The Gray Man Movie Review: A joyless rehash of undercover actioners

The Gray Man Movie Review: A joyless rehash of undercover actioners

Despite many well-choreographed action stretches, an utter lack of inventiveness brings this king-size actioner down
Rating:(2 / 5)

Apparently, when all the colours of paint are mixed, what we get is black, but interestingly, when all colours of light are mixed, the residual ray is white. While I'm not sure what has to be mixed to get grey, a look at Netflix's latest big-budget spy-action film will tell that mixing all the tropes from hits films of that genre would give The Gray Man. The names attached to it, the ones that appear on the screen and those behind it, are some of the best in the industry and yet, what's supposed to be the OTT giant's calling card for this year, ends up being another mighty blow.

Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Dhanush, Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick

Streaming on: Netflix

Following the routine good spy-bad spy idea that we have seen in many films including classics like the James Bond series, The Gray Man follows the story of Sierra Six (Gosling) who uncovers dark secrets within the CIA and becomes a primary target for his psychopathic former colleague Lloyd Hansen (Evans). With a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely - the highest grossing screenwriters in terms of worldwide box office and the shots are called by Russo Brothers - arguably the most successful director duo right now. In front of the camera, it sports some of the most bankable names of world cinema - Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas and of course, our very own Dhanush. No wonder it feels, at least on paper, a sure-shot triumph. But what plagues The Gray Man, which will go down as a film with some of the best action sequences of this year, is the fact that it offers nothing more than just that.

Keeping in tradition with all the other big-budget action films from the house of Netflix, this too is a globe-trotting actioner that's supposed to enthral the audience with its grand visuals and grander reveals. We are notified that the film travels through different terrains of London, Bangkok, Prague and more cities, but they don't add any value to the plot, except for bringing up the logical question of how some of the most-wanted people get to travel between so many international borders that will put travel bloggers' wanderlust hashtags to shame. Unfortunately, such logical loopholes are the least of this film's worries that suffer heavily from the been-there-seen-that disorder. The film never gets deep into the nitty-gritty of the conflict and distances viewers by just sticking to conspicuous happenings. This results in us never getting invested in already scarce emotions that redefine relationships or the lives lost in the process of saving some. Even the climax feels like a rehash of Skyfall, or for those who follow the works of Dhanush, his Jagame Thandhiram which also incidentally had a Netflix release.

Action is the backbone of The Gray Man and there are a bunch of well-choreographed set pieces that are sure to quench the thirst of the fans of the genre. The one sequence in Prague involving multiple teams of men trying to get their hands on Sierra Six is where this film peaks. Unfortunately, the action scenes are cut at a palpitatingly fast rate and we never truly get to enjoy the combat sequences. Evans scores in what can be called the funniest yet evilest role he has played to date and sells the role of a mad man who wouldn't stop his mission irrespective of the collateral damages.

What came as a pleasant surprise was the characterisation of Dhanush who goes by the code word Lone Wolf. The Tamil star, apart from two brilliant action blocks, also gets his own character arc. Based on how The Gray Man is meant to be the start of a franchise, we hope to see more of him who is dearly called by Hansen as 'My sexy Tamil friend'. The film, in a remarkable way, lends itself to some humorous scenes and Evans pulls it off in a similar fashion to what he did in his days as Captain America. Gosling, on the other hand, plays a gum-chewing one-dimensional character that feels more like a cardboard cut-out of every action hero out there and looks like a GTA character out on a mission to... completing missions.

There are some nifty sequences like the one where Sierra Six explains the reason for his name, citing how 007 was taken or how he doesn't throw around loaded guns. There's also a line by Evans referring to one of his colleagues as a Ken doll and this felt more hilarious, given Gosling is playing Ken in the upcoming Barbie film. When the chuckles end, it leaves you wishing this brilliance had spilt more into the actual plot. What we rather get is a typical backstory for our hero involving an abusive father.

On the whole, The Gray Man feels like an expensive mistake by Netflix which has just lost almost a million subscribers in the second quarter of this year. It leaves you wishing that the platform concentrates more on smaller, relatable and most importantly, entertaining content than the big-budgeted, bigger names backed projects like Space Force and Jupiter's Legacy which didn't leave us wanting for more. The Gray Man had everything to be this year's blockbuster, but a wafer-thin plot and rehashing some landmark films make it a mediocre watch.

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