The Gray Man Fixes Action Movie Flaws
Starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Billy Bob Thornton, Jessica Henwick, Dhanush, Alfre Woodard, Regé-Jean Page
Rated PG-13
Action, thriller
Run time: 2 hrs, 2 min
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
On Netflix July 22, 2022
From the get-go, when I heard about the cast of the movie, I was in. I didn’t need much more than that, especially when I learned that it wasn’t a buddy cop movie, but actually one in which Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling face off against one another. Throw in an incredibly stylistic trailer with some perfectly timed snarky remarks, and I was sold. Once again, the Rotten Tomatoes reviews were low enough that I went into this with lesser expectations, and it worked in my favor just like it has so many times before. I was utterly delighted with this film - and how could I not be? It’s Fast & Furious meets James Bond.
Gosling is Six, an agent so secret he doesn’t even have a real name. He’s “rescued” from prison by the CIA by Fitzroy (Thornton) and recruited to carry out the most off-the-book missions - often assassinations. However, we quickly see there’s something even more secretive than the unspoken-of branch of the sneakiest branch of government. And that, dear friends, is Chris Evans. With an insane mustache. Named Lloyd. And he’s a legitimate sociopath. He’s carrying out hush-hush operations for Denny (Page) who is a young, higher-up member of the organization who doesn’t have time for bureaucratic red tape. So what happens when the hidden have to hunt the hidden? This movie.
The biggest compliment I have for this movie is how often it corrected a lot of the tropes that often trip up most standard action movies. The bad guys couldn’t aim a gun properly if their lives depend on it (which it often does). The fight scenes seem impossible for your average humans to participate in. Every member of the main cast doesn’t constantly make decisions that cause utter frustration for every viewer. There are a handful of plot holes, including a fight that never needed to start in the first place considering it ends with someone who basically says, “Screw it, I’m not doing this anymore,” but he’s the one who started the altercation in the first place. However, the number of times I actually said out loud, “Okay, I’m so glad they did it that way!!!” is almost too many to count.
Aesthetically, I was in awe of this film. There are so many gorgeous scenes lit by things like fireworks and flares that give off Blade Runner vibes combined with some phenomenal fight choreography. Everything is so crisp, so cinematic. It’s a beautiful change from the movies that are muddled and so visually dark you can’t fully see the scene you’re supposed to be following. There is some clunky dialogue at the beginning while it gets its bearings, and a handful of relatively corny lines, but for the most part, I was having an incredible time. I laughed out loud a lot, and I could tell that Chris Evans was having the time of his life (playing a character that was a cross between his roles in Knives Out and The Losers). And despite this movie being a hair too long, I was too.