An excessively derivative, cliched film that barely stays afloat thanks to Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, and Dhanush, along with two well choreographed, long action scenes; that’s Netflix’s $200 million The Gray Man.
Anthony and Joe Russo have been the second and fifth highest grossing movie directors of all time. They directed Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, which currently ranks second, Avengers: Infinity War, which currently ranks fifth, and also directed Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which rank in the top ten highest grossing movies of all time. In addition to earning a lot of money, all of these films have also garnered glowing reviews. They are back with The Gray Man, a spy-action movie on Netflix starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Rege-Jean Page, Julia Butters, Billy Bob Thornton, Dhanush, and Alfre Woodard. Just like Cherry, their next outing after their three superhero films, this one also flatters to deceive.
Do you have plans for what to watch this weekend or what to watch this week? Wondering if The Gray Man is worth your time? My full review of The Gray Man can be found below…
What’s so special about it
When CIA agent Six discovers the Agency’s cover-up and its plan to keep the operation’s secrets from ever seeing the light of day, Agency bigwig Vaughan then hires heavily-troubled contract killer, Lloyd, to take care of Six. But Six won’t make it easy for Lloyd–first by initiating an aggressive guerrilla-style manhunt for Lloyd, and then turning to the aid of the world’s most deadly assassins to fend off the now deadlier enemy.
Watch the trailer below to see what it’s all about:
The Movie’s hot factor
Initially, The Gray Man floats mainly due to its performances and a few action scenes – not even all of them. In this movie, Ryan Gosling plays the perfect laconic leading man, while Chris Evans plays the most gleefully insane private contractor, leading the biggest private team of mercenaries. Ana de Armas is excellent and matches Gosling’s intensity and action chops, Rege-Jean Page is creepy enough, and Julia Butters is both spunky and innocent.
Billie Bob Thornton and Alfre Woodard perform their duties as veterans. Dhanush only appears for 15 minutes, but his impact as an actor and the way his character is portrayed make all the difference. As for the action, only a long choreographed scene in Prague and the climax are the major highlights, though they shine brightly enough to keep you mildly interested. Production values, cinematography, and VFX are all excellent, but that’s to be expected from Netflix’s most expensive product ever, boasting a $200 million budget.
The Movie’s not hot factor
The Gray Man is probably the most derivative film I’ve ever seen. Starting from the main concept, every plot point, every plot twist, and all the way down to the character arcs – everything in this story is a cliche, rehashed from a thousand similarly cliched spy-action movies in the past. It would technically be considered spoilers if I revealed how many derivations there are in the film, but I doubt anybody would consider it spoilers if I revealed how many derivations there are in the film.
Although it bears so many similarities to so many better movies, the first half of the film really tests your patience, until things pick up thereafter. It’s great that the Russo Brothers–Anthony Russo and Joe Russo– are able to produce so many stylistic and technically sound action scenes and they make their characters feel stylish or humorous, but the dialogue that Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely created was banal and fell flat, because it was flat-out hackneyed. The action set pieces are surprisingly derivative (can’t help but keep using this word), coming from the Directors of some of the biggest action movies ever made. The film is also too long when it fails to hold your attention on multiple levels. It could’ve easily been trimmed by 15-20 minutes.
Despite being excessively derivative and cliché, the $200 million Netflix film from the Russo brothers The Gray Man barely stays afloat despite the committed performances from Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas and Dhanush.
