The Gray Man began with a limited theatrical release on July 22, 2022, followed by its digital release on Netflix on July 22, 2022. The movie is an action thriller. The film begins in the state prison of Florida, where a CIA(Central Intelligence Agency) officer meets a prisoner and offers him to complete a mission for the CIA. In return, they would get him out of prison, and he will not have to serve his full term.
The movie hit Netflix on July 22, 2022, and it immediately ranked #1 in the trending section in India. The audience had a lot of expectations from the film as the Russo Brothers had directed the movie and given their past performance, the hype was expected. The last directorial of the Russo Brothers was the ATB(All-Time Blockbuster) Avengers: Endgame.
The lead role of The Gray Man includes Ryan Gosling playing the role of Courtland Gentry, a convict who is offered to work as an assassin for the CIA’s Cierra program and later turns rouge. His character in the film is fearless and bold, and he is not scared of death. Ryan Gosling was last seen in First Man playing the role of Neil Armstrong. His career-best movie hit include La La Land, Blade Runner 2049, and The Big Short.
Then we have Chris Evans playing the role of Lloyd Hansen, who is an ex-CIA agent who got kicked out of the agency for his sociopathic tendencies. Chris Evans, also called ‘Captain America,’ is world famous for his part as Captain America in movies like Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Endgame, produced by Marvel Studios.
Ana de Armas is playing the role of Dani Miranda. She is also a CIA agent and assists Court Gentry in his very first mission assigned to him. Ana de Armas is a Cuban and Spanish actress mainly famous for Anabel, Blade Runner 2049, and Deep Water.
The movie also casts a famous Indian actor Dhanush who plays the role of Avik San. He is a mercenary who works for Lloyd Hansen and is also called Lonewolf. Julia Butters plays Clare; she plays the niece of Fitzroy. Billy Bob Thornton plays the role of Fitzroy.
The Gray Man Storyline
The film begins in a State Prison in Florida where a CIA officer Donald comes to meet Courtland Gentry, who was convicted of killing his abusive father in order to save his brother when he was a minor eight years ago. Donald tells him that he will be serving his term till 2031, but if he agrees to work on a mission for the CIA, he, in return, will be released and will be granted his freedom.
Gentry gets interested in the offer and agrees to work for him, and Donald informs him that he is starting a new program, ‘Cierra,’ under the CIA, and he(Gentry) will be called Cierra Six. Fast forward 18 years later, in 2021, the scene is set in Bangkok, where Gentry, now known as Cierra Six, is seen enjoying the Songkran Festival; just then, a lady enters the scene and starts to flirt with Cierra Six.
The lady is none, but Dani Miranda, who is also a CIA agent, and seeing her at the festival, Six understands that she is here on a mission, and he leaves for the safe house where he prepares himself for the next mission.
Now, the viewers come to know that the whole mission is being led by the CIA head Carmichael. As all the agents are interconnected via a microphone, Carmichael communicates with Six and informs him that his target is someone who is selling off top secret information of national importance to other nations, and his work is to assassinate him and also tells him that the traitor is heavily guarded, and so he must think it through before executing.
Six pulls out a sniper to shoot the target but is unable to do so due to the presence of civilians and decides to attack the target directly. When Six is busy killing the bodyguards, Driving Car escapes the scene, and after being chased by Six, he stops running after a while.
He tells Six that he knows about him and his code name, and once even he used to work for the CIA and had the code name Cierra Four. Six paid no heed to his words. Before dying, Cierra four gives a flash drive to Six and says the drive contains detailed corruption information about CIA official Carmichael.
The reason he has sent you to kill me is that he is afraid that his secrets will be revealed, and I want you to release this information in front of the whole world. After Cierra Four dies, Six receives a call from Carmichael and asks if he has recovered any flash drive(s) from Cierra Four. Six understood that there was something fishy, and he did not reveal about the drive to Carmichael.
Six then visits a cafe to check the content of the drive, and he finds out that it was Carmichael who was selling information on national security to other nations. Dani calls Six and asks him to leave with her as they would get in trouble for the Chaos they created, but Six does not leave with her and goes on his own to collect further information on Carmichael.
Six calls Donald and tells him that he’s stuck in Bangkok due to some work, and Donald assures him that his men in Bangkok will rescue him. The scene shifts to Lloyd Hansen, a mercenary who is torturing someone for information. He receives a call from Carmichael, who assigns him the task of killing Cierra, six, who is in Bangkok and will definitely meet Donald as he’s quite resourceful there.
In order to bring out information, Hansen kidnaps Donald’s niece. Donald sends a rescue team for Six. On the other hand, Henson is willing to give Donald’s niece back in exchange for Six’s location, but Donald denies it.
The men who were rescuing Six get a call from Hansen, and he asks them to kill Six. They try to kill Six but eventually fail. After the failed attempt to kill Six, Hansen puts a bounty on Six. The bounty was so huge that almost every bounty hunter was searching for Six.
