The highly anticipated Netflix movie, The Gray Man, is finally available to stream on the platform, but the fans seem quite disappointed. This film attracted a lot of buzz ever since the casting was announced. It is the most expensive movie that Netflix has made with a budget of $200 million.
With Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans in the lead and Dhanush making his Hollywood debut, and as a cherry on top, directed by the Russo Brothers, this film had some really high expectations to fulfill. But sadly, the film is just above average. The movie had a short theatrical release on July 15 and is now streaming on Netflix.
The Gray Man: Movie Casting
Along with Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans in the lead as the protagonist and the antagonist respectively, the film also features Dhanush making his Hollywood debut. Ana De Armas, Regé Jean Page, Julia Butters, and Jessica Henwick are also part of the Netflix Original along with many others.
The Gray Man is directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (The Russo Brothers), who is best known for Avengers: Endgame. The screenplay is by Joe Russo, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely. The movie is based on the book by Mark Greany.
Story
Ryan Gosling (takes the codename Sierra Six) is hired by a secret agency as part of the CIA’s Sierra Programme as an assassin. But he uncovers some secrets of this agency, which leads him on a global hunt, where he is being hunted by his former colleague Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans).
Movie Review
This action film is more about the action and the beautiful locations it is filmed in and nothing more than that. The movie travels to some really beautiful settings like Florida, Bangkok, Baku, Prague, and so on.
At times, it feels very boring, especially with Chris Evans’ character, where he tries very hard to be this cool funny character. The storytelling isn’t as strong or the main focus of the film as it mainly focuses on the action and the stunt sequences. The amount of stunt sequences, sometimes, makes it completely unnecessary in the scene. The fast-paced movie is a bit too fast, which disables the audience from actually engaging with the story.
The subplots are a messy bunch, as they make no sense at times with their out-of-nowhere existence. Dhanush’s character Avik San isn’t like this. His storyline is very intriguing. But, due to the short screen time, the audience is left wanting more of his character and his backstory.
He manages to steal the limelight with his acting. Along with Ana De Armas, who isn’t in the lead, but deserves a special mention for her immaculate performance.
Ryan Gosling’s character is a unique one for his career as the audience is used to seeing him in rom-com movies like The Notebook, La La Land, and many others. The Gray Man presents a very fresh character played by Gosling as a cold-blooded killer, which is quite interesting.
It does have an interesting plot line. As a spy film, it isn’t the next 007, but it is still an entertaining one to watch.
Sources: Thehindu.com, Indiatoday.in
