It stars Penn along with Javier Bardem, Idris Elba, Mark Rylance, Jasmine Trinca and Ray Winstone.

Eight years after Terrier has retired from mercenary work, he and the people close to him become the targets of hit squads sent by a powerful multinational security firm, and he must fight to stay alive.

He is part of a team deployed by a corporation in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006, under the cover of providing security to local projects.

Scared and suspicious, Terrier flees to London to meet an ex-mercenary colleague Cox, who reveals that Felix Marti, their ex-boss in the Congo assassination, has formed a large international security firm offering its services to major clients, such as the Pentagon.

[10] Principal photography took place in the spring of 2013 in Barcelona and Logroño, Spain; Gibraltar; Cape Town, South Africa; and Wimbledon Studios, England.

The site's critical consensus reads, "With an uninspired plot and rote set pieces that are overshadowed by its star's physique, The Gunman proves a muddled misfire in the rapidly aging Over-50 Action Hero genre.

"[12] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 39 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

[14] Guy Lodge of Variety called it a "rote, humorless thriller" and "a distinctly unconvincing attempt to refashion the star — who also co-wrote and produced — as a middle-aged action hero in the Liam Neeson mold.

"[15] Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post wrote: "The Gunman may start as a genre exercise of promising purpose, but it winds up being just a lot of bull.