The Gray Man (2022)

Disappointing & Silly All Action Thriller - The Gray Man review by GI

Big budget, hi octane and full on action doesn't always make for a satisfying experience. Here the Russo Brothers attach their Avengers credentials to a Mission Impossible/Michael Bay style action fest that ultimately feels very silly. Ryan Gosling plays a CIA assassin recruited from prison by Billy Bob Thornton who becomes his surrogate father and becomes an anonymous agent. Known only as Sierra Six he globe trots killing for the CIA until he discovers there's some rogue management in the agency and he has the evidence in a microchip which acts as the film's MacGuffin. He then finds himself hunted by psychopath agent and torture expert Lloyd, played with obvious relish by Chris Evans. This cues set piece after set piece of chases, fights, shooting as Gosling channels his JohnWick/Ethan Hunt/Jason Bourne/James Bond hybrid personality. The trouble is it all feels a little flat and uninspiring and everything has been done before and I have to say better. Ana de Armas struggles with the limited role she's given, a shame as she showed what she's capable of in No Time To Die (2021) in a much smaller role. You'll end up laughing at much of it and the very clichéd ending as Evans and Gosling go mano a mano is a damp squib and a tired way to end a film like this. It's difficult to see where this is pitched, it's probably a teenage film as its too violent for kids and too daft for adults. Disappointing it certainly is and I'm guessing a franchise is in the offing.

Overdone - The Gray Man review by sb

Blimey - I need a lie down after that - the Russo's Brothers outragiously over the top action thriller has Gosling as Six a CIA black-ops assassin who uncovers that the Agency is even more out of control than he suspected.

This makes him a target so he goes on the run re-uniting him with his old mentor (Thornton) who has a niece who has a heart condition and who are closest thing he has ever had to family.

After a couple of botched attempts the CIA hire Evans whose methods are beyond the pale at the best of the times and who really lets himself go here...

Its a film that opens with the dial set to 11 - and just cranks it up from there on in....yes it absurd, frequently stupid, derivitive of the whole genre (Bourne being the main rip-off) but it so overdone with entire factory's of kitchen sinks thrown at the screen but if you go with the flow there is much to enjoy.

Gosling brings his usual laconic charm to the role and Evans is a hoot throughout with his villainesque moustache and bon-mots.

Nice to see Billy Bob get a major role (he seems reduced to cameos these days) with solid kick-ass support from De Armas who after her role in the recent Bond must get a major movie of her own soon.

Subtle it is not with the entire city of Prague reduced to rubble in a major set-piece but its not supposed to be - ok it does has franchise written all over it - we shall to see if Gosling fancies another go - 4/5