The Gray Man (2022) Movie Review

Ryan Gosling may not have played a superhero yet, but he gets closer than ever before in the mega-budget Netflix production “The Gray Man.” The streaming service's summer blockbuster is from the directors of “Avengers: Endgame,” Anthony and Joe Russo, and is based on the book by Mark Greaney. Netflix has opened not just their wallet, but an entire bank vault for the Russos to adapt the book with an eye to starting a new mega-franchise of their own. However, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that Netflix has too little creative oversight over projects like these, just letting creators run off with their money and not really caring about what they deliver.

The star of “La La Land” and “Drive” plays a spy named Sierra Six, who was recruited out of prison by a handler named Donald Fitzroy. After that very brief set-up, “The Gray Man” hits the ground running with a mission gone very awry when Six is tasked by a new boss named Denny Carmichael with taking out a target that turns out to be a fellow secret agent. The dying man tells Six that Denny is a bad guy before handing him the intel to prove it. Immediately, our stoic hero is on the run, before he’s really had any time to develop a personality as a movie character. That kind of blank protagonist is fine for taut, precise action films like those in the “John Wick” franchise, but this isn’t nearly that tight of a production.

This movie needed an Ethan Hunt, someone defined by more than just the clichés that he won’t shoot a kid and he has a dark past. Seriously, it would be tough to name five characteristics of this hero that we’re supposed to follow for two hours. Never a good sign. As Six goes on the run, Carmichael calls in Lloyd Hansen, a former CIA black ops mercenary who now works in the private sector where there are even fewer rules about things like torture and dumb mustaches. Hansen will do whatever it takes to get Six, including kidnapping Fitzroy’s daughter Claire to get his attention. Of course, Six has a connection with Claire having watched over her a few years ago. He’s the spy who wants kids to live, which separates him from a sociopath like Hansen.

Meanwhile, another spy named Dani Miranda joins Six on his quest for freedom, and she is given even less character definition than her male counterparts. And that’s really it for two hours. Good guy, bad guy, woman in the middle, kid in jeopardy, things go boom. Some of the action sequences, especially an insane one in a town square, can be pretty effective, but most of the film is shot at such a bizarrely low light that it dulls even the incredible screen presence of the undeniably charismatic Gosling, Evans, and de Armas.

“The Gray Man” should be joyously over-the-top if it wants to be a new Fast & Furious or Bourne franchise, but with the exception of a wisecracking Evans, everything here feels so programmatically dull. It’s a silly piece of popcorn entertainment that too often forgets that this kind of venture needs to be fun. Part of the problem is that Evans is never set up as an interesting threat. In fact, he seems kind of horrible at his job—a colleague says that an asset removal gone horribly, a headline-making wrong, will be taught in schools as to what not to do. There’s something underdeveloped in the idea that Gosling is the old-fashioned spy and Evans is the brute force modern maniac whose strategy seems to just be to blow up as much as possible.

Overall, it's clear that "The Gray Man" falls short in many areas, despite its big budget and talented cast. While the action sequences can be entertaining, they're not enough to carry the film, which suffers from a lack of character development, poor lighting choices, and a generic storyline that fails to distinguish it from other films in the genre. Moreover, the movie seems to be a victim of the trend of prioritizing formulaic content that fits the algorithms and templates over original, daring filmmaking.

That being said, it's not all doom and gloom for the film industry, and especially for Netflix. While there are certainly risks associated with investing in original content, there are also plenty of rewards to be had. Take, for example, the success of the recent film "Squid Game," which became a global phenomenon despite its relatively low budget and lack of big-name stars. The show's creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, has said that the success of "Squid Game" is proof that audiences are hungry for fresh, original content that takes risks and challenges their expectations.

So what can Netflix and other streaming services learn from "The Gray Man" and other formulaic films that fail to make an impact? Perhaps the biggest lesson is that audiences want more than just mindless action and explosions. They want to be emotionally invested in the characters and their stories, and they want to be surprised and challenged by the plot. In short, they want movies that are more than just vehicles for special effects and high-octane thrills.

Of course, there's no one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of creating successful films and TV shows. What works for one audience may not work for another, and what's fresh and original today may be tired and clichéd tomorrow. However, by prioritizing creative risk-taking and giving filmmakers and showrunners the freedom to tell their stories in new and exciting ways, streaming services like Netflix can help ensure that they continue to produce content that engages and excites viewers for years to come.