While I don’t disagree with the reviewers who asserted that Sean Penn isn’t an action movie star, he’s still a really good actor and I didn’t mind his non-actionness in this. In addition, a common criticism was that The Gunman was boring but I didn’t find that at all. Sure, this isn’t a nonstop action thrill ride compared to something like the Bourne series but it’s a well-paced, competently-made film and no one is just phoning it in here.
That being said, not all of it works. One thing I hated was how sexist the script was. In an almost all male cast, the one female lead gets virtually nothing to do besides scream in terror, ask dumb questions, play damsel in distress, and be an object of sexual desire for the male lead. Lame. Despite this gripe, there are some pretty cool action scenes & shoot-outs (with low amounts of shaky-cam!). This was nowhere near as bad as critics said. If you like action thrillers, check it out.