A bland action film that falls flat Rating: 1 star Starring: Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Dhanush, Ana de Armas and Viola Davis The Gray M...
A bland action film that falls flat
Rating: 1 star
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Dhanush, Ana de Armas and Viola Davis
The Gray Man is the second film directed by Anthony and Joe Russo post Endgame, with the first one being Cherry, one of the worst films of 2021. With a promising cast and what looked like a promising promo for the “movie”, everybody on the internet had high expectations. This is one of the blandest “action blockbusters” ever made, with shots that made you feel nothing and characters who you couldn’t care for less.
The exposition, like
every Russo brother’s movie, is cringe-worthy and feels like it’s there to just
explain to the audience the story because clearly, the filmmakers aren’t that
talented to tell it visually, and as a result, the exposition where some of the
dialogues are meant to be taken seriously, just make the viewer laugh. The
cinematography is basic, like in every Russo Brothers film, with unnecessary
drone shots in the middle of action scenes which pulls the viewer out of the
momentum of the scene if they even start to feign interest in it.
Netflix, this past
year, has put out some of the worst films of the decade on which they spent
millions of dollars, of which surely they make most of their money back due to a
large number of subscriptions, but they fail to entertain their audiences. It's
funny to think that in 2019, Netflix produced two excellent Oscar-nominated
films: Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story.
The direction from the
Russos in this film follows the same Marvel formula of adding unnecessary
comedy to a (would be) serious scene, making kids the targeting audience because
it’s weird to think that an adult would actually enjoy this film.
Ryan Gosling’s acting is
great as usual but he appears disinterested for the most part which is totally
reasonable seeing that the screenplay was the farthest thing from being
interesting. Chris Evans seemed like he had fun playing the role of Lloyd
Hansen and makes the movie slightly interesting, though not that good enough
for some reasonable person to sit through two hours of torture. Ana de Armas has
nothing significant to contribute to the movie. The same is the case with
Dhanush and Viola Davis.
The first sequence
after the title reveal shows some potential in the first half of the sequence,
but by the end, you know how the film is going to turn out and what you’re
getting into – which is a formulaic action blockbuster that has nothing to
contribute to literally anything. The end of the first sequence is covered in
heavy CG smoke that made it hard to even make out anything that was going on,
and in all honesty, looks really bad. The main problem with the film is the
lack of character development or any back story (except the glimpse of
Gosling’s character’s childhood). The action scenes, which are supposed to feel
exciting and anxiety-inducing, end up being bland and boring. The editing is just
conventional editing, giving a four-hour feel to this two-hour film. Marketed
as a big exciting blockbuster from the director duo who made one of the highest
grossing films of all time, The Gray Man falls flat and isn’t worth anyone’s
time.
The film follows a
convict, Sierra Six, who is freed from prison on the terms that he’ll work for
the CIA. He’s given the task of assassinating Sierra Four, an ex-CIA black ops
mercenary who found out about the illegal activities conducted by Denny
Carmichael, the head of the CIA black ops mercenary. Sierra Four is stabbed by
Sierra Six and gives him a locket containing a drive that contains all the
proof of the illegal activities conducted by Denny Carmichael and tells him
that he was an ex-CIA black ops mercenary. Sierra Six takes the drive from
Sierra Four and goes rogue. He tells Donald Fitzroy, the man who recruited him,
about it, who tells him to get on a plane he will send for him and escape.
Sierra Six does as he’s told but while he’s on the plane, Denny Carmichael
tells Lloyd Hansen to get the drive and Lloyd Hansen kidnaps Donald Fitzroy’s
niece and threatens Donald Fitzroy, and tells him to tell his men to kill
Sierra Six on the plane. Donald Fitzroy does as he’s told but Sierra Six
escapes. What follows is Lloyd Hansen trying to get that drive and kill Sierra
Six which concludes in a climax filmed in a fountain inside a hedge maze.
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