Both stars have entertained me in most of their films. Gosling’s acting in Drive and La La Land are the most impressive to me. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. The roles he played were totally different, but he nailed each of them. And Evans has been a favorite of mine since his breakthrough performance in Cellular plus his wonderful Captain America role.
Unfortunately, The Gray Man doesn’t seem to care about entertainment. Instead, its main goal seems to be shock and awe. How many explosions can we show? How fast can the chases be? How loud can we make the sound effects and even the background music?
Action, adventure and ennui
is what “The Gray Man” seemed to me
Noisy and fuzzy, it’s a mess.
CIA dark secrets? Oh yes!
A global manhunt takes up time.
But darkened scenes are the real crime.
Ryan Gosling is the hunted one.
He runs and shoots until he’s done.
Chris Evans is the crazy guy.
He must kill Gosling or least try.
Beware, fans, your ears may implode.
This movie is a heavy load.
Based on Mark Greaney’s novel of the same name, The Gray Man begins with Gosling’s character being taken out of prison by a mysterious CIA man who wants this prisoner to assume the name SIX and be a hitman for him. But the plot soon turns as SIX (who shows some heart, even in the crime he committed) ends up the target for a psychopath (Evans) and other international assassins.
You can see why Evans has the meatier role here. And he makes the most of being a villain. He even looks and talks different. He also gets a few humorous lines that almost make us laugh.
Other cast members are difficult to watch as the scenes go by so fast. Beautiful Ana de Armas plays a brave co-worker who tries to help SIX. An unrecognizable Billy Bob Thornton is the one who hires SIX. And scary Dhanush portrays another brutal assassin. But they (as well as the great Alfre Woodard and Bridgerton’s Duke of Hastings, Regé-Jean Page) are all incidental to the film’s special effects and overdone set pieces.
Regarding those end credits, you should definitely watch them. Absolutely gorgeous! Too bad some of that class wasn’t used on the film itself.
(Released by Netflix and rated “PG-13” by the MPAA.)
Directors: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Screenplay Writers: Joe Russo, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely:
I don't know either of these actors even though I've seen one Captain Marvel and find that I have had enough of that genre with most of the characters going so far beyond reality that their supposedly moral lessons are lost in all the action and destruction.
I'm sure there I have been definitive studies done, but I believe that it is movies like this one and electronic games that give the viewers a desensitized view of killing and the use of guns. Some feel if they acquire these guns, they will use them.
Ron