The Gray Man

I promised myself I'd take a break from Netflix movies, but that went out the window as soon as The Gray Man dropped – especially since parts of it were filmed in Prague, which always grabs my attention. Unfortunately, it turned out to be yet another letdown. Despite being directed by the Russo brothers and starring the reliably good Ryan Gosling, a surprisingly demonic Chris Evans, and the always stunning Ana de Armas, the film fell flat. The best moments were those set in Prague, where the filmmakers wreaked havoc like an army marching through Europe. Beyond that, it was a mess. The cinematography was dreadful (except for the drone shots, but any enthusiast could pull those off nowadays), and the action was a jumbled blur. For an action film, it was a disaster to watch. It’s mind-blowing that this film had a bigger budget than the current top-tier Top Gun: Maverick. Clearly, something went very wrong. (07/26/2022)

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. (07/24/2022)

The Gray Man is about as sophisticated as Arnold’s Commando, but the opulent, senseless destruction and action led by the highly amusing Chris "Lloyd" Evans is well worth it. Exotic and more familiar locations run past you like on a conveyor belt. Gosling enjoys his bored, idiosyncratic agent and Billy Bob is pretty fine too. A pleasant Netflix B-movie which is all the better for the fact that I and my family had the chance to watch the best scenes of it being filmed. "Get comfortable" like we're going to Prague, or... or, like, jail comfortable? (07/23/2022)

Beautiful event led by a poor tram, civilian Gosling and maniacal Evans in seemingly old-fashioned espionage ride - which, however, fails in the scenario so much that I couldn't believe the names of the authors. That this is from the same writers who managed to cleverly, entertainingly and touchingly put together a series of character meetings from different parts of the universe in Avengers? Maybe not. On the other hand, it would explain why the ordinary agents (at that time under supervision) move from one end of the world to the other in a few minutes. It's a shame, the entertainment is pleasantly unrestrained and purely popcorn-like, but unpleasantly often equally stupid. (03/25/2024)

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). (07/22/2022)