Ryan Gosling hasn't (yet) taken on the role of a superhero, but in the high-profile Netflix summer movie "The Gray Man," directed by Anthony and Joe Russo of "Avengers: Endgame," he comes closer than ever. It makes sense why Gosling would agree to work with the Russos to adapt Mark Greaney's book and why Netflix would give them access to their whole bank vault in order to launch their own mega-franchise.
Sierra Six (Ryan Gosling), a highly skilled and seemingly unkillable secret operator who becomes the target of his previous employers, is the mysterious Gray Man. The Gray Man gets right into the action with a mission gone horribly wrong when Six is given the assignment to kill a target who turns out to be another secret agent by a new boss named Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page). Before giving Six the evidence to back up his accusation, the dying man warns him that Denny is a nasty guy.
Before our stoic hero has even had a chance to establish a personality as a cinematic character, he is immediately on the run. This isn't nearly as tight of production as the "John Wick" franchise, but that kind of blank protagonist is perfect for taut, precise action movies.
Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a former CIA black ops mercenary who now works in the private sector, is called in by Carmichael as Six flees. Hansen will take any measure necessary to obtain Six, even if it means abducting Claire (Julia Butters), the daughter of Fitzroy.
Of course, Six feels a connection to Claire because she once protected her. He is the spy who cares about children's welfare, setting him apart from sociopaths like Hansen. As Six pursues his search for freedom, Dani Miranda, another spy, played by Ana de Armas, joins him. Believe it or not, she receives even less character development than her male colleagues.
Really, that's it for the next two hours. Things go boom with a good guy, a bad person, a woman in the middle, and a kid in danger. Although some of the action scenes, particularly a crazy one in a town square, can be rather effective, most of the movie is shot in such oddly low light that it overpowers Gosling, Evans, and de Armas' amazing on-screen personalities.
Seriously, whoever decided that "Ozarklow "'s light palette would be appropriate for the majority of a world-traveling action movie deserves a cinematic prison term. With the exception of a wisecracking Evans, "The Gray Man" feels so programmatically bland. If it wants to be a new Fast & Furious or Bourne franchise, it should be wildly over-the-top.
Evans is never shown as an intriguing threat, which contributes to the issue. In reality, he appears to be rather bad at his job. This is more of a good spy vs. a crazy spy conflict than a struggle of wills. Although the script by Joe Russo, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely keeps trying to sell us on Hansen being a terrifying genius and there's really no evidence of the latter part, there is something underdeveloped in the idea that Gosling is the traditional spy and Evans is the brute force modern maniac whose strategy seems to just be to blow up as much as possible.
Millions of people will view The Gray Man, however, a few days later, they won't be able to recall anything noteworthy about it. Let's hope "The Gray Man" finds a bit more definition in subsequent episodes if this is the first of a series, which it most likely is.
Performance | 3.9/5 |
Enjoyment | 4.1/5 |
Overall Rating | 3.9/5 |