LET’S GET PHYSICAL: THE GUNMAN (2004) **

FORMAT:  DVD

A rash of kidnappings and child murders wreak havoc on Austin, Texas.  A masked vigilante takes matters into his own hands and starts cleaning up the streets by going around and blowing away pedophiles and sex offenders.  Widowed cop Sean Patrick (The Boondock Saints) Flanery is on the case but gets saddled with a rookie partner (Chasing Amy’s Joey Lauren Adams), which cramps his style.  Since Flanery’s wife was slain by the killer, one question remains:  Will he catch the vigilante, or will he leave him alone to do his thing?

The Gunman comes to us from Daniel Millican, the same director of our last Let’s Get Physical movie, Striking Range.  It even features two of the same cast members, Tom Wright as Flanery’s captain and Jeff Speakman as a self-defense instructor.  (Boy, I thought Speakman was wasted in Striking Range, but he is given zilch to do here.)  We also have Mimi Rogers as Flanery’s kid’s godmother.  Add in Young Indiana Jones, and you have yourself a pretty decent cast.

While Striking Range was lightweight and fun, The Gunman is heavy-handed and leaden.  It doesn’t help that it contains some difficult subject matter for what is for all intents and purposes, a standard issue police procedural thriller.  (The synopsis on the back of the DVD sleeve sets it up to be another bland thriller and mentions nothing about child murderers and pedophiles.)  I commend Millican and his team for trying to tackle mature themes inside the context of a typical potboiler, but that doesn’t mean it works.  The fact that the identity of the vigilante is predictable (it’s one of those “the least likely suspect is the killer” deals) doesn’t do it any favors.  Plus, there are long stretches that feel like a Lifetime Movie.  Maybe it could’ve survived these obstacles, but the wuss rock soundtrack is the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Imagine Nickelback… but worse.   

AKA:  A Promise Kept.