The Gray Man

The Gray Man proves that Netflix can have all the money they want, but they won't get rid of the syndrome of cheap disposable entertainment. What on earth were those crazy drone flyovers? Couldn’t the Russos afford proper equipment? And proper special effects? With their messed-up Bourne, they prove that maybe there really was more to oversight under Marvel than we had been made to believe. All we got here is an unintended B-movie, a film that lacks identity, suspense and the hallmark of an event. And so little would have been enough in this summer season... (07/25/2022)

It's hard to believe that the brother duo who directed one of the best action movies of the last decade (Captain America: Winter Soldier) are behind The Gray Man. The difference in the execution of the action scenes, especially the work with the editing and sound mixing, is enormous, almost like something from another world. Their new feature is, of course, a narratively archetypal scheme seen hundreds of times. And, while apart from the brilliant Evans, Robert Redford was in charge with a stony face and elegance of his own, here we get at most the gay-looking Bridgerton hunk, a very significant drop in quality. Gosling plays Gosling – i.e., the same soft-spoken cool dude who can put up a decent fight, but there's not a single coherent, raw and dynamically shot action scene, except for Prague. The destruction of Prague doesn't abound with the given criteria either, but at least it has some kind of pace and one can enjoy it a bit more out of sentiment than the rest. The best part is the wrecking of the headquarters of Unicredit Bank, thumbs up for that. I'd probably give the sequel a chance, but with a complete rewrite. This is very, very far from Bourne, Hunt or the last Bond. (07/25/2022)

Less would have been more. Take the final man-on-man fight, for example, it’s absolutely brilliant, gripping, entertaining, thrilling and yet quite modestly conceived, and compare it to the main action scene, which unfortunately takes place in Prague, it wants to be spectacular but is at best awkward and gives the impression that it's only in the film because someone wanted it there, even though it doesn't make much sense. This film should ideally have been an hour and a half long and trimmed of the unnecessary stuff and some of the characters, it could have focused more on Gosling's likable bulldog and Evans's 80's funny but not ridiculous villain, it could have kept the action down to earth where it suits the Russo's (the night fight in the house, another great scene). Netflix didn't have to present it so grandly... And it would have been better. (07/24/2022)

I feel that that writing anything about this film is like carrying wood into the forest. For the grandiose statements of Netflix and the considerable expectations of the audience, it turned out to be kind of mediocre, but, let's be honest, not exactly the rubbish product that was Red Notice (aka the second most expensive Netflix production), and you can have fun with The Gray Man (especially thanks to Chris Evans, who really enjoys the psychopathic villain with the moustache). (09/10/2022)

As an action spy flick, it’s alright, but as something with a 200 million USD budget aiming to be the best of the Netflix showcase, it’s a bust. To be fair, though, the current blockbusters from classic movie studios (half of the Marvel movies, The Fast and the Furious franchise, the latest Jurassic World, and so on) are similarly shitty. For me, the main problem is that the film "jumps the shark" somewhere in the thirtieth minute, in the extremely ugly (for that money) CGI scene falling out of a plane without a parachute. From that point on, it doesn't matter, we can't worry about the hero because he’ll have it easy peasy. Now he's in Turkey, now in Vienna, now in Prague, he gets stabbed several times, falls down a well, jumps off a moving tram, but hardly anything happens to him, he's just cool. I'd like to see him at least not twist his ankle in real life and then not move for a week! Have the filmmakers watched John Wick, where the action is kept (more or less) grounded and physical to the point it hurts? That’s why those are films people remember. The Gray Man, on the other hand, everyone will watch it (everyone who still has Netflix, that is), but they will forget it in a week. For Czech viewers, it's quite rewarding at best in the sense that they will enjoy watching all the cities that Prague plays here (though there’s always a dominant of the given metropolis painted on the horizon). Otherwise, a forgettable film, the most interesting thing about it is that it doesn’t have any style (which, interestingly, is the opposite I criticised the Russo brothers for in Cherry). (07/23/2022)