By: Andrew Wing

The Gray Man is a 2022 American action thriller film directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame), from a screenplay the latter co-wrote with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame), based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Mark Greaney. The film stars Ryan Gosling (La La Land, Blade Runner 2049), Chris Evans (Avengers: Endgame, Knives Out), Ana de Armas (Blade Runner 2049, No Time to Die), Jessica Henwick (Iron Fist, The Matrix Resurrections), Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton, Sylvie’s Love), Dhanush (prominent Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema), Wagner Moura (Elysium, Narcos), Julia Butters (American Housewife, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Alfre Woodard (12 Years a Slave, Clemency), and Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa, Fargo).

Produced by the Russo brothers’ company, AGBO (Extraction, Everything Everywhere All at Once), it is the first film in a franchise based upon Greaney’s Gray Man novels. The film focuses on the CIA agent Court Gentry (Gosling), who is on the run from sadistic mercenary Lloyd Hanson (Evans) upon discovering corrupt secrets about his superior (Page).

An adaptation of Greaney’s novel was originally announced in 2011, with James Gray (The Lost City of Z, Ad Astra) set to direct Brad Pitt, and later Charlize Theron in a gender-swapped role, though neither version ever came to fruition. The property lingered in development hell until July 2020, when it was announced the Russo brothers would direct, with both Gosling and Evans attached to star. Filming began in Los Angeles in March 2021, before wrapping in Prague that July. With a production budget of $200 million, it is among the most expensive films ever made by Netflix.

The Gray Man began a limited theatrical release on July 15, 2022, followed by its digital release on Netflix on July 22. The film will be followed by a sequel with Gosling reprising his role and a spin-off.

THE GOOD

I have yet to read the book, but ever since this project was announced back two years ago in July 2020, I have been beyond excited. The main reason being the two actors who were attached to star in the film in both Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans. I mean it really doesn’t get much better than that, to be honest. I mean Gosling is my second favorite actor just behind Adam Driver after seeing him star in two of my all-time favorite movies in La La Land and Blade Runner 2049. As for Chris Evans, I love everything about him. He is Captain America for christ's sake, the man is a living legend. More than that, the man can legitimately act. Don’t believe me? Go check out Rian Johnson’s 2019 whodunnit Knives Out, which is another one of my favorite films from the past five-plus years. Aside from those two guys, the fact that the Russo brothers were going to direct an action film was phenomenal because they clearly know how to do that after directing probably four of the top ten MCU films. Despite all the good things it had going for it, the Russo brothers did direct Cherry last year, a movie I thought was quite bad, so I had a tiny bit of skepticism. Nevertheless, I checked it out the first thing I could, so keep reading to find out if it matched my otherworldly expectations, or if it was another post-Marvel dud from the Russo brothers!

It was neither. It, unfortunately, didn’t match my expectations, but that’s more of a me problem and it doesn’t take away from the fact that was a good movie that was really entertaining, that was also a massive improvement over Cherry! I think the reason I didn’t vibe with Cherry was that it was more of a drama movie than the Russo brothers have done before. There is no denying that their bread and butter is action and they put that on display in The Gray Man. I will address the action scenes, in particular, a little later, but the scale of this movie was massive. They used all of their $200 million budget and gave us one hell of an enjoyable watch. It truly was a tactically aggressive and almost brawny assassin action film that just proves that when it comes to making an action movie, these two guys are at the top of the food chain.

Enough about the Russo brothers though, it’s time to talk about the main selling points of the movie, Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans. First with Gosling, as he is the lead actor in The Gray Man. Gosling crushed it here, and as much as I liked Chris Evans, he carried the film for me. Gosling just has this natural stoic toughness that we have seen from him in all of his films that is unexplainable, and that’s why I love him and he is one of my favorite actors. Now I hope he keeps taking dramatic roles in the future so he can get a damn Oscar which he might do in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie which comes out next year, but at the same time, I would have nothing wrong with him starring in more action movies because the dude is a beast. No wonder he is married to Eva Mendes.

Next with America’s Ass himself, Chris Evans. First things first, if you aren’t a Chris Evans fan, you just have something wrong with you. Evans captured our hearts from the first time he played Cap, and we were all crying in Avengers: Endgame when he passed his shield down to his best friend Sam Wilson. If you say you weren’t, you’re just lying to yourself. Aside from the MCU though, he has shown just how talented of an actor he is, especially in Knives Out when he played the antagonist. And his performance in that was a huge reason why I was so excited to see him play the villain in this, and he did not disappoint. He can just play a smug piece of shit so well, and while I still thought we should’ve got more from his character, I loved everything he brought to the table here.

Now with this being an action thriller from the Russo brothers, you know we have to talk about the action scenes. I thought they were fantastic and they really kept me interested in this movie. They were all entertaining and engaging, and the fight choreography was fantastic. To be specific, the first fight scene that introduces us to Gosling’s character Court Gentry, and the last fight scene between the two stars of the film were incredible and lived up to the hype. More than that, the whole last act of the film was fucking awesome as it was just straight action from start to finish.

THE BAD

As much as I enjoyed watching two of my favorite actors on screen, there is just no way I can call this an above-average action movie. There were great fight sequences, don't get me wrong, but it was just nowhere close to competing with some of the best the action genre has seen like the John Wick franchise and the Mission: Impossible film series. Those movies are truly elite and have some of the best singular films the genre has ever seen, and I was expecting The Gray Man to be on that level, but it just wasn’t. However, I will definitely still keep the faith and hold out hope because as I mentioned, it’s already been announced that the film will be followed by a sequel with Gosling reprising his role and a spin-off series too.

Now that that is out of the way, we need to discuss what I thought were the two biggest problems with the film. First with the script, which I thought was most definitely a clichéd one. It’s tough because the writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have proven in the past with MCU films that they can write a good script and balance out the drama, action, and humor, and while it wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t good enough. As I said, it was full of clichés and other stereotypes we know too well from other action films, and it was at its worst in the first thirty minutes of the film if you ask me. From the encryption keys to the data leaks, it was just all stuff we as an audience are tired of seeing, and if you throw in some of the other cringy dialogue we got too, it just felt like lazy writing to me.

The second main problem I had with The Gray Man was its pacing. I have seen other critics refer to the film’s pacing as “breakneck pacing”, and after watching it, I can agree with that. It just moves way too fast, and it reminded me a lot of, to refer to another action film, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, the movie I find to be the worst of the John Wick franchise. It was even worse in The Gray Man though because of this being the first film of the franchise that's main duty was to entertain, which it did, but to also introduce us to the characters and develop them. And at the end of the day, as much as I loved both Gosling and Evans’ characters, they both could’ve used more character development, and so could the majority of the rest of the cast, especially Ana de Armas’ character.

THE VERDICT

Despite it not reaching the levels of the John Wick franchise or the Mission: Impossible film series due to a stereotypical script and some poor character development, the Russo brother’s book-to-screen adaptation of The Gray Man is still a thrilling piece of entertainment that sees two of the best in the business in Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans go face-to-face on the big screen.

All in all, I thought Gosling and Evans carried the film with their chemistry, but the action sequences were as great as you’d expect considering who’s in the director’s chairs.