Want to hear more from the actors and creators of your favorite shows and films? Subscribe to The Cinema Spot on YouTube for all of our upcoming interviews!
Starring Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas, this action espionage adventure has all the potential to be one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters. Unfortunately, it fails to deliver the excitement and emotion it could give, considering its cast, directors and screenwriters.
Bullets Without Aim
Sierra Six (Ryan Gosling) is an inmate who is promised his immediate freedom in exchange for secretly working for the CIA. As a part of the Agency’s Sierra program, he assassinates people, destroys evidence, and does everything he is told without hesitation to remain outside of, as he puts it, “the wrong side of the bars”.
After learning from a former Sierra agent that their boss, CIA official Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page), is corrupt, Six embarks on a mission to expose the truth while, at the same time, escape from Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans). Hansen happens to be a former CIA agent who operates in the private sector and is recruited by Carmichael to cover his tracks.
While the main premise of the film is certainly interesting, the execution of the story sadly falls into the spectrum of generic action filmmaking. There are a bunch of dialogue-related scenes which seem to drag on forever, only to remind you that they exist solely to shove you into the next action sequence. While that can be standard for most action movies, the way it is displayed in The Gray Man can be particularly dull.
Wasted Potential for a Great Blockbuster
What is perhaps the astonishing truth about this movie is the fact that it stars some of the biggest movie stars in the world and it is directed by two of the most successful directors in Hollywood. Yet it still manages to deliver a story so drained of personality that you might forget about the plot the minute the credits begin to roll.
Concerning specific people filled with star power who almost pass without any notice in this film, Ana de Armas plays Dani Miranda, a CIA agent who functions as Six’s greatest ally, constantly rescuing him and providing him with weapons and transport. De Armas is a wonderful actress who constantly proves herself in many other roles throughout her career but, sadly, she is given nothing remarkable in this Mark Greaney novel adaptation.
Perhaps by making the characters less generic for a story in this vein, it would be easier to care about them, making the action sequences more meaningful and engaging. The fact that this was Netflix’s most expensive movie to date is reflected on screen, but the biggest, flashiest explosions won’t make up for a lack of a good script.
The Performances Carry the Movie on their Shoulders
The only redeeming quality which makes The Gray Man bearable is the natural charisma of its biggest stars. While being a rogue CIA agent on the run, Ryan Gosling still manages to be as charming as ever, delivering a performance that might convince you to stay and find out how the movie ends.
Gosling’s portrayal is a great fit for Julia Butters, who plays Claire Fitzgerald, the daughter of one of Six’s best allies. Since the former CIA agent is commissioned with protecting the girl, the two develop and cute friendship over time. A friendship that could arguably be described as the heart of the film.
Another curious performance comes in the shape of Chris Evan’s Lloyd. There are traces of a very generic black ops villain coming out of him, but the fact that it looks like Evans is having genuine fun bringing this character to life is more than enough to make him a pleasant surprise in a movie that can’t wait to be over but decides to take the long road to get there.
Overall, The Gray Man is a very forgettable adventure that takes its plot all over the world in the company of very charismatic movie stars, while making its own resources as expendable as the million bullets that are shot over the course of two minutes of its runtime. It’s still to be seen if this becomes Netflix’s newest franchise. But, if it does, let’s hope these CIA agents have a better mission target.
Rating: Two and a half out of five stars.
This article was edited by Sarah Taylor.