The Gray Man’s mishmash

Poster for The Gray Man

The Gray Man, the new spy adventure on Netfix, is a bit of a mishmash.

It’s one part Bond (especially one action sequence that seems taken from Die Another Day), one part Bourne (a cynical universe), one part Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible (over-the-top action sequences), one part John Wick (impressive casualty counts) and one part Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The latter is no surprise. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo helmed some of Marvel’s biggest films, including Avengers: Endgame.

In their Marvel movies, the Russos loved to tell you the locations in BIG LETTERS. That carried over to The Gray Man (“BANGKOK,” “VIENNA,” “LANGLEY,” etc.). The brothers also like to have frantic camera movements and that’s the case here as well.

Ryan Gosling as Six, an assassin in the employ of the CIA, is more Bourne than Bond. But the script by Joe Russo and the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, makes sure to work in a Bond reference. “007 was taken,” Six says at one point.

Six has been assigned a kill but doesn’t perform it as planned. This sets up a McGuffin that drives the plot. Six now is a hunted man. One of the hunters is mercenary Lloyd Hansen, played by Chris Evans, who worked on all four of the Marvel movies directed by the Russos.

At Marvel, Evans played the straight-laced Captain America. Since his exit from the MCU, Evans has been doing different types of parts.

Here, Evans revels as the movie’s villain. However, his performance is about as subtle as Snidely Whiplash. (Google it.) The actor achieves this effect, in part, with a weird-looking mustache. He probably had a lot of fun but the Russos might have been better served if they had Evans cool it a bit.

Ana de Armas plays a CIA operative, Dani Miranda, who’s very similar to Paloma in No Time to Die (I originally typed Die Another Day; too many “Die” titles). Dani Miranda gets beaten up more than Paloma.

The Gray Man isn’t the most impressive spy entertainment. But with Bond films in another hiatus and Cruise’s Mission: Impossible series on hold until 2023, it fills a vacuum for spy fans. GRADE: B-Minus.

Russo brothers look to create a spy franchise

Promotional image for The Gray Man

We’re in the midst of another attempt to establish a spy franchise, this one by Anthony and Joe Russo.

The Gray Man had a limited release in U.S. theaters this weekend before being shown on Netflix on July 22.

The Russos directed some of the biggest hits for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War plus two Avengers movies).

The brothers’ new effort has a cast that includes Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans (retired from playing Cap for Marvel) and Ana de Armas. Streaming service Netflix provided the Russos an estimated $200 million to play with.

The New York Times published a story today about the project. According to the Times, the Russos spent $40 million and one month on a single extensive action sequence.

The Gray Man comes as the James Bond film series has entered a hiatus as it tries to decide where to go following the end of Daniel Craig’s five-film run as Bond. The Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible series is looking to conclude following movies in 2023 and 2024.

So a vacuum does exist in spy entertainment. According to the Times:

Should (The Gray Man) work, the Russos have plans for expanding the “Gray Man” universe with additional films and television series, as Disney has done with its Marvel and Star Wars franchises.

On top of all this, the once-invincible Netflix is having problems. Subscriptions for the streaming service are down. Its stock price also is down. Netflix has cut jobs.

As a result, the stakes are large all around.