Director: Pierre Morel
Cast: Sean Penn, Idris Elba Javier Bardem
Release Date: Now Available on Blu-ray Combo Pack & DVD
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Film Rating: 7.5/10
Disc Rating: 7/10
Synopsis:
It has been eight years since Jim Terrier (Penn) worked as a black-ops assassin and now someone from his old organization wants him dead. Pursued across Africa and Europe by a team of elite hit men, Terrier is dragged back into his dangerous past as he engages in a relentless cat-and-mouse game to take out the man who betrayed him.
Eight years ago black ops assassin Jim Terrier (Penn) was forced to leave everything behind as a result of a contract that required the selected shooter disappear. His only comfort over the years was the knowledge that his associate Felix (Bardem) was watching over Annie (Trinca), the woman he loved more than anything. When hit men looking specifically for Terrier suddenly appear and attempt to kill him, he must come out of hiding and dig deeply into his painful past in order to find out who is trying to kill him and subsequently to take care of the individual (or individuals) before they succeed, while additionally making certain that the woman he loves remains safe. Now it’s an all out chase across multiple countries as this ex-gunman is forced to go to war one final time.
Pierre Morel (‘Taken’ and ‘From Paris With Love’) directed ‘The Gunman’ from a screenplay written by Don MacPherson, Pete Travis and Sean Penn, based upon the novel ‘The Prone Gunman’ by Jean-Patrick Manchette, and Morel does a very capable job at the helm, guiding the film with experience in the genre that shows, most notably during the intense and action sequences. The film is also benefitted by the numerous talented individuals who comprise the cast including Sean Penn, Javier Bardem, Jasmine Trinca, Idris Elba, Ray Winstone and a number more, all of whom deliver solid performances in each of their respective roles.
‘The Gunman’ delivers some intense and well constructed action sequences, along with some solid performances, and while it may not be one of the most notable or outstanding films of the year by any means, it’s an intense and fun ride that keeps the viewer entertained and often on the edge of their seat throughout. The pacing is spot on and as opposed to lingering too greatly on either the action or the story; it finds a pretty perfect balance between the two without doing a great deal to compromise the focus of either. Overall, ‘The Gunman’ may be a film you’ll want to rent prior to purchasing a copy of the Blu-Ray just to be certain, but it’s definitely an entertaining ride worth a rental on any given Saturday night.
VIDEO:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘The Gunman’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.40:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks outstanding, delivering a rich, detailed and continually gorgeous presentation throughout, holding up impressively even during the numerous fast moving and darker sequences, never causing anything occurring on screen to become negatively affected or indiscernible in the slightest. Overall, this is an impressive high definition video presentation complimented by a very healthy bitrate that delivers in every possible way and looks fantastic.
AUDIO:
The Blu-Ray release features a lossless Dolby Atmos/ TrueHD 7.1 channel soundtrack. This lossless soundtrack sounds as marvelous as the video presentation looks, providing a consistently active, clean, discrete and aggressive audio presentation. Every available channel is regularly utilized to its fullest potential to surround the viewer with the score and frequent high-activity gun fights which result in a plethora of bullets and other debris whizzing past at any given moment; never resulting in any dialogue which may be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or inaudible at any point. Overall, this Dolby Atmos/TrueHD soundtrack is phenomenal and delivers a hard hitting and enjoyable audio presentation that will definitely not disappoint.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘The Gunman’ unfortunately doesn’t contain anything in the way of bonus content, the only area of the release lacking in any way.
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.
Film Rating: 7.5/10
Disc Rating: 7/10
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