Pierre Morel directs Sean Penn, Javier Bardem and Mark Rylance in this action thriller are about a reformed merc who tries to figure out which one of his former hit squad is now trying to tie him off. 

As a middle-aged The Bourne Identity rip-off this has decent action, a ridiculously strong cast and a lovely glowing gloss to it. The unacknowledged irony is that while Penn’s penitent killer is now digging wells in the continent he helped oppress, all his colleagues have become establishment rich men, living in top floor glass offices and country villas. Perhaps the biggest mystery is Penn’s involvement though. Sure, there’s a lot shade thrown at multinationals… BOO!… and a little positive light on NGOs … WHOOP WHOOP!… (that you know he requested to have emphasised giving his admirable personal politics) but this really isn’t a fully rounded role appropriate for his immense acting talent. His Jim Terrier is handy in an op but a blank with nearly all his human interactions during the globe trotting journey. You can’t help but suspect the film is mainly an excuse to show off the acting great’s suprisingly ripped body. Rarely a scene goes by where he isn’t tops off and flexing. There really is so much half century old bicep on show throughout, that The Gunman might just be the most aptly titled star vehicle ever made.

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