Gray Man Review

As we'll see in this review, The Gray Man has what it takes to become another big hit on Netflix. It has a luxury cast, a budget of more than 200 million dollars, a huge advertising campaign and behind the scenes it has Joe and Anthony Russo. They are the brothers responsible for some of the biggest hits in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In fact, it can already be considered a success and it is certain that millions of people rushed to see it on streaming as soon as it was released. Despite that, it 's one of the most lackluster and boring movies we've seen in 2022 .

How could that happen with such a high-quality mix of ingredients? Let's find out.

The Gray Man is a classic story of secret agents and government conspiracies. It stars Ryan Gosling as the Sierra Six, a member of a CIA program that puts ex-convicts on tasks that should remain "off the books." When he is forced to take down another Sierra agent, he discovers that an agency official is corrupt and that makes him a wanted man.

The plot unfolds as expected. Every 20 minutes we have an action scene that fills the screen with gunshots, explosions and destruction. It has elements taken from James Bond movies , Fast and Furious, Mission Impossible and Bourne . The problem is that he doesn't know what makes those franchises special and ends up copying their worst elements.

Why are the characters in The Gray Man so boring if they have excellent actors?

The main problem with this film is its unsavory characters. No matter how talented or attractive the actors are, their roles are seriously poorly written. There is no charisma in the world capable of making them interesting. Sierra Six has no personality and attempts to humor her with “funny dialogue” are misplaced. We've already seen Ryan Goslin play great stoic characters in Drive and Only God Forgives , but these had interesting backstory and emotional drama. This super agent has nothing that makes it halfway special.

The same happens with Dani Miranda, played by Ana de Armas. In her brief appearance as another CIA agent in 007: No Time To Die she showed far more grace than she did in this bland role. This also goes for Regé-Jean Page, who has nothing here that made him a superstar in Bridgerton , and a wasted Jessica Henwick.

They also put Danush, one of the most important actors in Tamil cinema, here. Considering the recent success of RRR , it makes sense that Netflix is ​​looking to India for more movies like Gray Man . But they only use this artist for an action scene that is barely decent. As if that weren't insult enough, the only notable line from him exists to give him an orientalist and boring "sense of honor".

Remember the eight-year-old girl we adore for her scenes with Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood ? Here she is she again, but she plays a damsel in distress who is boring even by the low standards of that cliché.

The only thing worthy of note in this puddle of poorly crafted characters and underwhelming dialogue is Chris Evans as psychopathic mercenary Lloyd Hansen . As the other actors move around like zombies in the script, you can tell how much fun the former Captain America is having in his over-the-top role as the villain. We can criticize all we want for his horrible mustache or the archetypal concept of him, but he has something that no one else in this movie demonstrates: a personality.

Why are the action scenes of The Gray Man on Netflix not exciting?

Things start off well for this film. We have a couple of elegant protagonists at a flashy party in Bangkok that ends in a fight in the middle of fireworks. It's nothing special, but it has a lot of potential. Usually, the first action scenes of films like this only serve to establish tone and rhythm because we still don't know the characters well or what the "stakes" of the plot are.

The problem is that in The Gray Man we never get to know the characters and these “bets” don't matter. That's why it doesn't matter that they destroyed Prague with a long gunfight on a tram. If this scene had Ethan Hunt from Mission Impossible or Dominic Toretto from Fast and Furious it would be more exciting even if they didn't change anything else. Whether we like them or annoy us, these characters are capable of causing us emotions. But Sierra Six doesn't matter to us at all. It can be in the most outrageous sequence in movie history and we'd still yawn .

Why did the Russo brothers make such a bad movie?

If we look at the films that Joe and Anthony Russo made after their time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we discover that they all have one thing in common: they have been disappointing.

The hit Rescue Mission , written by Joe Russo, has a lot in common with The Gray Man, and in our review we explain why it's so lackluster despite its elaborate stunts . The crime drama Cherry —starring Tom Holland and written and directed by the brothers—was criticized for formulaic and putting "style over substance."

Due to this we could think that the Russo Brothers have good cinematographic technique , but they do not know how to write characters. Is the success of your Marvel films because they use established characters? It may be true, but those movies also have great character development and introduce some who became audience favorites. The characters from The Gray Man also existed before. This movie is based on a book.

Maybe it's down to the producers. Kevin Feige and Disney are known for their constant vigilance over their productions. For their part, gossips say that Netflix just passes checks and lets filmmakers do what they want. If this is true, it may be that the brothers did not have an environment that required them to do good character work and focused only on technical elements. That would explain why this movie abuses lighting tricks and drone shots that add nothing to the film .

We love Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas, but Netflix's Gray Man is not a movie where they shine. There are dozens of productions with them that are much better. The only reason we can think of to waste time on this film is that they want to see Chris Evans sporting a ridiculous mustache and appropriating every scene he's in with some cartoonish evil.