Netflix is certainly fond of putting together a star-studded film ensemble and its latest action flick, The Gray Man, is no exception. Touted as one of the streamer’s most expensive productions yet, the film features a cast that includes Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Regé-Jean Page, Alfre Woodard, Jessica Henwick, and Billy Bob Thornton.
Behind the scenes, The Gray Man also boasts of a highly talented group of veteran filmmakers with Marvel veterans Joe and Anthony Russo serving as both directors and producers. The men are also joined by Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
The Gray Man does have a lot of big names attached to it. But is that enough to wow the critics?
The Gray Man Is A Spy Thriller With Nine Big Action Sequences
Based on a novel by Mark Greaney of the same name, this spy thriller tells the story of a CIA asset nicknamed Six (Gosling) who gets hunted down by the agency after he comes into possession of incriminating evidence against CIA chief Carmichael (Page).
The hunt also intensifies after Carmichael sends out psychopath killer Lloyd Hansen (Evans) to pursue his supposed rogue asset as de Armas, who plays CIA agent Dani Miranda (a newly written character), also tries to get to Six before Lloyd does.
In the movie, Lloyd does end up chasing Six around the world, leading to some of the biggest action sequences that the Russo brothers had ever done.
“It’s pretty intense, yes. It almost killed us,” Joe explained. “There is a Cirque du Soleil-level of choreography going on. People are throwing punches at each other at a very high speed, and if somebody misses by an inch, someone has a broken jaw. It requires incredible precision and a lot of training.”
Of course, at the center of it all is Gosling who also loves the idea that Six is nothing like the infamous 007.
“He has no romantic ideas about being James Bond. He'd rather be home, watching this movie on Netflix like the rest of us,” the actor pointed out. “He's forced to do this, and his choices are die in prison or die as a spy.”
And while Gosling may be doing a great deal of fighting throughout the movie, de Armas gets a piece of the action from time to time too. “She's so funny, and she's amazing at the action as well,” Gosling said of his co-star. “Also, she saves my life so many times in this.”
Meanwhile, fans would also note that the Russos deliberately brought Evans into this film to play Lloyd, which meant that they had to make changes to how the character would be shown in the film.
“Lloyd's a slightly different character. He's more capable than he was in the book. You get Chris Evans to play Lloyd, then you don't want Lloyd sitting in rooms on phones, talking to people,” Joe explained.
“You want him actually being active and out there in the world and having a different backstory than the character does in the book.”
What Are Critics Saying About The Gray Man?
Despite all the big names and big action sequences, it seems The Gray Man is falling flat with the critics. So far, the film has received a score of 48% from Rotten Tomatoes, which is a clear indicator that critics are rather disappointed.
ABC News’ Peter Travers pointed out that the film should have been “more than good enough” considering its reported $200 million budget. Boston Globe’s Mark Feeney says the film felt “increasingly tired” as it went on. “All that gunplay, all that traveling, all that sneering from Lloyd: Everything gets a bit . . . much.”
At the same time, RogerEbert.com’s Brian Tallerico described the movie as “so programmatically dull.”
That said, some critics have given the film more decent reviews. For instance, BBC.com’s James Luxford pointed out that The Gray Man “benefits from two great stars who bring a lot of charisma to their roles” while San Jose Mercury News’ Randy Myers says that while it’s not good, the movie is fun.
Similarly, Detroit News’ Adam Graham said that The Gray Man is not “meant to be taken seriously; this is pure summer escapist fare where the quips rattle out with the same frequency as the machine gun blasts. Rat-a-tat, keep 'em coming.”
The Gray Man Is A Most-Watched Netflix Production
Despite what the critics have said, The Gray Man is currently one of the most watched films on Netflix, so much so that the streamer has already greenlit a sequel. That’s certainly great news for the Russos who hope to build an entire Gray Man universe. “Mark Greaney has written a whole series of wonderful books for us to draw from. I can’t get too specific about where we see the character going on the next movie because it’s so early days…,” Anthony explained. “Having a bunch of interesting characters creates a lot of possibilities in terms of where you’re gonna go in future storytelling, because there’s so many compelling characters played by so many compelling actors and they’re all worth further exploration. So I will say that we definitely conceive this as a narrative universe, and we’re very much looking forward to the various iterations of that.” A spinoff is also in the works.
