The Gray Man

Less would have been more. Take the final man-on-man fight, for example, it’s absolutely brilliant, gripping, entertaining, thrilling and yet quite modestly conceived, and compare it to the main action scene, which unfortunately takes place in Prague, it wants to be spectacular but is at best awkward and gives the impression that it's only in the film because someone wanted it there, even though it doesn't make much sense. This film should ideally have been an hour and a half long and trimmed of the unnecessary stuff and some of the characters, it could have focused more on Gosling's likable bulldog and Evans's 80's funny but not ridiculous villain, it could have kept the action down to earth where it suits the Russo's (the night fight in the house, another great scene). Netflix didn't have to present it so grandly... And it would have been better. (23/07/2022)

The locations change like on a treadmill, but the problem is that the you can’t see the 200 million USD budget at all. Most of the film takes place in dark interiors, so the viewer's eye doesn't feed and the few camera flyovers with drones don't save the day. And the action? There's little that's truly memorable and when there is it's dull, lacking any ideas or technical flourishes; Paul Greengrass should give these brothers some lessons in directing action scenes because the result here is dull. The only highlight is Prague and its several-minute tram rampage, but even that didn't raise my pulse, any action passage from Bourne has much more balls. The only bright spot is the one I wouldn't have expected: Chris Evans is excellent, and although his role might tempt one to overplay it, he holds back reasonably well until the end, which is more than enough for a psychopath par excellence, also, the porn-stache does its bit too. Netflix is slowly becoming a synonym of money dump. (22/07/2022)

The Gray Man proves that Netflix can have all the money they want, but they won't get rid of the syndrome of cheap disposable entertainment. What on earth were those crazy drone flyovers? Couldn’t the Russos afford proper equipment? And proper special effects? With their messed-up Bourne, they prove that maybe there really was more to oversight under Marvel than we had been made to believe. All we got here is an unintended B-movie, a film that lacks identity, suspense and the hallmark of an event. And so little would have been enough in this summer season... (24/07/2022)

This year's biggest Netflix event could have had bigger ambitions, but for me, it's still a fun spy actioner that I have a soft spot for. Extraction is still one of Netflix's best actioners, and I have 6 Underground above it, thanks to the merit of the R-rating, which Gray Man lacks, and it's a great shame. It doesn't reach the level of MI or Bond, but that doesn't bother me at all, it's still an above average genre flick that reliably entertains for two hours. The Russo Brothers were more impressive in Avengers and I liked a lot Cherry, we'll see what they come up with next, I wish they'd do horror, that could be a nice challenge. Gray Man benefits the most from its attractive cast. Ryan Gosling is a decent hero you can root for, Chris Evans enjoys playing the bad guy, and Ana de Armas is traditionally a hottie. The visuals are fine, though the CGI was occasionally jarring and could have been done a bit better for 200 million, but it didn't downright bother me. The action is decent for a PG-13 rating, and there were some interesting ideas – the red smoke on the plane looked great, the stealth action in the opening was likeable, the fight with the Indian star was awesome, and the whole Prague arc is very cool. I liked that there's a lot of location changes and lots of interesting cities to see. Plot-wise, the film doesn't bring any surprises, but I enjoyed the dialogue – I love that macho banter. The biggest minus is definitely the lack of an R-rating and the sound design of the weapons isn't exactly dazzling, and I won't be rushing out for a second viewing either, but I still enjoyed Gray Man. Definitely better Netflix. Story 3/5. Action 4/5, Humor 2/5, Violence 1/5, Fun 4/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 4/5. 7/10. (24/07/2022)

Compared to Bourne, The Gray Man is a lot dumber and more B-ish. Compared to Bond, it’s less stylish. Compared to Hunt, it’s less imaginative. But if you throw out the attempts to compare to him the greatest heroes of spy-action movies, he actually doesn't come out nearly as bad. The premise is already a B-movie washout, so it probably shouldn't surprise anyone that the movie will be similarly off. The opening scene in Bangkok would easily stand up to a Bond film, but then it takes almost an hour before anything really interesting and entertaining starts happening. And no, I don’t mean trying to go in depth with flat heroes and trying to describe the behind-the-scenes practices of CIA agents who don't even trust each other. Once the action shifts to Prague, however, and the tram set-piece you couldn't help but read about kicks in, it becomes fully apparent that The Gray Man may have had bigger ambitions, but only on paper. If the film and the audience can come to terms with the fact that it's a big overpriced action B-movie, they can enjoy it as much as I did. The Russo's may go a little overboard with the drones and the stunts could have been better handled, but the action is truly spectacular, imaginative and you can see the budget. Chris Evans is a fine asshole, Ryan Gosling doesn't offend, but it's not his life role, and Ana de Armas relies on acting cute even though she has two rocket launchers on her back and a grenade launcher in her hand. If you find that idea funny and entertaining rather than awkward and ridiculous, chances are you'll enjoy this solid action flick. Netflix may have wanted more, and it's not great by any means. On the other hand, if The Gray Man catches on and we get a sequel, I'll gladly spend those two hours with them again. (24/07/2022)