Cube Critic: 'The Gunman'
March 20, 2015
Movie Maven and Cube Critic Stephanie Curtis joins Jill Riley and Sean McPherson (in for Steve Seel) to talk about a new action thriller from Taken director, Pierre Morel.
The Gunman stars Sean Penn, Javier Bardem, Idris Elba, Ray Winstone and Mark Rylance. "I thought that Sean Penn was totally slumming it in a big shoot-'em-up film," Stephanie says. "It's actually a little tedious."
Penn plays a man nicknamed "The Terrier" who gets involved in the assassination of a natural-resources minister in the Congo. Years later, the Terrier is feeling regret about this; at the same time, someone is trying to have him killed.
Is The Gunman a film that one waits to see when it becomes available on home video?
"Don't even see this movie on DVD," Stephanie says. "The action sequences are over the top, but not even in a fun way … They try to put symbolism in them to let us know how we're treating third-world countries, but it just doesn't work."
Jill and Stephanie also discuss The Gunman within the larger context of Sean Penn's career. "[The Gunman] is not Sean Penn at his best, and I love Sean Penn at his best," Stephanie says. "He's better in a film like Milk where he engulfs himself in a character."
Listen to the entire review by clicking the audio player above.
The Gunman is rated R and is playing in theaters everywhere.
MPR's Movie Maven, Stephanie Curtis, joins The Current's Morning Show to talk about films every Friday at 8:30 a.m.