the film's benefit, is pretty far. Yet for as good as it looks, it often feels much less than it is because there's not a more tangible, easily accessible center guiding it. The movie suffers from a fair bit of haphazard storytelling, hackneyed layers, unpolished characters, and a distinct absence of originality. In short, the movie begins unglued and remains so for the duration, weaving together only the most basic plot and piling on from the edges, losing its identity in an effort to bolster its identity.

The film does assemble a talented cast that, unfortunately, gets mostly lost in the film's murky center and poorly developed fringe details. Penn, one of the best actors of his generation, does what he can with the lead part, certainly creating a believably lean and grizzled look and finding a fair bit of depth as someone whose career -- the immediate dangers that dog him and the past that haunts him -- has immeasurably altered his life, but Penn is mostly given surface details with which to work, and rather trite, explored-before details at that. He executes the part admirably in every way but always feels stymied by the morass that is the script. Javier Bardem and Ray Winstone add some extra gravitas to the film but, like Penn, they're strong actors only able to do what they can with a middling movie. Idris Elba appears later in the film in what is essentially a glorified cameo, a shame considering that an actor of his stature -- who can certainly stand toe-to-toe with any of his co-stars in the film -- might have helped the movie, even marginally, with an expended presence. The film also enjoys a strong effort from Jasmine Trinca as Annie, a character who, like the others, never experiences much growth in the movie beyond the cliché ebbs and flows. Trinca nonetheless fine-tunes her performance and gets the most out of another shoddily-written character.

The Gunman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Gunman arrives on Blu-ray with a crisp and pleasing 1080p transfer. The digital photography never appears more than lightly smooth, presenting instead a healthy, even organic façade that features plenty of great colors and strong details throughout. The palette is brilliant but naturally so, showcasing everything from leafy and grassy greens, flat earthy tones, and various yellow, blue, and red highlights with ease. Black levels are deep but never overpowering. Flesh tones appear natural and reflective of the actors' life complexions. Details are tremendous. Viewers will note every skin imperfection, bead of sweat, even Penn's bulging veins in nearly tactile detail. Terrain, clothes, building façades, worn machinery, firearms, everything the movie throws in front of the camera the Blu-ray reveals with striking ease and natural complexity. There are a few instances of noticeable banding across several flatter surfaces in some of the film's darker scenes, but it's otherwise a picture-perfect presentation in every way.

The Gunman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Gunman features a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The "core" Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack was reviewed for the purpose of this write-up. Even without the added benefits Atmos brings to the table, the track still dazzles. It's fully alive and vibrant, presenting a natural sense of spatial immersion in everything from the most reserved ambient effects to the most chaotic gun fights. It's in that gunplay where the track shines brightest. There's a beautiful sense of weight to every shot, a purposeful low end impact that increases not only the base sonic signature but adds a layer of danger and tension to every shootout. There's a crispness to automatic weapons fire that's matched by a healthy and nicely pronounced low end heft. Punches, crashes, and other action effects are equally stunning in terms of placement and definition. The track springs to life with a plethora of supportive pieces that fill the stage from side to side and front to back. Whether background restaurant din or zipping traffic, every environment plays with a tangible sonic lifeblood about it. Music is nicely spaced, clearly defined across the entire range, and enjoys fine supportive bass at the bottom. Dialogue is firm and focused in the middle with effortless intelligibility and consistent prioritization. All in all, this is a top-tier listen from Universal.

The Gunman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Gunman contains only an assortment of trailers including Rosewater, Nightcrawler, Sabotage, Homefront, End of Watch, Hit & Run, The Grey, and Killer Elite. Inside the Blu-ray case, buyers will find a DVD copy of the film as well as a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy.

The Gunman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Gunman has its moments. There are some good ideas being toyed with throughout, but they become lost in a sea of cliché, empty action, and dull characters. Even when the film artfully juxtaposes a shootout and a bullfight in its final act -- which presents all sorts of deliciously intriguing imagery that desperately wants to present a more detailed plot and character picture -- it fails not because of execution but rather under the unbearable weight of the comparative emptiness leading up to it. Alas, the movie never quite sorts out what it is -- Euro-Thriller, Action film, political commentary, character study -- and winds up failing as a jack of all trades, playing with endlessly familiar pieces and never shaping them into anything remotely novel or frankly, interesting. Universal's featureless Blu-ray does boast excellent video and audio. Rent it.