The Gunman (film)

The Gunman (film)

 

The Gunman
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Pierre Morel
Produced by	Adrián Guerra Sean Penn Peter McAleese Andrew Rona Joel Silver
Screenplay by	Don Macpherson Pete Travis Sean Penn
Based on	The Prone Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette
Starring	Sean Penn Javier Bardem Idris Elba Mark Rylance Jasmine Trinca Peter Franzén Ray Winstone
Music by	Marco Beltrami
Cinematography	Flavio Martinez Labiano
Edited by	Frédéric Thoraval
Production companies	Anton Capital Entertainment Canal+ Nostromo Pictures Silver Pictures TF1 Films Production
Distributed by	Open Road Films
Release dates	March 20, 2015
Running time	115 minutes[1]
Country	United States Spain France
Language	English
Budget	$40 million[2]
Box office	$15.4 million[3]

The Gunman is a 2015 French-American action thriller film directed by Pierre Morel and written by Don Macpherson, Pete Travis and Sean Penn, based on the novel The Prone Gunman, by Jean-Patrick Manchette. It stars Penn, with Idris Elba, Ray Winstone, Mark Rylance, and Javier Bardem appearing in supporting roles.^[4] The film was released on March 20, 2015 by Open Road Films.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
  • 3.1 Development
  • 3.2 Filming
• 4 Reception
  • 4.1 Box office
  • 4.2 Critical reception
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Plot

An ex-soldier who carried out an assassination in the Democratic Republic of the Congo finds his past catching up with him eight years later.

Cast

Sean Penn

• Sean Penn as Jim Terrier
• Jasmine Trinca as Annie
• Javier Bardem as Felix
• Ray Winstone as Stanley
• Mark Rylance as Cox
• Idris Elba as Jackie Barnes
• Peter Franzén as Reiniger
• Billy Billingham as Reed
• Daniel Adegboyega as Bryson
• Ade Oyefeso as Eugene

Production

Development

Circa January 2013, French action director Pierre Morel (Taken) entered negotiations to direct Sean Penn in Prone Gunman, an action thriller being produced by Silver Pictures’ Joel Silver and Andrew Rona. The film is based on the 1981 novel The Prone Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette.^[5] The project, from Silver Pictures, was fully financed by StudioCanal, who sold out rights to the film at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.^[6]
In May 2013, Deadline reported that Javier Bardem would play a villain.^[4] In June, Deadline said that Ray Winstone had just joined the film. He played a mentor of the hitman (Penn), who is betrayed and then hunted by the organization he worked for. Jasmine Trinca is the female lead.^[7] Bardem played Trinca’s husband, and Elba played a mysterious operative named Dupont.^[8][9]
On May 8, 2014, Open Road Films acquired the US distribution rights to the film.^[10]

Filming

Principal photography took place in the spring of 2013 in several locales across Europe.^[11]

Reception

Box office

As of April 26, 2015, The Gunman has grossed $15.4 million, against a budget of $40 million.^[3]
The film grossed $5 million in its opening weekend, finishing at 4th at the box office.

Critical reception

The Gunman has received generally negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 17% approval rating, based on 140 reviews, with a rating average of 4.4/10. The site's consensus reads, "With an uninspired plot and rote set pieces that are overshadowed by its star's physique, The Gunman proves a muddled misfire in the rapidly aging Over-50 Action Hero genre."^[12] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 39 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[13] According to CinemaScore, audiences gave the film a grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.^[14]
Critic Dave Palmer gave the film a 3/10, saying, “The Gunman has all the looks and feel of a mid-day soap opera, but the razor-sharp excitement of a mid-day soap opera".^[15]