The Gunman

SPOILER-FREE MOVIE REVIEW

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for not having posted anything for some time. Been real busy with school. Anyway, two reviews coming up - this as well as "Kingsman: The Secret Service", so stay tuned!

I'll just jump straight to the point. We've seen this kind of movie so many times before - the old man kicking ass. Liam Neeson in the 'Taken' films, Pierce Brosnan in 'The November Man' and now Sean Penn in this. Hence, this formula is getting very dull - just like the dystopian-action movie hype of 'The Hunger Games', 'Divergent' and 'The Maze Runner' - these types of movies are getting boring, and boring is exactly what 'The Gunman' is.

The build-up to the main part of the story is so incredibly dull and uneventful. I honestly think the movie as a whole would have been better if they had just cut away the first 45 minutes. Yes, it was that boring. It's just like 'John Wick', which suffered from the exact same problem - a boring first third.

Admittedly, the film does focus up and improves once all the redundant build-up is done. The action sequences are pretty sweet, and the NC16 rating aids in allowing more badassery in those scenes. This is exactly what action movies should do - better action instead of wider audiences.

Seeing Sean Penn kick ass is pretty cool too, and my goodness, that dude is ripped! He has a couple of topless scenes in this film and I was legitimately amazed at his physique. The 54-year-old actor was so fit, it was scary.

The other actors though... were a massive disappointment. Javier Bardem's character was weird, the girl (Jasmine Trinca) was useless, Mark Rylance was predictable as the baddie, and Idris Elba... his character was so irrelevant and unnecessary.

Hence, this movie is let down by its somewhat star-studded cast, redundant and incredibly dull first third and a story we've all seen many times before. It was predictable.

I was lucky that I watched it with a couple of friends. If I had gone alone (like I usually do), I'd probably have fallen asleep or walked out of the cinema. It's not a good movie.

4.5/10.