Cinematography:
Stephen F. WindonComposer:
Henry JackmanCast:
Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Billy Bob Thornton, Jessica Henwick, Julia Butters, Dhanush, Alfre Woodard, Regé-Jean Page, Wagner Moura (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
The Gray Man is CIA operative Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling), aka, Sierra Six. Plucked from a federal penitentiary and recruited by his handler, Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton), Gentry was once a highly-skilled, Agency-sanctioned merchant of death. But now the tables have turned and Six is the target, hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a former cohort at the CIA, who will stop at nothing to take him out. Agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas) has his back. He’ll need it. (Netflix)
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Reviews (9)
This year's biggest Netflix event could have had bigger ambitions, but for me, it's still a fun spy actioner that I have a soft spot for. Extraction is still one of Netflix's best actioners, and I have 6 Underground above it, thanks to the merit of the R-rating, which Gray Man lacks, and it's a great shame. It doesn't reach the level of MI or Bond, but that doesn't bother me at all, it's still an above average genre flick that reliably entertains for two hours. The Russo Brothers were more impressive in Avengers and I liked a lot Cherry, we'll see what they come up with next, I wish they'd do horror, that could be a nice challenge. Gray Man benefits the most from its attractive cast. Ryan Gosling is a decent hero you can root for, Chris Evans enjoys playing the bad guy, and Ana de Armas is traditionally a hottie. The visuals are fine, though the CGI was occasionally jarring and could have been done a bit better for 200 million, but it didn't downright bother me. The action is decent for a PG-13 rating, and there were some interesting ideas – the red smoke on the plane looked great, the stealth action in the opening was likeable, the fight with the Indian star was awesome, and the whole Prague arc is very cool. I liked that there's a lot of location changes and lots of interesting cities to see. Plot-wise, the film doesn't bring any surprises, but I enjoyed the dialogue – I love that macho banter. The biggest minus is definitely the lack of an R-rating and the sound design of the weapons isn't exactly dazzling, and I won't be rushing out for a second viewing either, but I still enjoyed Gray Man. Definitely better Netflix. Story 3/5. Action 4/5, Humor 2/5, Violence 1/5, Fun 4/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 4/5. 7/10.
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Less would have been more. Take the final man-on-man fight, for example, it’s absolutely brilliant, gripping, entertaining, thrilling and yet quite modestly conceived, and compare it to the main action scene, which unfortunately takes place in Prague, it wants to be spectacular but is at best awkward and gives the impression that it's only in the film because someone wanted it there, even though it doesn't make much sense. This film should ideally have been an hour and a half long and trimmed of the unnecessary stuff and some of the characters, it could have focused more on Gosling's likable bulldog and Evans's 80's funny but not ridiculous villain, it could have kept the action down to earth where it suits the Russo's (the night fight in the house, another great scene). Netflix didn't have to present it so grandly... And it would have been better.
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The Gray Man proves that Netflix can have all the money they want, but they won't get rid of the syndrome of cheap disposable entertainment. What on earth were those crazy drone flyovers? Couldn’t the Russos afford proper equipment? And proper special effects? With their messed-up Bourne, they prove that maybe there really was more to oversight under Marvel than we had been made to believe. All we got here is an unintended B-movie, a film that lacks identity, suspense and the hallmark of an event. And so little would have been enough in this summer season...
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I feel that that writing anything about this film is like carrying wood into the forest. For the grandiose statements of Netflix and the considerable expectations of the audience, it turned out to be kind of mediocre, but, let's be honest, not exactly the rubbish product that was Red Notice (aka the second most expensive Netflix production), and you can have fun with The Gray Man (especially thanks to Chris Evans, who really enjoys the psychopathic villain with the moustache).
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As an action spy flick, it’s alright, but as something with a 200 million USD budget aiming to be the best of the Netflix showcase, it’s a bust. To be fair, though, the current blockbusters from classic movie studios (half of the Marvel movies, The Fast and the Furious franchise, the latest Jurassic World, and so on) are similarly shitty. For me, the main problem is that the film "jumps the shark" somewhere in the thirtieth minute, in the extremely ugly (for that money) CGI scene falling out of a plane without a parachute. From that point on, it doesn't matter, we can't worry about the hero because he’ll have it easy peasy. Now he's in Turkey, now in Vienna, now in Prague, he gets stabbed several times, falls down a well, jumps off a moving tram, but hardly anything happens to him, he's just cool. I'd like to see him at least not twist his ankle in real life and then not move for a week! Have the filmmakers watched John Wick, where the action is kept (more or less) grounded and physical to the point it hurts? That’s why those are films people remember. The Gray Man, on the other hand, everyone will watch it (everyone who still has Netflix, that is), but they will forget it in a week. For Czech viewers, it's quite rewarding at best in the sense that they will enjoy watching all the cities that Prague plays here (though there’s always a dominant of the given metropolis painted on the horizon). Otherwise, a forgettable film, the most interesting thing about it is that it doesn’t have any style (which, interestingly, is the opposite I criticised the Russo brothers for in Cherry).
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