The Gray Man is an adaptation of Mark Greaney’s 2009 book of the same name, adapted to the screen by Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, and Joe Russo, who also directed the film with his brother Anthony Russo. The film is notable for going through years of developmental hell before becoming the most expensive production in Netflix history with a reported budget of $200 million. It follows a skilled CIA mercenary known as Sierra Six (Ryan Gosling), who discovers some dirty secrets about his organization during a mission, which results in him being targeted by his own people, who hire the psychopathic Lloyd Hansen to bring him down.
I didn’t review Cherry when it came out, but my feelings on that are mostly that the film wasn’t particularly good, but I admired the Russo’s for really swinging for the fences from a visual standpoint, even if it only worked like once in a blue moon. With The Gray Man, it seems like they restrained the balls-to-the-wall, let’s throw every cinematography trick in the book at the wall and see what sticks approach. Perhaps any anxiety over the idea of whether they had any real singular artistic vision was hampered by the response to Cherry, and they didn’t feel the need to prove themselves.
In fact, I’d say they have a better track record as producers through their production company AGBO, which has helped with indie films like Everything Everywhere All At Once and Relic, as well as mainstream thrillers like 21 Bridges, Mosul, and Extraction.Though I will say, The Gray Man certainly fits more into the sensibilities of the action films the Russo brothers have produced, which have all seemed to be attempting to capture the vibe of the kind of action thrillers you’d see getting decent budgets with big stars back in the 90s. The Gray Man is like one of those movies, but on steroids.
At least, it tries to be. It’s strange how even some of the dopey b-action movies of the 90s feel like real movies, with actual composition, a tactile quality that gives the action a sense of oomph, and of course, the classic blood squibs. Plot-wise, The Gray Man isn’t doing anything particularly fresh, similarly to to something like The Princess, the setup is just enough to create a foundation for our stars to fight their way through some big action set-pieces and being charming along the way. And Gosling is charismatic as hell here. I don’t mind the film’s somewhat jokey tone because the gags do work for the most part, and I do hear that it’s fairly accurate to the way the character is in the book, but don’t quote me on that.
The problem is mostly that the action just isn’t particularly engaging. I got nothing bad to say about the work done by the second unit, the stunt coordinators, and fight choreographers, all that is fairly well done. The issue is that the fights aren’t presented with a lot of weight and impact, some of that is due to the PG-13 limitations, given all the fist fights, gun play, and explosions, there’s comically little blood here, and sometimes it’s due to the sound and the editing. The hits barely register, and sometimes the choppy editing can get in the way of keeping you engaged in any given sequence. Not that it becomes incoherent, just that there’s so many instances of unnecessary cuts to different angles within a scene that breaks the flow of the whole thing.
The actors are certainly doing their best, and it helps that the cast is made up of pretty top tier talent. Gosling is very charming and fun, and it plays as a nice contrast to some of the more reserved roles he’d usually get in these kinds of thrillers. Chris Evans is great, as usual, having the most fun when he’s allowed to be a total unhinged weirdo. Even someone like Tamil superstar Dhanush is able to come in late in the game, and nearly steal the whole movie out from under its Hollywood stars. Plus, you have folks like Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Billy Bob Thornton, and Alfre Woodard bringing a lot to some pretty basic material. The only weak link is Regé-Jean Page, who is meant to be this smug authority figure, but he just comes off as flat and unconvincing.
It seems to be that the Russo Brothers are struggling to find their voice as filmmakers following the massive success of their MCU films, wanting to put their stamp on films like Cherry and The Gray Man, only to find that there isn’t any ink to stamp with in the first place. Cherry was this confused, incoherently stylized behemoth, and The Gray Man is a mostly toothless action throwback that doesn’t even come close to capturing the sturdiness and competence of even the most forgettable action pictures of the 90s. The light tone helps, and it’s just relentless in its pacing enough to keep you relatively engaged, but when it’s all said and done, there just isn’t much memorable here. Maybe one action sequence in the middle, a couple performances, that’s about it. And to be fair, that’s been a thing with a lot of Netflix productions in general, they keep making these big movies that try to capture as wide an audience as possible, but it ends up satisfying no one, see Red Notice (or rather don’t). I’m all for this kind of movie, this should be my jam, it has a solid premise, a great cast, talented stunt guys, and a lot of money put in to make everything look good, and it all just feels wasted. This really should have been an easy home run, this isn’t the most intellectually or technically demanding film, the Russo Brothers have managed fine with those massive Marvel movies, and that they weren’t able to make this as great and as fun as it could have been, it’s really mind-boggling. There’s nothing in this film that you haven’t seen done so much better in other movies.
The Gray Man is out in select theaters and available to stream on Netflix.