Review: The Gray Man

The Gray Man is an exercise in wasted potential. Netflix and the Russo Brothers manage to take a charismatic cast and a whopping $200 million budget and produce a forgettable and generic action film. The Gray Man has a few solid performances, particularly in the supporting cast. However, compared to its poorly directed action set pieces that border on incoherence in certain cases and an overall lack of originality, The Gray Man ends up being a poor imitation of far better films.

Both Gosling and Evans miss the mark

The Gray Man follows Six (Ryan Gosling), a covert CIA agent who is hunted down by his former colleague Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans) after he discovers agency secrets. With this film’s budget, you would expect its two leads to be more than up to the task. Yet, I think that both Gosling and Evans miss the mark. Gosling’s stoic performance fails to connect you to his character, meaning the several attempts to give him any heart or backstory fall flat. The opposite can be said for Evans, who goes too big as the villain whilst also going for menacing in certain moments. As a result, he fails to do either one well enough. Lloyd Hansen is supposed to be ruthless, but I do not think Evan’s natural charisma on screen translates into a believable enough villain for The Gray Man.

My biggest issue with The Gray Man is the Russo’s direction of action sequences. Both Gosling and Evans have handled themselves in action sequences before, but The Gray Man uses too many quick cuts that do not show you enough of what is going on. This is particularly apparent with a sequence on a falling plane. By the end I had no clue what was happening, as the action melted into a CGI blur. The Russo’s have directed quick-cut action well before, notably with Evans in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But this time the Russo’s fail to capture that same visceral edge that Winter Solider had.

The main saving grace is the supporting cast of The Gray Man, the best of which is Dani (Ana de Armas). de Armas brings some much needed bite to the otherwise dull action scenes, and her charming screen presence elevates her scenes with Gosling. I should also mention the character of Avik San (Dhanush). He makes the best use of his action scenes with both Gosling and de Armas. In a film that feels lazy in its execution, Dhanush seems the most interested in being there. The Gray Man underutilises him, and his final scene left me scratching my head as to what the point of his character was in the first place beyond plot necessity.

The Gray Man does not seem to have an original bone in its body

I do not blame The Gray Man for having a relatively generic plot. I do blame it, however, for not doing much with it. The Gray Man does not seem to have an original bone in its body. Too often it feels like The Gray Man is recycling action styles and ideas from other films, failing to find its own voice. In one sequence, as Six is fighting his way up a flight of stairs, his style of fighting feels akin to the recently popularised ‘gun-fu’ from John Wick. Another set piece in Prague feels more like something from Fast and Furious. All of this took me out of the world The Gray Man was trying to build, and made me wish I was watching another film all together. The Gray Man never justifies its own existence beyond having popular actors running around the world and causing chaos.

Verdict:

I think it is obvious by now that I really disliked The Gray Man. Netflix clearly wants their own huge franchise, and with a sequel reportedly already in the works, they might just get one. I found The Gray Man simply fine at its best and annoying at its worst. I can recommend it for its solid supporting performances, and one or two action sequences that stand above the rest involving de Armas and Dhanush. To me, The Gray Man seems destined to be another Netflix film you look at sometimes when you are not looking at your phone. Netflix has thrown a lot of money at this one, and the majority of it ends up in a pile on the floor.