The Gunman **

Pierre Morel directed this Action/Thriller. Watch Preview. Cast: Ray Winstone, Jasmine Trinca, Javier Bardem, Sean Penn, Idris Elba, Mark Rylance. Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality. Running time is one hour and fifty-five minutes.

An international operative (Penn) is betrayed by the organization he worked for, and must go on the run in a relentless game of cat and mouse across Europe.

My basic problem with this film is Sean Penn. I understand he's a good actor, but I feel absolutely no rapport with his screen persona. As a result, I don't care what happens to him in the film and that makes for a slog of a movie. He's also smoking in virtually every scene and I found that unnecessary. It's clearly obvious this is an European production (perhaps that's the reason for all the smoking) since the majority of the cast is unknown to Americans, although they all seem quite competent. The foreign scenery is nice, though. The plot is a little murky and it takes most of the film before you completely understand what's going on. This isn't a bad film, its just that it isn't at all memorable. This won't be around long so you'd better hurry if you're a Penn fan.

There are no additional scenes once the final credits begin. Screen size is unimportant. Theatres/Times.