The Gunman
Open Road Films | Release Date: March 20, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
39
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
24
Negative:
13
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 19, 2015
Basically, The Gunman is a movie that asks audiences to sympathize with the equivalent of Lee Harvey Oswald — that is, an Oswald who definitely did it. Oddly enough, it succeeds, partly because the moral climate it presents seems so confused, but mainly because of Penn’s particular aura of irascible integrity. He’s the most irritated action hero since Harrison Ford. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'HehirMar 19, 2015
It’s clearly a directorial accomplishment to assemble this level of acting talent in one movie and come away with something so – well, “bad” is not sufficient to capture the idiot glory of this motion picture. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMar 18, 2015
The Gunman becomes a highly capable shoot-em-up but not much else. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMar 19, 2015
The best excuse for watching The Gunman is Penn. His first mainstream leading role in a decade is worthy of comparisons to Matt Damon in the “Bourne” movies; yet it’s also disappointingly shorn of the humor and humanity of which this great actor is capable. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 19, 2015
Sean Penn’s bad side makes for good action-drama in The Gunman. There’s a grubby, redemptive quality that makes this tough-minded flick feel like the son of “Serpico” and “Salvador.” Read full review
60
EmpireJames DyerMar 16, 2015
Sub-Ludlum plotting but stylishly executed, this offers a fun night out but is far from a nailed-on franchise-starter. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 12, 2015
Sean Penn doesn’t make movies very often these days. So when he does, you go in with certain expectations. Sadly, it’s best to leave them at the concession stand if you’re planning on enjoying The Gunman. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMar 23, 2015
The Gunman passes the time, but it never quite reconciles its conflicted nature. It’s not smart enough to be a paranoid thriller, nor fun enough to be a blood-soaked action flick. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 23, 2015
The movie wallows in remorse. Not only is the main character paralyzed by it but the filmmakers seem to believe that every Caucasian member of the audience should face up to White Guilt for the way in which the Industrial World has encouraged unrest in Africa so resources could be strip-mined. How's that for an uplifting action movie premise? Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMar 20, 2015
I doubt The Gunman will do much to advance Penn’s foray into action-hero bankability, and that’s probably a good thing. He’s too fine an actor to be mired in nonstop shootouts while flashing his pecs and looking scowly. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMar 20, 2015
In fact, no one in The Gunman looks happy. And what happened to chivalry? If a fierce squad of goons is coming after you and your ex, whom you still love, and there's only one Kevlar vest to throw on, don't you offer it to her? Apparently not. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiMar 20, 2015
The Gunman isn't the worst action film that you will see this year — you will be lucky if you even remember anything about it a couple of weeks after seeing it — it will probably go down as one of the more dispiriting ones. Read full review
50
Boston GlobePeter KeoughMar 19, 2015
Has there been a more tormented or intense study of the ambivalence of revenge than Penn’s performance in Eastwood’s “Mystic River” (2003)? Penn might not agree with Eastwood’s politics, but when it comes to probing a killer’s soul he couldn’t find a better model. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 19, 2015
Director Morel brings some style and speed to the proceedings, though I found The Gunman increasingly numbing in the carnage department. Compared with someone like Neeson, Penn's avenging angel is a less relatable fellow. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMar 19, 2015
With a script co-written by Penn himself and based on a well-regarded novel by the late French crime writer Jean-Patrick Manchette, this one has to have some meat to go along with the gunplay, right? Sadly, no. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMar 18, 2015
The Gunman is too disorganized and sloppy to make sense as political commentary or to work on the most basic level as a globe-trotting chase thriller. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 18, 2015
Penn doesn’t work much, and this idea of combining his two careers — as actor, producer and co-writer, and as humanitarian — may have its heart in the right place. But take away the preaching, and this is just Penn’s version of a late-career Mel Gibson movie. He should be better than this. Read full review
50
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekMar 17, 2015
Penn’s vanity — both in the way he shows off his bod and in the way he drives home the nobility of the once-wayward Terrier — is either the most deeply annoying thing about The Gunman, or the one thing in it that actually works. I’m leaning toward the latter. Read full review
