Film Review: "The Gray Man"

Netflix is attempting to corner the film market with an array of releases. None this year have received as much hype as the $200 million dollar action adventure “The Gray Man.” When the mysterious CIA asset Sierra Six, also known as “The Gray Man,” (Ryan Gosling) uncovers agency secrets, an international manhunt begins. Led by the psychopathic Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), Six will have to embark on a fight for survival. There are two directions that I can guarantee this review will take. The first is raves of the consistent action and style that has made this one of the year’s most entertaining films. The second is a ludicrous action movie that trades common sense for “thrills” and bad visual effects. 

The finished result rides a line of being equal parts entertaining and absolutely nonsensical. It is especially ridiculous when you have visual effects that look like a poorly rendered video game. Add in cheesy dialogue and we get something that makes you wonder how Netflix spent so much money on it? This is something think about when you consider that it was directed by The Russo Brothers, who made the highest-grossing film of all time (Avengers: Endgame). There’s a laziness to some of the editing and story, which make you feel these creators should know better. The answer to why the film looks so poor has to do with one very simple detail. Most of its budget had to go towards paying this all-star cast's massive salaries, which is a benefit since the cast makes things very entertaining. 

Gosling, as the stoic assassin, gets some surprising laughs. It is the sort of lead performance that I would love to see spawn a franchise. There is nothing groundbreaking about his performance but Gosling provides a sardonic engaging quality. Sardonic is a good blanket term to describe the film's many comedic elements. Most of the supporting players are allowed a chance to deliver jokey quips, and some fare better than others.

Billy Bob Thorton as Six’s handler and Ana De Armas as Six’s allies keep the humor coming. They are playing very archetypal roles, but help in giving the story momentum. Thornton can do the sarcastic and wise mentor role seamlessly. His delivery is so deadpan and wry that he is simply hard not to like. De Armas and youngster Julia Butters have that same dry wit that is so well paced, I was always entertained. My biggest issue with the film is that I cannot seem to pinpoint a culprit. All of the film “villains” seem like they could belong in Saturday morning animated cartoons.

Evans as Lloyd Hanson oozes villainy from the first scene he’s introduced in. He’s someone who’s meant to be a menacing presence. The film gives him enough of a brutal introduction until he meets Gosling's character. This switch turns Evans from being menacing to someone who is just chewing scenery. It is a role that is nowhere near as interesting as what we started out with. Other villainous performances like  Regé-Jean Page, Jessica Henwick, and Wagner Moura have the same problems. Any ounce of realism is stripped away for cartoonish action with no stakes. We know that these characters have no risk of not making it out of the situation.  This is why I was surprised at how exciting the action sequences ended up being. The Russo Brothers make the pacing very frenetic. Every time you think the action can not get more ludicrous, it does so in exciting ways. It even helps the cheesy dialogue become funny instead of making audiences roll their eyes. Such a surprising and welcome change of pace helped to make this film an overall enjoyable experience.

“The Gray Man” is a mixed bag of a film that never decides what it wants to be. The goal seems to be a big summer blockbuster, with action and comedy. The action is definitely the highlight by being consistently surprising but unfortunately, never breaks through and becomes anything stronger because of poor visual effects. Thankfully, both Gosling and Evans are able to sell the film's ridiculous dialogue. Both actors keep the quippy line delivery coming so that the ridiculous story never suffers from being dull. As a piece of escapist summer entertainment, it still delivers even with a mixed bag of finished results.