When the CIA’s most skilled operative – whose true identity is known to none – accidentally uncovers dark agency secrets, a psychopathic former colleague puts a bounty on his head, setting off a global manhunt by international assassins.
The Russo Brothers are best known as the directors of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” and “Avengers: Endgame,” so they are no strangers to blockbuster action flicks. With “The Gray Man,” they deliver their loudest and biggest action film to date, anchored by three heavyweight A-listers; Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas. While Gosling has made a name for himself playing the quiet but contemplative loner, Evans appears to be having the time of his life playing Lloyd Hansen, a psychopathic assassin who gets some of the film’s best lines and who maims, tortures, and kills anybody who gets in his way without so much as batting an eyelid.
Gosling plays Sierra Six, the CIA’s most skilled mercenary who inadvertently unearths disturbing information about the agency and those at the top. After killing a fellow agent, unbeknownst to him at the time, before he dies, he gives Six an encrypted flash drive and warns him of what is to come. After deciphering part of the drive, he realizes he is in over his head and disappears. Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a former CIA assassin, is called to clean up the mess and ordered to retrieve the drive and eliminate Six, no matter the cost. Now Six must reach out to an old friend and, in a world of lies and deception, hope they will offer support and stand with him.
“The Gray Man” could best be described as a Michael Bay movie sans steroids. The action is loud and fast, but unlike most of Bay’s big-screen spectacles, here, you can actually see what’s transpiring onscreen, even when we are close in on Gosling and Evans during their shootouts and fistfights. The editing is never too fast, and the stylistic camerawork, especially the use of drones, is used to significant dramatic effect. Ana de Armas has proven she can hold her own against the big boys, having starred alongside Gosling in “Blade Runner 2049” and with Evans in “Knives Out.” She makes for a strong leading lady that can give as good as she gets.
Ultimately, “The Gray Man” is wholly unoriginal; a CIA operative goes on the run, and a former agent must track him down before it’s too late. We’ve seen this sort of narrative before in films such as “Safe House,” “Body of Lies,” “The November Man,” and the upcoming Brad Pitt-starrer “Bullet Train,” but we don’t go to movies like this for their captivating dialogue and eloquent and dramatic performances, we go to watch the good guys beat the shit out of the bad guys and save the day, that’s basically “The Gray Man” in a nutshell and let me tell you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. While dramas and period pieces have their place in cinema-going society, so do big, explosive blockbusters, and now is the time to sit back and enjoy this guilty pleasure, filled with some of the most exciting and heart-stopping action set-pieces ever put on film. Enjoy!
Now playing in Select Theaters and streaming exclusively on Netflix Friday, July 22nd
