Six (Ryan Gosling) is one of the last agents in the field from the Sierra Project; a team of assassins sourced from prison by Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) who commutes their sentence in exchange for a lifetime commitment to the Project.  Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page), a CIA director looking to retire Sierra once and for all, is forced to rely on Six to execute an important asset recovery mission because there is no time to get his own team out to Bangkok where the exchange will take place.  When the mission gets botched because Six refuses to take a shot that would result in collateral damage, Carmichael hires Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), from the private sector, to eliminate Six. 

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, The Gray Man is a globe-trotting espionage action film for Netflix that reunites the Russo Brothers with Marvel alum Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely who provide the script for the movie adapted from Mark Greaney’s novel.  With a budget clocking in at a reported $200mill and debuting weeks after Netflix announced the first dip in subscriber count in more than a decade, it is the first installment of a proposed Gray Man universe as the streamer begins to implement a refocused content strategy.  It is a bold move to put such an emphasis on blockbuster filmmaking when it has come out over the preceding eighteen or so months that streaming does not generate the same revenue as a traditional theatrical release, and an even bolder move when one considers just how flawed The Grey Man is that Netflix has chosen to hitch their wagon to such a messy and ill-conceived bit of IP in a bid to stay relevant in a market that it practically created back in 2007. 

With Gosling in the lead, this film had a lot of potential as the actor had proven his chops time and time again in gritty, crime thrillers.  This latest outing, especially after a four-year hiatus, is incredibly disappointing as it finds the actor, who brings dynamism to his roles even if he plays them with minimalist style, practically neutered as he makes his way, lackadaisically, throughout the bloated narrative.  Simply put, Gosling seems bored by the material, made all the worse because the narrative requires Six to constantly get beaten down by Lloyd and his crew.  There are two major set pieces where he is able to show his prowess as a covert agent, but the Russo’s dizzying camera renders the scenes completely ineligible and devoid of any moments for the development of the characters through casualties or other plot mechanics as the Sierra team suffers very little loss throughout the film. 

The strangest thing is, that even though The Gray Man covers a lot of ground, the characters across the board never grow.  It is all flashy set pieces with no consequences.  Worse, though, is that the action is almost always obscured by smoke.  Two of the three major sequences take place during massive explosions – an airplane and a train – and the action goes on for so long that it becomes hard to stay invested in the film since the Russos never let their camera sit long enough for audiences to get their bearings.  This style is not something the brothers founded, but they are certainly guilty of perpetuating it, and it is the main reason why actions films such as Diehard (1988) and Lethal Weapon (1987) – both cited as inspiration for The Gray Man – still hold up so well today and feel so exciting; we can actually see what is happening. Conversely, The Gray Man should be considered by future filmmakers as the blueprint of what not to do when mounting their own action features. 

Opposing Six is Lloyd, a foul-mouthed, doofus of a villain which Evans is set free to play so over the top and is never reined in by the directing duo.  This brand of unhinged adversary is not unknown to the genre, just look at any of the James Bond or Mission Impossible foes who are all overflowing with eccentricities, but Lloyd does not become memorable because of his personality, rather he becomes instantly forgettable because every line he speaks is so heavily workshopped to find the zaniest, funniest – or dare I say, quippiest – response to the situation that is all feels hollow.  It becomes equally exhausting and embarrassing as Evans is left reaching for a laugh line that never lands throughout the duration of the 122-minute film, made even worse by the mustache he wears.  He has played a similar character before in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out (2019), but instead of just returning to the well for inspiration for this role, he is getting drunk on it, and it just does not work.  Everything about his character is overproduced, yet to the film’s credit, he is the only character that can somewhat stand out from the blandly written ensemble.   

Generously considered to be the puppet master of the film, Page is saddled with a character that seems to have no idea what is going on outside of the confines of his office, and like Thorton is always speaking in hooks to try and sow the seeds of mystery.  That is to be expected given that The Gray Man is intended to be an espionage thriller, but the script is so quick with the reveals that an overarching sense of intrigue is never truly established.  There is no anticipation or desire to learn more about this world because as soon as a question is raised about a character’s past or their motivations, it is answered minutes later.  The film, and more pointedly, the Russos, are more interested in shuffling the plot along so that they can get to the next set piece, and more importantly, the next attempt at a memeable one-liner.  It is a plague that affects the entire cast because no one is ever given the time needed to allow their character to grow, and it is truly shocking that this is the film that talent such as Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Alfre Woodard, Julia Butters, and Deobia Oparei, among others, would sign on to. 

The Gray Man is so frustrating because it has a lot of potential to be something great, but because of the incompetence of the directing duo, it falters at every turn.  It undermines itself with each passing scene so that no one could ever think the film guilty of self-importance because the Russos do not respect the film enough to even competently tell the story.  There is no building to the mystery as the scenes do not flow into each other, rather once the scene ends the film moves on to something else entirely.  It relies too heavily on title cards instead of world-building because the directors are fascinated by drone shots that move too quickly to show the audience anything to give us a sense of any of the many locations the film boasts.  Simply put, The Gray Man is a film that has zero respect for its audience; it does not believe that we can pick up and hold a story, and worse yet, it denies us any attempt at doing so by delivering a bland and identity-less narrative. If this is the future of action filmmaking, and it fits so well into the conventions of modern action movies, then we have made a grave mistake somewhere along the line, and it will take filmmakers who are far more skilled behind the camera, and with a much louder creative voice and vision than the Russos have, to right this ship.