It appears we live in a world where every aging actor
eventually gets reborn as a grizzled, badass action star. Liam Neeson has the
Taken movies, Pierce Brosnan is still playing the
ass-kicking international spy, and even Salma Hayek (who, granted, is only 48)
got to blast the hell out of everyone in Everly. For the
record, I am totally on board with this trend, I love a good grim
tough-guy/girl film, and it looks like the latest addition to this train is
Sean Penn, as you can clearly see in this trailer for The
Gunman.
This new look at the upcoming actioner definitely has a
strong Taken vibe (nefarious forces kidnap Penn’s
character’s wife, and it’s directed by Pierre Morel, the Luc Besson protégé who
helmed Taken, so…). But while it looks like something you’ve
seen before, The Gunman could wind up being at least
slightly different. It’s based on Jean-Patrick Manchette’s novel, The
Prone Gunman, which was published, at least in English, by legendary
indie press City Lights Books, which you don’t normally associate with this
type of bang-bang, shoot-em-up fare. We’ll have to wait and see what sets this
apart, but for now, here’s a synopsis of the book:
Martin Terrier [the protagonist’s name has been changed to Jim Terrier in the film] is a hired killer who wants out of the game so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart. That’s why he took up this profession! Martin returns to his hometown to claim her, but the Organization won’t let him go. Once again, the gunman must assume the prone shooting position.
The Gunman also has a great cast in
place. In addition to Penn, the film stars Idris Elba, Javier Bardem, Ray
Winstone, Jasmine Trinca, and Mark Rylance, and opens wide March 20. Check out
the trailer below.
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