‘The Gray Man’ review: Russo Brothers’ disposable action thriller is a massive waste of Dhanush

‘Netflix’s ‘The Gray Man’ had all the ingredients of an instant action classic. It’s directors are the Russos, who helmed probably four of the best films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; its writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, are the duo that scripted those films; its cast is populated by charismatic and talented film actors (Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, and our own Dhanush); the budget is an incredible $200 million, usually reserved for franchise entries or recognisable IP. And yet, it is an almost entirely disposable action-thriller, virtually indistinguishable from those genre movies that have cropped up in hordes on streaming services in the last five or so years.

The story follows a rogue, off-the-book CIA agent Sierra Six (Ryan Gosling) who learns the agency is eliminating others who were hired in the programme he was hired in. He gets his hands on an encrypted USB drive, which supposedly contains information the CIA doesn’t want to let the world know. A heavy-handed higher-up Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page) recruits a psychopathic mercenary Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans) and his men to hunt him down. And there I have described the plot. If you are worried I spoiled anything, the story has nothing much to spoil. The entire movie moves along a straight path with no deviations, twists, and surprises. For those watching this for Dhanush, yes he is there. For a while. He does get an action scene, but did they just hire an actor of his calibre just to make life more difficult for your hero for a while?

This film exemplifies in many ways why Netflix is undergoing financial troubles. It has thrown millions of dollars to any writer/director with an idea that could be turned into a serviceable film or show. Or that is what it felt like to a neutral observer. The streamer’s inflated content budget meant it could spend more than even traditional studios like Disney and Warner Bros. This formula may have worked for years, but then the company received a huge wake-up call in April when it lost subscribers for the first time in a decade.

‘The Gray Man’ is why Netflix should think deeply about its strategy. It should be one of the cases in point when the execs tell the board of directors what they will not do in future. It is simply a bad film. Not even a cast like that can redeem it. It is not even that you could enjoy it like a mindless actioner.

I, for one, do not scoff in contempt when an action movie hero has a firefight with dozens of baddies with little cover and still come out unscathed — well, not unscathed always, maybe they have a few bullet holes in his body, but can still walk and even spit out one-liners. I know how this genre works. But even the action in ‘The Gray Man’, while sometimes impressive, is mostly distracting. The camerawork is strange, switching to drone perspective in a way that takes one out of what little immersion the film offers.

I am never getting back those 2 hours.