Kids Portal For Parents India Kids Network
Movie Name: Gunner
Directed by: Dimitri Logothetis
Starring: Luke Hemsworth, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Baena, Grant Feely, Connor DeWolfe, Mykel Shannon Jenkins, Maurice P. Kerry
Genre: Action
Running Time: – Minutes
Release Date: 16 August, 2024
Rating:
Production Companies: 120dB Films, Acme Rocket Fuel, Convergence Entertainment Group, magiCity Studios
Budget: $200 million
The latest action film from the creator of “The Fast and the Furious” which follows Ray Miller as he tries to save his sons, Luke and Travis, from a dangerous drug gang.
Gunner: Movie Overview
Gunner is a 2024 American action film written by Gary Scott Thompson, directed by Dimitri Logothetis and starring Luke Hemsworth, Morgan Freeman, and Maurice P. Kerry.
In January 2023, it was announced that Hemsworth will star in the film. In February 2023, it was announced that Freeman joined the cast. In April 2023, it was announced that Baena joined the cast. Later that same month, Feely, DeWolfe and Jenkins were added to the cast.
Filming began in Birmingham, Alabama on March 30, 2023. Filming also occurred in Bessemer, Alabama in April 2023.
As of May 2023, the film is in post-production.
The film will be released in select theaters and on digital on August 16, 2024.
Movie Trailer:
Movie Review:
I’m catching up on a few recent action movies that we haven’t covered yet now that my work has calmed down again. First up is Gunner from director Dimitri Logothetis (Jiu-Jitsu) and starring Luke Hemsworth as a war vet called Gunner who returns home to find out his small town isn’t what it once was. He and his sons stumble upon a drug lab while out camping and they are soon discovered; his two sons are kidnapped, so it’s up to Gunner to take out the trash and save his kids.
I’d heard many great things about this movie so maybe my expectations were a little too high, but I was hoping for more in the action department. Like most low budget movies today we get CG gunfire and despite a few real explosions there are some other animated ones. The parachuting scenes are unconvincing as well.
The biggest crime however, is the choice of music; this is one of those films where in pretty much every action scene it plays a song rather than using a score or no music at all. Occasionally it can work depending on the tune like in Guardians of the Galaxy, but in this case using songs takes out any sense of threat or stakes, so you never feel like Gunner or his kids are in any believable danger.
Hemsworth looks the part and makes for a potential new action star and it’s nice to see Undisputed 3’s Mykel Shannon Jenkins as the main villain, Dobbs. Morgan Freeman also shows up for some reason and elevates the material with his presence.
At times Gunner feels like a throwback to classic 80’s action and may not reinvent the genre, but it does what it sets out to do by being a straightforward and relatively entertaining picture. The pacing could have been a little tighter as I feel this story could have been told in 90 minutes, but I’m just nit-picking now.
There are some decent fight scenes and it’s great that an action film like this is still getting made; really, it just needed a bigger budget and different musical choices and it could have been awesome.
Overall, Gunner is a mostly enjoyable throwback to old-school action but the musical choices and unconvincing CG lets it down. Luke Hemsworth makes for a new potential action star and Mykel Shannon Jenkins and Morgan Freeman do their best to elevate the material.
