Democratic Republic of Congo, 2006. Assigned with assassinating a politician, elite American sniper Jim Terrier decides to turn his back on the US after finishing the job, leaving behind those he loves. Eight years later, back in Africa on a humanitarian mission, his past catches up with him when he finds mercenaries are after him. And so Terrier comes out of retirement in pursuit of those who are trying to kill him…

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Sean Penn should have learned from Kevin Costner, who embarrassed himself in 3 Days to Kill, another attempt to profit from the Taken formula, which managed to give Liam Neeson a new direction in his career. Instead Penn stars in this unimportant movie by French director Pierre Morel, who made the original Taken. The Gunman fits right into the template, with neither surprises nor finesse, populated by stereotypical characters and overly contrived “dramatic” elements, such as a lead suffering from post-traumatic stress who is supposed to be taking it easy. This movie is formulaic from top to bottom – even the trailer leaves no hints that anything exciting might happen. Despite the efforts of an excellent cast that also includes Javier Bardem, Idris Elba and Mark Rylance, the movie manages to be mainly boring. Although less awful than 3 Days to Kill, The Gunman still inhabits the same realm of films that are useless, uninteresting and inconsequential.