Gunner Ending, Explained: Does Lee Save Luke?

The action movie directed by Dimitri Logothetis, ‘Gunner’ tells the story of a father who abandons all rules in the quest to save his sons from a deadly drug lord. Colonel Lee Gunner, with a Medal of Valor to show for his military career, has never been a present father in his sons Travis and Luke’s lives. Therefore, once back in his hometown, he attempts to make it up to them by taking them camping. Nonetheless, things go south quickly after the Gunners stumble onto a drug lab run by the deadly Dobbs Ryker. After Dobbs abducts Lee’s boys, the ex-military man finds himself back into a battle—this time fighting for his family. In Lee Gunner’s no-holds-barred mission to save his kids, the father undertakes some fascinatingly dangerous adventures, which will leave people eager to see how his story concludes. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Gunner Plot Synopsis

Back in Clinton City, Colonel Lee Gunner attempts to pick up his life from where he left it before his final reenlistment. It proves to be difficult given the divorce from his wife and battered relationship with his sons, especially 16-year-old Travis. Even so, he attempts to fix old mistakes and offers to take his sons camping in the woods. The trio—including a deeply uninterested Travis, who had to be dragged away from his girlfriend’s home—joins Uncle Von and sets out on an adventure. During their camping trip, the Gunners skydive, sleep by a campfire, and ride down the woods in all-terrain motors.

Their trip takes an unpleasant turn when Lee and Von discover a drug lab hidden in the deeper ends of the woods. After tripping on some of the equipment, the latter ends up triggering a bomb, which leaves him severely injured. In the aftermath, Lee attempts to save his brother-in-law’s life while calling for Travis and Luke to escape out of the woods and call the authorities. The biker gang to whom the lab belongs is quick to ambush the pair, holding them hostage. Meanwhile, Von dies, and even though Lee manages to fight off several gang members, he’s helpless to attack the leader, Dobbs, who has his sons.

Having gauged the violence Lee is capable of, Dobbs tries to talk through the situation with the man—only interested in evacuating the area with his drugs. Nevertheless, the DEA’s chopper shows up, resulting in Dobbs’ escape and Lee’s arrest. Afterward, the feds take Lee to the Sherrif’s station to be locked up as they launch an investigation after Dobbs. Shortly after, the drug lord contacts Lee to pitch an offer: the former’s confiscated drugs in exchange for the latter’s kids. Eventually, despite the lead federal agent’s orders, the local sheriff, Bob, ends up helping the father escape and shares some information with him to help him look for his sons.

As a result, Lee tracks down one of Dobbs’ associates at a strip club and intimidates him into revealing the location of the gang’s hideout. The same leads him to the Iron Works Factory, where he fights his way through to Travis. When Dobbs manages to escape once again with Luke in his clutches, Lee decides against playing by Dobbs’ rules and recruits Travis to help track down Kenderick Ryker, the criminal’s father and the former head of the biker gang. After learning about his location at the local prison facility, Lee calls in a favor with an army friend to break into the prison grounds through a chopper.

At the Clinton prison facility, Lee wreaks havoc, creating just enough of a distraction to get to Kendrick and break him out of the establishment. Thus, with an additional trick up his sleeve, he prepares to face Dobbs and save Luke. However, as Travis meets his father’s war buddy, the teenager finally learns about Lee’s past. As such, the truth comes out about the reason behind Lee’s previous decision against returning home when his other kid, Dave, battled his deteriorating health before passing away.

Gunner Ending: How Did Dave Die? Why Was Lee Missing?

Throughout the film, the disconnect between Lee and his family remains apparent. Since he had given his youth to the military, the father was never around to contribute to his children’s childhoods in any substantial way. Even though Luke doesn’t begrudge him for it and tries to bond with him despite their estranged relationship, Travis seems to hold a deeper disdain for him. Expectedly, the reason behind the same isn’t Lee’s simple estranged relationship with his children. As it turns out, Lee had another son, the oldest—Dave Gunner—who was eager to follow in his father’s footsteps.

As a result, Dave enlisted in the military and was shipped off to Afghanistan in his first year, only to return with a severe injury, which got him addicted to painkillers. As Dave’s addiction worsened, Lee remained overseas without responding to his family’s attempts at communication. Consequently, when Dave died of an overdose, he did so with the thought that his father had given up on him. Eventually, when Lee returned—it was with a scar on his arm and no explanation about why he hadn’t come back earlier to see his dying son.

