The Gunman: Sean Penn and the rise of the ageing action star

A new political action thriller sees the Oscar-winning actor join Hollywood's swelling ranks of middle-aged marauders

Sean Penn/The Gunman
(Image credit: outnow)

Sean Penn's new action vehicle, The Gunman, which opens in UK cinemas today, is a thriller about a retired special ops soldier whose past comes back to haunt him. The film, directed by Pierre Morel (Taken) follows Jim Terrier, a damaged former private security operative who turns to humanitarian work to atone for his sins, but is hunted down by his former employers.

The full-tilt, high body count action film has an anti-capitalist ideology and features a 54-year-old two-time Oscar-winner as its star. It has been called an "idiotic, glorious and doomed leftist thriller" by Salon, and hailed as the return of "the existential hero" by in The Guardian.

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