The Gray Man is High on Action and Short on Plot
A few attributes that make spy flicks entertaining are the action adventure sequences, humanistic conflict via a love interest or someone who needs rescuing and deciding whether or not you want to root for the villain or the hero. Combined they entice audiences to show up time and time again allowing us to escape our world and enter another full of intrigue, sex and excitement.
Based on the Mark Greaney’s book and directed by The Russo Brothers, The Gray Man follows CIA’s top operative, Six (Ryan Gosling) after a hit goes horribly wrong. The agent accidentally uncovers agency secrets, thereby triggering a global hunt by assassins in an attempt to halt him from releasing damaging information regarding some of the top names in the CIA.
Having undeniably solidified their action brand at Marvel, The Russo Brothers made a detour at Netflix and the results are super high on action and very little story. Once Six is on the run, he stays on the run with stakes that are much not as high for the rest of the film. With the exception of a few infiltrated flashbacks here and there, the film falls just a little flat, but action junkies and fans of Anthony and Joe won’t really care.
Watching Chris Evans tap into his villainous side is absolutely scrumptious. He is pure evil with a slight smirk coming from his face and dripping with sarcasm from his mouth. Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas are the perfect hero duo and witnessing them kicking butt and taking names was beyond exciting. Regé-Jean Page globally captured hearts as The Duke in Bridgerton and flips the script as the devilishly confident Carmichael showing his range knows no boundaries. Billy Bob Thornton and Alfre Woodard round out a star studded cast boasting talent, skills and stunts for days.
Having done a theatrical run a few weeks prior to streaming, action junkies will be satisfied with the insane Fast and Furious stunts into large bodies of water, hopping from one vehicle to the next and its charismatic cast as it makes its way onto Netflix today.
Carla Renata
I love, love love movies, watching them and discussing them...thus the birth of The Curvy Film Critic!!! Host/Producer/FilmCritic,Carla Renata is a member of such esteemed organizations as Critics Choice Association (Co-President Documentary Branch and Board Member), African American Film Critics Association and Online Association of Female Film Critics. My op-eds or features have been seen in Variety , RogerEbert.com, The Wrap The Cherry Picks, as well as being a frequent Guest Contributor to Fox 11-LA, Good Day LA, ET Live!, Turner Classic Movies, The Cherry Picks, The Stream Team (Beond TV) ITV, Fox Soul's The Black Report, The ListTV and more. Catch my reviews on The Curvy Critic with Carla Renata - LIVE!!! Sundays 5pm PST via You Tube or Facebook Live. If you like what you read please shout me out and subscribe to The Curvy Critic on YouTube. You can chat with me across all social media platforms @TheCurvyCritic and as always, thanks for supporting a sista'
3 Comments
MI6
Reviews of The Gray Man are mixed but if you liked the intermittently fast and furious pace of Bill Fairclough’s epic fact based spy novel Beyond Enkription in The Burlington Files series then you will love Anthony Russo’s The Gray Man and vice versa. They both make parts of Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne series look like slow horses! The Gray Man is about a renegade CIA agent on the run and stars Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans; it’s based on Mark Greaney’s debut novel of the same name. Fairclough’s factual stand-alone thriller Beyond Enkription is about a (real life) MI6 agent on the run from international organised crime gangs and Haiti’s TonTon Macoute from London to Nassau and Port au Prince to Miami. The Gray Man and The Burlington Files are both musts for espionage aficionados. The difference between them is that The Burlington Files series has mainly had five star reviews, it’s factual, full of real characters and was written for espionage cognoscenti.
Carla Renata
Thank you for your comment. I’m very well aware of the film’s premise as I did watch it. It just wasn’t for me. I felt like the plot wasn’t flushed out thoroughly and the star cast, especially Ana de Armas and Alfre Woodard’s talent weren’t utilized to their fullest. Although you make good point about the projects you mentioned neither of them are the film I reviewed
MI6
A simple contrast can reveal a lot.