"a clever thriller that’s sure to keep you engaged from start to finish"

Sean Penn makes an explosive return to the big screen as Jim, a former Special Operations Gunman, whom after successfully completing a job has to go into forced retirement and disappear, leaving behind his friends and the one he loves.

Fast forward and Jim becomes the target of assassination attempts, as the majority of the film sees him battling a neurological disease with him trying to stay alive long enough to uncover the conspiracy at hand.

On the surface, The Gunman is a paint-by-numbers action thriller, however there is actually so much more to it. Helped in no small part by the incredible cast that Pierre Morel has compiled here; from Javier Bardem as Felix, Ray Winstone as Stanley and Mark Rylance as Cox, as well as the inclusion of Idris Elba as Interpol Agent DuPont, this ensemble is the gelling agent.

A prominent theme in the film is Jim's love for Jasmine Trinca's Annie, she and Penn's characters have a believable chemistry and you never quite know how things will turn out, which keeps things interesting.

Based on the Jean-Patrick Manchette novel (that I haven't read, by the way), The Gunman is a clever thriller that’s sure to keep you engaged from start to finish, and to say too much about its plot would do a great disservice to the film.