The Gray Man Review

Anthony and Joe Russo bring Mark Greaney’s work to life in The Gray Man.  With production costs of 200 million, The Gray Man is one of the most expensive movies this summer.  But does it deliver?

What’s it about?

The Gray Man is based on the book of the same name written by Mark Greaney. It follows Six (Ryan Gosling), the last active mercenary trained through the CIA’s now-defunct “Sierra” mercenary program. Six, along with CIA agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas), are on a mission to eliminate a criminal in Bangkok, Thailand.  The mission goes awry, causing Six to separate from Dani and fight the criminal alone.  It turns out that the criminal is an ex-member of the Sierra program, code-named Four.  Six defeats Four, and Four gives him a locket containing a flash drive before he dies.

Six takes the flash drive and realizes it contains encrypted information that could incriminate high-ranking CIA official Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page).  Carmichael determines that Six has the drive and orders Six to be taken out and the drive returned to him. Carmichael hires private mercenary and sociopath Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans) to do the job.  Lloyd pulls out all the stops and goes by no rules, even if it means kidnapping Six’s mentor’s niece.  Six must stay one step ahead of Lloyd, find out what is on the drive, and save the kidnapped girl.

My Reaction

The last time Netflix spent this amount of money to produce a film was Red Notice, one of the worst action movies in recent memory.  So, handing the reigns of their next big-budget film to the experienced Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Endgame) was a wise choice.  The action set pieces in this film are incredible. The shoot-outs, car chases, and choreographed fights were done exceptionally well. 

You also believed that the characters exist in this world. Ryan Gosling looks like he trained to be a top mercenary.  He got absolutely ripped for this movie, which adds to the believability of the brutal fight scenes he participates in.  Six also moves with a cold and calculating demeanor that makes him cooler than anyone else around him.  He acknowledges when he is in a dire situation but does so in an almost dismissive, “I’m too badass for all of this” way.

I loved Ana de Armas’ action scenes. She is close to Six’s level in terms of training and expertise, and you really believe her in these action scenarios.  She doesn’t take a backseat to anyone in the movie, which makes her even more empowering.

However, my favorite performance was that of Chris Evans as Lloyd.  Seeing Evans branching out from the Captain America typecast into these morally flawed characters has been fascinating. Those who only know Evans from the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be pleasantly stunned by his character in this film.

I am unfamiliar with the source material for The Gray Man, but it is hard not to feel as if it is a little derivative of other action/spy thrillers.  It exists somewhere in between The Bourne Franchise and Jason Statham movies.  However, its unoriginality doesn’t reduce your enjoyment of the action or plot, no matter how straightforward the movie’s story is.   Because the film is rushing from one action sequence to the next, there isn’t much dialogue for the actors to chew on.  Therefore, The Gray Man is pretty lean on character development.  And yet, you don’t mind, as you quickly realize that isn’t why you are watching this movie anyway.  

Overall Rating

Unlike other expensive action mashups from Netflix, The Gray Man works because the storytelling is lean and linear, you believe all the characters belong in this violent world of covert ops, and the action is incredible.  Sure, you could complain that the story is unoriginal and lacks depth. Or better yet, you can grab some popcorn, sit on your couch, and watch some stuff blow up.