Netflix’s ‘The Gray Man’ Is Better Than Critics Say, And Worth Your Time

These days it’s kind of a coinflip as to whether or not I’ll agree with critics when it comes to the new Netflix thing they’re roasting. And while I have generally been underwhelmed at Netflix’s attempts at blockbuster movies in the past, I really did think that The Gray Man had too much going for it between its cast and the Russos directing to be bad.

And it’s not bad! It’s pretty good!

This is an instance where I think the critics and the 50% Rotten Tomatoes score is getting are off base. Not that I think it’s a 90% movie like the audience scores say, but I do lean more toward that end, and I think it’s a worthwhile action flick that sure, I’d watch a sequel set in the same universe, even if it’s not John Wick-level amazing.

The Gray Man, I suppose, is not the most terribly original of plots at baseline. Ryan Gosling plays a prisoner recruited by the CIA to do off-book assassinations and surprise, things take a turn when suddenly the CIA has hired someone to do an off-book assassination on him when he learns too much. That someone is Chris Evans with a mustache, relishing a rare villain role. Helping Gosling’s Agent Six is CIA operative Ana de Armas, who has been caught up in the conspiracy, and the “suits” in the picture include Billy Bob Thornton, Regé-Jean Page and Jessica Henwick. There’s also a little girl kidnapped being used as leverage, so Six must kill everyone and manage to keep her safe at the same time.

What the Russos may lack in a brilliant script here, they more than make up for in the action itself. There are some truly wild sequences here where it’s really interesting to see what they do when they’re outside the Marvel realm. But strangely, I’d call this the most non-violent, violent movie I’ve ever seen. As in, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen more bullets fired in a single movie, but this is an almost entirely bloodless film for reasons I’m not quite clear on. Given that this is Netflix, I’m not sure why they felt the need to go for a PG-13 rating, and it’s kind of goofy to see hordes of cops and agents machine gunned down but this is not “R” level violence because there’s no blood spray. It’s very strange, and I actually do think the film would have been helped with a bit harder of an edge in that regard. Again, it worked for John Wick.

The performances here are all top notch. Gosling is playing some variant of his somewhat stoic yet charismatic action hero we’ve seen a few times now. Chris Evans is clearly having the time of his life. I would watch Ana de Armas dramatically check her emails for two hours, and Regé-Jean Page is somehow even more hateable than Evans. One casting sin the film commits is getting Jessica Henwick in here (as seen in The Matrix and Iron Fist) and not letting her actually fight anyone. But she’s still great.

This movie is fun and enjoyable and only two hours, so not a bloated three hour superhero thing. It may not be the most original spy thriller ever, and I think its PG-13 rating does hold it back in weird ways, but there’s a lot to like here, and I’d watch a (hopefully R-rated) sequel.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.