Fast forward 2years in London, Six receives instructions to save Donald’s niece, who is in Hong Kong. Six goes to get a fake ID but gets trapped in a secretive place. Scene shifts to Berlin, where Carmichael blames Dani for losing Six. Carmichael and Hansen both receive a message that Six is being held by some bounty hunters.
Immediately after getting the message, Hansen sends his team to kill Six, but Six anyhow manages to escape from Hansen but gets caught by Dani, who helps him escape. Suzanne, a CIA agent, blames Hansen for creating a problem for Donald by kidnapping his niece.
We also get to know that Donald and his niece are in the same castle. Dani blames Six for being suspended, and it is Six’s responsibility to clear her name. In order to prove Dani innocent, they need some proof, and in search of that, they go to Prague.
In Prague, Six meets Margaret, who was once a member of the Cierra program. Margaret tells Six that Carmichael was not this powerful before; he has committed many crimes and has done many illegal things to get to the place where he is today.
In order not to get caught, he even ordered the killing of important Cierra members. She also tells about Cierra Four, who found various proofs against Carmichael in a flash drive. When they were discussing Carmichael, they got attacked by a group of mercenaries, but they managed to escape from a secret path with the help of Margaret.
The local police of Prague also enter the scene and try to get hold of Six. The whole place changes into a big fight scene, but Dani and Six, after a lot of hurdles, finally manage to escape to a secretive hideout.
In the hideout, Dani tells Six that there is a GPS system in Claire’s body; tracking it, they get to know that she is in Croatia. Six goes into a faceoff with Lone Wolf(Dhanush), sent by Hansen, who was specially trained to execute secretive operations like this, and he manages to take the drive from Six.
Dani and Six reach the location where Claire was kept and are welcomed by mercenaries. Dani and Six manage to enter the castle by defeating all the mercenaries, and Dani gets into a faceoff with Avik, but handover the drive to Dani when he realizes that he is fighting for the wrong person.
Six and Claire are chased by Hansen, and they both get into a brutal fight, but Suzanne shoots Hansen and states that he is an evil person and he has to die. An investigation team was formed, and Hansen was declared a terrorist. Dani and Six were freed from charges.
Carmichael wants to get Six killed, but Suzanne convinces him not to as he is an assassin of great caliber and could be of great use in the future. The movie ends when Suzanne and Carmichael go to see Six, but he has already escaped.
The Gray Man Review
In his 2009 thriller “The Gray Man,” Mark Greaney depicts Court Gentry, a former CIA agent turned assassin, as he is pursued by a group of assassins employed by the organization he once worked for. Court Gentry, the book’s main character, is one of its strongest points. He is a complicated and compelling figure who differs from the traditional anti-hero in that he upholds moral principles.
He is a tough opponent for his opponents because he is also very skilled and resourceful. Gunfights, automobile chases, and other exciting set pieces abound in this fast-paced, action-packed tale. Greaney does a superb job throughout the book of creating suspense and keeping the reader on the edge of their seat.
Chris Evans has been depicted in a different way. Although he is a mercenary, an ex-CIA, despite his bold character in the movie, some of his dialogues are opposite to his character in the movie. He has dialogues where he addresses Ryan Gosling as ‘Ken Doll, cute, cupcake’ and refers to Dhanush as ‘my sexy Tamil friend.’
Dhanush had a short guest appearance but still stands out intensely. Court Gentry, the book’s main character, is one of its strongest points. He is a complicated and compelling figure which differs from the traditional anti-hero in that he upholds moral principles. He is a tough opponent for his opponents because he is also very skilled and resourceful.
The Gray Man pledges to give us the entire universe, and he strives to do so, but he falls well short of his goal. But it is entertaining to see Chris Evans slipping out of his Captain America costume and Ryan Gosling, who has mastered the art of transitioning from arthouse pictures to tentpole projects with ease. Regrettably, some of the clusters are lost because of the wide sweeps and the lack of grey in their showdowns.
The assassins dispatched to kill Gentry, in particular, are extremely well-drawn, as are the supporting cast members. But, there are several problems with the book. There are a few too many coincidences that make the plot’s twists and turns seem somewhat manufactured.
Scott Stubber, who is the head of original films on Netflix, expressed his interest in working with the Russo Brothers in the future and making The Gray Man Universe. In an interview, he said, “We’re excited to continue to partner with The Russo Brothers and the team at AGBO as they build out The Gray Man universe.”
Our Verdict
Although The Gray Man is directed by The Russo Brothers and stars actors like Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas, the movie could not meet up to the expectations of the audience, who were expecting a lot more than what was offered. The problem with The Gray Man is that the Russos are more concerned about rushing through it than telling a story in an organic manner.
Fans of action and spy books will find The Gray Man to be an exciting read overall. Despite its flaws, it is a fun trip that serves as a prelude to the numerous sequels that will come after. We give the movie a total rating of 3 out of 5 stars.
Our Rating: 3/5.
Also, Read: Best TV Shows Releasing In February 2022 On Netflix!
