Sean Penn shoots back in first trailer for The Gunman
Believe it or not, we saw our first great image of Sean Penn in The Gunman way back in mid-July of last year, so it’s great to finally see a full-length trailer for the film pop up out of nowhere. From director Pierre Morel (Taken, From Paris with Love), the movie looks fairly straightforward when laying out its plot points, but if anything it should be fun to see Penn finally go full-blown shoot-first-question-later action placeholder. Obvious comparisons to Taken aside, the strong cast and tease of a trailer are enough to keep me interested until the movie hits theaters in the spring.
Watch the first trailer for The Gunman after the jump.
As the trailer briefly mentions, The Gunman is based on the best-selling novel The Prone Gunman from French author Jean-Patrick Manchette, originally published in the early ’80s as La position du tireur couché, so here’s hoping the strong source material helps elevate the film above the average paint-by-numbers entry.
I haven’t read the book, so if you’re in the same boat here’s a plot synopsis for The Gunman to fill us in on some details:
Deadly professional assassin Martin Terrier returns to Paris after his latest job determined to get out of the game. Ten years ago he made a promise to return to his childhood sweetheart in the south of France. But circumstances put Martin’s attempted retirement on hold: a key target is flying in to Paris, and there is only one man fit for the task of eliminating him. As Martin flees southwards, desperate to return to the crushing mediocrity of life in a backwater town, he finds his former employers will stop at nothing to regain his services for one last job.
The Gunman stars Sean Penn, Idris Elba, Ray Winstone, Jasmine Trinca, Javier Bardem, Melina Matthews, and Mark Rylance. The movie makes its way to theaters on March 20, 2015.