"The Gray Man": Burning $200 Million for a Bad Movie? All I can recommend are the action scenes

Hi, I'm Sherlock who's been following the new movie. Do you know how a "most expensive streaming movie of all time" is made? First of all, there must be a top-level starring lineup, with the Blade Runner + Captain America + the new Bond Girl joining forces.

Directed by the Russo brothers, the directors of [Avengers: Infinity War] and [Avengers: Endgame], the production cost exceeds 200 million US dollars.They spend money without humanity and limits.

Plus the hot and exciting big action scenes, as well as funny coquettish moments.

It's "The Gray Man" produced by Netflix. The following content involves spoilers, for friends who mind, please give me a like first, and come back and roast it with me after watching the movie!

The film is based on the novel series of the same name by author Mark Greaney. It comes close to being made into a movie twice, only to fail in the end. Until 2020, Netflix has teamed up with Russo brothers’ AGBO Films to restart the project, with the goal of creating a [007]-level original spy film series.

The story goes like this: 18 years ago, the CIA launched a "Sierra Program" to recruit death row prisoners, promising to give them freedom in exchange for training to perform shady assassination missions. A death row prisoner (Ryan Gosling) readily accepted, and since then he joined the gray man, becoming the top killer "Sierra 6" (perhaps because 7 is occupied by the 007 series), aka the Gray Man.

Once, Sierra 6 was ordered to assassinate a spy who betrayed state secrets. When he was about to succeed, the target suddenly confessed that he was the " Sierra 4" of the Sierra program. In a previous mission, he inadvertently intercepted the evidences of a crime by a senior CIA official, which led to his death. On the verge of death, he asked Sierra 6 to bring down the mastermind.

Sierra 6 has no choice but to disappear with the evidences. Top assassin defects with top secrets, and the CIA certainly won't let him go. So they hire a cruel anti-social mercenary (Chris Evans) and launch a global bounty to hunt down Sierra 6. At the same time, Sierra 6's contact person (Ana) reaches out to her partner in an emergency.

A top assassin + a beautiful agent + an evil mercenary + assassins group, a global chase scene now begins...

If I have to describe [The Gray Man] in a word, I would choose "rich". Money can really fulfill whatever people want. For example, when Marvel and DC are vying to invite Ryan Gosling, he never cares. But [The Gray Man] puts him in an extremely thin action-movie killer role. He has really let himself go a bit recently, and his style has changed a lot. First, he has agreed to portray Ken in [Barbie], and then he has applied to join Marvel in a high-profile manner, wanting to play Ghost Rider.

With so much money, a global escape must also be arranged. Every few minutes, the movie will switch scenes and name out the places: Bangkok, Baku, Monaco, Vienna, Croatia, Prague... The popular attractions in 13 countries and regions have been successfully clocked in, and I will rate 100% for the sightseeing elements in the film.

Let me talk about the special effects. The action scenes that have been smashed with a lot of money are indeed top-notch in the world, so I have nothing to complain. Starring Gosling and Ana, they have received combat training from Delta Force before starting shooting the film.

In total 9 massive action scenes, contributing an "action scenes encyclopedia", with close combat against the background of neon lights.

There is a hot shootout between police and gangsters on the street.

There are roadsters vs armored cars in a desperate drag race.

There are also gorgeous 1v2 sparring, I especially recommend the Prague battle. During the epidemic, Prague Square was closed for ten days, dedicated to the filming of "The Gray Man", and the drone long-lens cruise shooting. It is said that this action scene of less than 10 minutes has cost a budget of 40 million US dollars.

But can money buy good movies? "The Gray Man" has a rating of 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is enough to give us the answer. Its most intuitive problem is definitely being cliché. The invincible agents, conspiracy frame,boss chase, the fugitive, do you feel familiar with them? Just like [Anna], [Mission: Impossible], [Salt], [Shooter], [Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit], [The Bourne Identity] ..., and you are welcome to continue to add more in the comment area. The lines of the movie are just to connect the cool action scenes perfunctorily, which is really boring.

In fact, the original novel has endowed Gosling with a character no less attractive than James Bond. As a top assassin, he is cold and humorous, with a strong sense of justice, and would rather miss than kill innocents indiscriminately, which is hard not to appreciate. However, the script of this movie doesn’t bring him any of these charms, even if the "Blade Runner couple" have teamed up again, there is still no spark.

Of course, like all Netflix blockbusters, it tops the trending despite mixed reviews. I have to admit that there is still a market for such simple and crude action films. A week after the movie is launched, Netflix has officially announced the sequel, and the starring and director are determined to return. It seems like they are going to create a movie IP of "The Gray Man Universe". What can I say other than anticipation?

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