The Gray Man – Film Review

When the CIA’s most skilled operative–whose true identity is known to none–accidentally uncovers dark agency secrets, a psychopathic former colleague puts a bounty on his head, setting off a global manhunt by international assassins.

The last time Anthony and Joe Russo released a film was back in early 2021, titled Cherry – a movie that most people hated, but I loved. To be honest though, you may not have even heard of that film, but you have absolutely heard of their biggest film, Avengers: Endgame. They are experts at crafting action sequences that look and feel amazing.

And there’s no exception with the action sequences in their latest film The Gray Man, which serves as a feature film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Mark Greaney. All of the fistfight and gunfire sequences in the film are best, and it’s breathtaking to behold, but the film struggles severely with doing the most important thing – telling a gripping story.

The story in The Gray Man isn’t awful by any means. There was never once a scene in this film that felt corny or ridiculous. However, most of the plot points in this film have been explored in countless action films in the past. Action films that are, mind you, quite a bit better than this one.

There’s also some seriously tiring tropes on display here, including one of my least favorites – the invincible protagonist. No matter what happens to Ryan Gosling‘s “Six” in this film, he gets right back up and seems completely unfazed by everything that just happened to him. He simply stands up and brushes off his shoulders like this big fight was a cakewalk.

This is kind of badass but it’s also incredibly annoying because in real life, most of the things that happen to Six in this movie would render him paralyzed or dead in real life. Why, for once, can’t we get an action film that actually leaves our protagonist in severe pain after a fight scene?

This movie is legitimately frustrating because all of the action is filmed beautifully and it’s quite intense to watch, and the script from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely is entertaining albeit highly predictable and formulaic. It’s a huge mixed bag, and I can’t help but feel as though that’s how most people are going to feel about this movie as well.

All of the performances are also quite good, most notably from Ryan Gosling. It’s definitely not his best performance to date – not even close – but he certainly rises to the occasion here to play a totally unstoppable badass that’s super intimidating. You get the feeling that if you get on this guy’s bad side, you’re toast.

The same thing can be said about Chris Evans‘ Lloyd Hansen, a man who seems to have absolutely no compassion at all. He will do whatever it takes to complete the mission, and he doesn’t care what the casualties are. It’s weird to see Evans in such a ruthless villain role, but it’s also amazing.

And then, of course, Ana de Armas is fantastic as Dani Miranda, a CIA agent who allies with Six. Although she is great in the film, I would’ve loved to have gotten a bit more of her character because she is relatively pushed to the sidelines for the majority of the film unfortunately.

All in all, this movie is a mixed bag. It has some seriously great action sequences that are wildly entertaining to watch and some great performances, but it also has a formulaic script with some poor pacing. If you’re even mildly interested, though, I say just give it a shot and see what you think.