Netflix’s ‘The Gray Man’ Opens Up Wide Critic-Audience Review Score Split

After a limited theatrical debut, Netflix’s newest attempt at building a blockbuster franchise, The Gray Man, has arrived and so far, it’s going somewhat similarly to past projects.

It seems like the perfect combination of factors, a trio of must-watch actors in Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, under the direction of Avengers’ Joe and Anthony Russo with as much money as they could spend.

But The Gray Man, now live on the service, did not fare well with critics, and is currently sitting at a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. That is, however, a far cry from its audience scores, which so far has opened up a wide split, as viewers have it at a 90%.

To be clear, critics have normally liked the Russo’s work in the Marvel universe. Captain America: The Winder Soldier and both Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame have 85%+ scores, and similarly high marks from audiences. So this is a departure for critics, even if audiences are hanging around.

It seems like The Gray Man has reviewed somewhat similarly low to other previous, high budget blockbusters from Netflix. 6 Underground had a 36%. Red Notice had a 37%. Bright had a 27%. The Adam Project ticked things up a bit to 67%. I’d argue Netflix’s best blockbuster is probably Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction, but even that’s still a 67%. The best-scoring action film may be Charlize Theron’s The Old Guard at an 80%. But again, no Marvel numbers here, even now with the Russos on board.

That may not matter much to Netflix, in the end. If a movie is popular and enjoyed by fans, that’s enough to consider it a success. The best example of this would be Red Notice, another huge film with a trio of A-listers, The Rock, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, that reviewed dismally among critics but retains a 92% audience score. It became Netflix’s most-viewed original movie by a good margin, and is getting at least one sequel as a result.

The Gray Man may track similarly. I expect this to rocket up the Netflix charts over the weekend here, and I would be surprised if this did not end up becoming one of their most viewed movies by the end of its initial run here. There’s too much talent on board for browsing audiences to flick past it, and if it’s entertaining enough for fans, well, it doesn’t really matter what critics think. Though the split is notable, and weird, considering the past alignment between Russo films and high critic and audience scores.

I’ll give it a watch myself this weekend, and have thoughts about it to come.

Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to my free weekly content round-up newsletter, God Rolls.

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