In The Gray Man‘s opening scene, future handler Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) informs Sierra Six (Ryan Gosling), who is currently incarcerated for murder, that he ‘seems the type’. And he certainly does. His first film since 2018’s First Man, Gosling has built the later part of his career on strong silent types (The Place Beyond the Pines, Drive, Only God Forgives), many of whom have taken lives in the interest of survival. It might seem disconcerting, then, when Six (a characteristically brief name for Gosling’s characters – the original name from the books, Court Gentry, is pretty much ignored) hits back at Fitzroy with several nonchalant comebacks. Multiple sentences are spoken. The veteran Gosling viewer might be concerned. Is this man going to exceed the sparse word counts of his previous laconic antiheroes (Driver utters only 116 lines; Only God Forgives’ Julian? A mere 17)?
Don’t fret. In an interview with Empire, co-director Anthony Russo describes Gosling as a ‘master of minimalism’, and Six quickly falls back into silent mode as we witness him smoothly removing assailants in various flashbacks. Based on Mark Greany’s 2009 novel of the same title, The Gray Man follows Gosling as the titular black ops killer in the CIA who is targeted by former colleagues after he discovers a damning secret, and is helped by conflicted CIA agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas). Chief among Gentry’s pursuers is Lloyd Hansen, played with hammy bravado by Chris Evans. Much of the film’s fun is derived from the cat and mouse camaraderie between the two stars. Hansen’s matter of fact statement that ‘you gotta make an omelette’ if you want to kill people certainly reflects all the carnage that occurs during the 2-hour run time. The film’s gargantuan budget of $200 million is on wide display as we watch Hansen pursue Gentry across the various luxurious corners of the world.
While the set pieces are impressive, this doesn’t make up for a lacklustre screenplay and unimaginative action sequences. Gosling, Evans and De Armas’s combined star quality should be enough to carry this through, but their respective characters don’t allow much room for intrigue. Evans’ Hansen is frequently described as ‘sociopathic’, and while Evans and his ‘trash stache’ try their utmost, he still can’t quite escape from his nice guy Captain America persona. Every time an expletive leaves his mouth, it’s hard not to picture the man in red, white and blue telling him off with a wagging finger gesture. Despite attempts to cultivate a sense of intimidation when he removes a character’s fingernails at one point, Evans’s pantomime villain persona from Knives Out is still front and foremost. It doesn’t mean that he doesn’t get some memorable comedic one-liners (America’s ass is the victim of yet another injustice), but the supposedly serious persona required for the character never comes across. Gosling is also let down by weak characterisation; we hear some standard descriptions of the abuse he suffered from his father as a child, but are never given much reason to root for this individual as he takes out scores of assailants.
The Russo Brothers are in their element when directing bloodless, 12A superhero films, and that style doesn’t work in a production of this calibre. Sure, there are moments when Gosling’s character gets blood on his face and has to be treated for an injury, but The Gray Man would’ve benefitted from more gritty, Bourne-style violence (although the Russo’s decision to focus on big explosions and largely inconsequential chaos will nonetheless likely appeal to a wider audience).
Since the focus remains largely on Gosling and Evans’ globe-trotting feuds, there’s little time for a deep focus on other characters. As with No Time To Die, Ana De Armas is woefully underused and underdeveloped; hopefully she’ll get the attention she deserves in Andrew Dominik’s upcoming Blonde. Other characters and their motivations are largely swept to the side, with CIA big bad Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page) making minimal impact, and Dhanush’s Lone Wolf, a potentially intriguing anti-hero, being brushed over in a largely two-dimensional role. If you’re up for a bit of mindless fun, The Grey Man works just fine. If you want an action caper that’s a bit deeper, you’ll have to look elsewhere.