This $200 million action movie, the most expensive Netflix production ever, is exactly what you’d expect from the studio that brought you “Red Notice”: an algorithm-infused product that barely has a beating heart.
Don’t get me wrong, the action scenes, for the most part, grab your attention from the get-go, this is filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo after all. However, where’s the character work? It all feels rather thin and not the product of filmmakers who actually want to say something valuable or concise. What? The CIA is evil. Fine. What a tepid message.
Ryan Gosling (slick) and Chris Evans (deranged) are spy vs. spy, they keep tailing each other throughout the movie. There’s a seven-figure contract out on Gosling’s Bourne-like spook’s head. Evans is the cartoonish bad guy, a man who has no moral boundaries and will do anything to kill him. Heard this one before?
There’s a ton of shooting, and explosions and it all culminates in a predictably payed out climax. The movie is LOUD, and the camera work quite frenetic. This is the type of movie that will probably be an easy watch for Netflix subscribers watching it at the comfort of their own home (07.22.22) but before that it’ll get a small theatrical release this Friday. Enter “The Gray Man” at your own peril.