For the same reason, Travis despises his father, finding it easier to hate him when Lee repeatedly refuses to explain himself. Therefore, when an explanation does arrive from the latter’s war buddy, Sean, it surprises the teenager. After Lee’s shipment to Afghanistan, he found himself in a precarious situation, wherein he singlehandedly fought an entire Al-Qaeda command to ensure his squad’s safe escape from the area. Yet, the man himself got left behind and held hostage by the enemy. As such, Lee became a prisoner of war for a year before he escaped.

Dave’s addiction and eventual death occurred during this period of Lee’s abduction, which is why he couldn’t return home to his son. In the end, the experience left him with an inability to discuss his truth with his grieving family. As a father, he wanted to spare his sons the tragedy of his experiences and chose to bear Travis’ hatred instead. Once the teen learns about the same, his perception of his father changes completely, and this helps him understand Lee on a deeper level.

Why Does Gunner Break Kendrick Out of Prison? Does He Survive?

Despite Lee’s military background, the man remains in consistent enmity against the law on numerous occasions. Still, from his fight at the bar to his successful jailbreak, Lee’s concern for his family’s safety drives his actions each time. Likewise, his motives remain the same when he breaks Kendrick out of prison. Ever since the former drug lord’s imprisonment, he has been attempting to win his freedom. Yet, Dobbs perpetually fails to get his father out early due to volatile court dates. Even though Lee isn’t aware of their exact situation, he realizes he can use Dobbs’ father against him just as the other man using Luke to get to him.

For the same reason, Lee contacts Dobbs again to pitch a new exchange: Kendrick for Luke. Despite the loss of his confiscated drugs, the young criminal can’t compromise his father’s safety and agrees to the deal. As such, the two set up a rendezvous location and time. Meanwhile, Sean attempts to throw the feds off his friend’s scent and succeeds momentarily. Thus, Lee is able to meet with Dobbs and his gang without any trouble. As a failsafe, he duct tapes a shotgun to Kendrick’s chest to ensure his son doesn’t pull any tricks on him.

Consequently, Dobbs has no choice but to agree to a simultaneous swap, releasing Luke to return to his father. However, Kendrick, who was loathe to let Lee treat his gang as his puppets, decides on a different route and stabs him in the leg with a screwdriver he stole earlier. Nonetheless, in his attempt to run away from Lee, Kendrick trips and falls, triggering the shotgun still taped to his chest. As a result, Kendrick dies, leading Dobbs’ men to recapture Luke before he can reach his father.

Does Lee Save Luke?

Despite the dangerous situation Luke finds himself in, the 10-year-old kid retains fierce faith in his father, even in the face of Dobbs’ threats. At first, he knows he’s relatively safe because Dobbs has expressed his unwillingness to kill a child. Furthermore, the criminal knows better than to harm Lee’s son, knowing he would only be signing his own death wish. Even so, things change after Kendrick’s death. Although Lee wasn’t directly responsible for the older drug lord’s demise, the latter’s son won’t see it the same way. Therefore, it only increases his itch to kill the other man.

For the same reason, as Dobbs escapes with his associate and Luke through his chopper, the kid’s life is in more danger than ever since his jailer no longer has an incentive to keep him alive. Even so, as the chopper takes off with the arrival of the DEA, Luke quickly realizes his life isn’t really in mortal peril. Through Dobbs’ chaotic exit, Lee had managed to sneak into the chopper. Thus, the father manages to hide Luke away in a safe corner before his enemies spot him, leading to a violent altercation.

In the end, Lee kills Dobbs’ partner but finds himself on the other end of the drug lord’s gun. In turn, Dobbs decides to utilize his upper hand to the limit and condemns the former Colonel to a grueling death by opening up the chopper’s exit hatch in preparation for pushing the other man off the airborne vehicle. Nonetheless, Lee flips the script at the last moment and kicks Dobbs out of the exit instead. Afterward, as the chopper descends toward a catastrophic crash, the father manages to save himself and Luke through a parachute right before the inevitable crash. Ultimately, Lee saves Luke and brings him home back to their family.

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