40
CineVueBen NicholsonMar 26, 2015
With no fun to be had, The Gunman also lacks essential thrills. If Sean Penn is winging for an action-hero renaissance like Neeson's, he'll be in need of material a lot more compelling than this. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMar 19, 2015
Instead of a pot-boiling crime noir like the one that exists in the pages of the late French novelist Jean-Patrick Manchette's "The Prone Gunman" (which sounds better in French), the adaptation is a frustrating fiasco that kills the material and squanders its exceedingly fine cast. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMar 19, 2015
It’s not a hard and fast rule, but in general when the main character, sometime in the third act, says, “I did some bad things ... ” and stares off into the middle distance, the implied end of the sentence is “including this movie.” Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyMar 19, 2015
A garbled mélange of arbitrary, unsatisfying action and token remorse. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 19, 2015
The Gunman is a predictable slog through action-movie tropes, and Penn's intensity isn't a good fit. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisMar 18, 2015
When Bardem is onscreen, the emotional stakes are high, engaging you in a way the principal storyline fails to do. It’s a masterful turn by a masterful actor, one that’s blissfully on-target in The Gunman. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonMar 17, 2015
Thanks to ‘Taken’ director Pierre Morel, this too often feels like just another slice of brainless Eurotrash, packed with saw-it-coming plot twists, half-hearted car chases and an angsty hero with mega muscles and zero charisma. Read full review
40
Total FilmJames MottramMar 16, 2015
A genuine disappointment, given the talent involved, and a rare misstep for Penn, who can’t save this moribund vanity project from flatlining. Read full review
40
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganMar 6, 2015
A muddled bid for political relevance has led the film-makers to drag on The Gunman’s primary mission: to entertain. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinMar 6, 2015
Ripe, borderline hammy turns from Javier Bardem, Ray Winstone, Idris Elba and Mark Rylance add some spice. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia PuigMar 19, 2015
The only redeeming feature about The Gunman is its exotic locations. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithMar 18, 2015
Watching Penn pump iron and denounce capitalism for two hours would be roughly as illuminating as this monotonous Euro-thriller. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChris CabinMar 15, 2015
The lack of any visual ingenuity, reflexivity, or awareness of genre tropes diminishes the intermittent pleasures of the action's slightly involving kineticism. Read full review
35
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMar 6, 2015
It’s one thing to bring a gravelly gravitas to characters like this, but Penn suffers and glowers so much that it weighs down the material. If he plans to strap on the Kevlar in future, he might consider lightening up a little and saving the intensity for more serious movies. Read full review
33
Portland OregonianMarc MohanMar 19, 2015
There's also something tired and way too familiar to the story of a white guy who acts as the savior of Africa while the only major black character in the movie stands ineptly on the sidelines. Read full review
30
The DissolveKeith PhippsMar 19, 2015
The result is a relentlessly dour film livened up only by Bardem’s shameless scenery-chewing and the occasional jolt of action. Otherwise, it’s an endless frown of a movie that does little but confirm that Penn’s talents, while impressive, aren’t limitless. Read full review
30
VarietyGuy LodgeMar 6, 2015
Penn’s veiny, sweat-glazed biceps are the most objectively impressive feature of this rote, humorless thriller, a distinctly unconvincing attempt to refashion the star — who also co-wrote and produced — as a middle-aged action hero in the Liam Neeson mold. Read full review
25
The PlaylistDrew TaylorMar 20, 2015
A dumb, loud action movie that aspires to forcibly entertain and provoke thought but fails miserably. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 19, 2015
The Gunman degenerates into dreary setups for guns and gore. Penn merits more. So do we. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMar 19, 2015
Sean Penn smokes, glowers and shows off his knotty naked torso in this vain, risible misfire of a thriller about a reformed killer, from "Taken" director Pierre Morel. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 19, 2015
The Gunman veers dangerously close to camp in the final scenes. If you make it that far without walking out. Read full review
25
Washington PostAnn HornadayMar 19, 2015
The Gunman may start as a genre exercise of promising purpose, but it winds up being just a lot of bull. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedMar 18, 2015
For meat-headed incoherence, a badly written, poorly directed and confusingly acted muddle of global nonsense, The Gunman is another ill-conceived entry in the latest dopey trend of middle-aged men blowing up stuff. Read full review
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