The Gray Man Review

 

The Gray Man is a action thriller movie based on the 2009 novel of the same name. The film is produced by AGBO and Roth/Kirschenbaum Films and distributed by Netflix. The Gray Man is written by Joe Russo, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and directed by Joe and Anthony Russo.

The story is an agent named Court Gentry aka Sierra Six has accidentally discovered dark agency secrets. Now that he has this knowledge he's turned into a target and his being hunted down by the most dangerous former colleague of them all, Lloyd Hansen. Will Court survive or will these dark secrets remain secret?

Initial Reaction

The main reasons why I wanted to see this film, was because of the Russo brothers and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The Russo's of course brought us some really good Marvel films such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Infinity War and outside of that franchise they brought us Extraction and Cherry. Then we have Markus and McFeely who wrote films such as the Narnia movies and one of my personal favorites, Pain & Gain.

Cons

I've got nothing to say, so just move onto the middle ground part of this review.

Middle Ground

Now one gray area with the film is the Russo's directing. Now for a majority of the film, they shot it beautifully. The Russo's really prove once again they're great directors. But they incorporated drones. Now that's a fine thing to do. Michael Bay did it with his newest film, Ambulance, and that was a good movie. But the thing is the Russo's went overboard, and a lot of times there didn't need to be a drone shot. Then we have the characters. They're okay. Could've used a bit more depth, but they're serviceable.

Pros

Alright, now for the positives aspects of The Gray Man and that's the action.  The Russo's have directed a lot of great action scenes, and this movie is no expectation. It was fun, thrilling, and gets you excited. There was this awesome Tram chase scene in Italy that I just loved. Now even though the characters are just okay, it's the actors that really made the film work as well. Gosling did a fantastic job being stoic and brutal. And I imagine a lot of people are gonna get a kick out of Chris Evans playing a villain. I know I enjoyed everyone of his scenes. I heard a lot of people complain about the pacing, a lot of people using the word "breakneck". But for me I thought the pacing was good. It was a 2 hour movie, and yet the way it was paced didn't feel like it.

If you're looking for a good turnoff your brain action flick, then The Gray Man is for you. It's got amazing action scenes, good performances, and a pretty good pace to it. While the Russo's did direct this greatly, they could've toned it down with the drone shots. And yes the characters are just fine, but both those aspects I think will be forgiven in the grand scheme of things.

My final rating is Good.

Alright that's all for me. Come back on Monday, Jul 25th for my review of season two of Harley Quinn. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.