A Thrill Ride With The Gray Man.

A movie that gives me a thrilling ride from the beginning to the end is a movie I always love to watch at any time of the day. These kinds of movies are always treats to action movie lovers. So if you are one, you have to stick around for this one and I bet you, it will be worth it.

Before I decided to watch this movie recommended to me by a friend, I was so reluctant to watch it because of Ryan Gosling. I am not a fan. Though I was told that this movie will be worth it if watched, I still wasn't that interested not until my friend threatened me. So I forced myself to watch the movie yesterday by conditioning my mind that I am watching it because of Chris Evans, haha and I think Netflix jumped on an opportunity for a possible mega-buster franchise but that's a possibility if they can keep up.

The Gray Man is an American action thriller movie that was released on the 22nd of July, 2022, and was distributed by Netflix. This movie was based on a novel series that was written in 2009 by Mark Greaney with the same title and directed by the directors of Avengers Endgame, Anthony and Joe Russo. The film stars Ryan Gosling as the lead actor and Chris Evans as the villain. Other actors that might be familiar to you are Julia Butters, Regé-Jean Page, Jessica Henwick, Ana de Armas alongside some others too.

The Gray Man movie is about a CIA agent, Six (Ryan Gosling) who has a bounty on his head done by a former colleague Lloyd (Chris Evans), a sociopath who discovered that Six had his superior's dirty secrets in his possession and he has to retrieve it. The movie is set from 2003 to 2021, it starts back in 2003 when a CIA official agent, Fitzroy goes to visit a prisoner (Six) who was convicted of murdering his abusive father to protect his younger brother. Fitzroy offered Six a chance to be free but in exchange, he had to work for the CIA's Sierra program as an assassin, and then he accepted the deal.

Fast forward to eight years later, Six was working with his partner, Miranda, a fellow CIA agent in Bangkok on a mission to eliminate a target who they believe has been selling off national security secrets. Six and his partner couldn't carry out the mission with the civilians around the target, but then he draws out the target into a more secluded place by setting off the fire alarm and killing all his security aids. Successfully gutting him with a pocket knife, Six discovered that the target was a former CIA agent, with the name Four in the Sierra program just like him, and with Four's dying breath, he released an encrypted drive into Six's care and asked him to expose the corruption of CIA official Denny Carmichael, his superior who is the lead agent on the assassination mission presently and who ordered his death.

Six took the drive reluctantly from him but gets a call afterward from Carmichael who asks him specifically if Agent Four gave him any encrypted drive and that pricked Six's attention as to what was inside the drive particularly. Not trusting anyone around him including his partner Miranda, he mails the drive to his former Sierra Program handler Margaret who is in Prague. Seeking shelter as he refuses Carmichael's men for his extraction out of the city, he ventures on his own while he contacts Fitzroy (retired) for his extraction out of the city. Then Carmichael, seeing that he has no control over the situation, hires Lloyd, an ex-CIA Agent and Six's colleague who was kicked out of the agency for his unorthodox and sociopathic methods to track down Six and retrieve the drive in his possession.

Lloyd, feeling frustrated as Six continues to slip out of his grasp, tracked down Fitzroy who he suspected was helping Six. Kidnapped his niece Claire, and blackmailed him to betray Six. Fitzroy did not have any other options than to obey Lloyd. Carmichael, not seeing progressive results as he had wished, sends Suzanne, his associate, to oversee things and keep Lloyd in line. As the pursuit began, Miranda, his partner, came to his rescue by putting her career and reputation on the line. So Six and Miranda team to go retrieve the drive in Prague and this is where the real pursuit began.

Will Six survive? Did he save Fitzroy's niece? Did Lloyd succeed in getting the drive? You have to watch the movie to know.

My Opinion About The Movie And Rating.

I have to say, this is one of the best action movies I have watched since the start of this year and I can say it was worth it and I forgive my friend for the threat that made me watch the movie. The Gray Man has an impressive cast, to begin with. All the actors knew what was required of them and they delivered. My favorite actor in the movie is Lloyd (Chris Evans). All his movies I have watched, he acted as a superhero or the protagonist, but in this movie, he acted as the villain and he did a great job portraying the part well. Now I can say Chris is a fantastic actor who can take up any role and make it his own. I love all his mannerisms as the villain and how ruthless he was. He also painted a picture of a villain that has no conscience for actions and who would do anything to get what he wants in his grasp. Ryan Gosling did well and for the very first time, I was impressed with him and looking forward to the next sequel.

Talking about the director, Anthony, and Joe Russo. I am now hundred percent sure that whenever these brothers are involved in directing a movie they always come with a big bang to their viewer's screen. They are one of the reasons why I watched this movie and the fact that they both co-wrote the screenplay of this movie made it more exciting.

Let's talk about the scenes and what makes this movie the most expensive film on Netflix, in terms of its budget. The Russo brothers made sure that the action scenes of this stood out and were unique. Camera angles (giving the vibe of John wick's action scenes), the intensity of the active pursuit kept the viewers on the edge of their seat, how the villain was unpredictable and was toe to toe with the protagonist, and also the violence of all the scenes, especially the train pursuit scene. The action scenes were thrilling, exciting, and unexpectedly intense.

The plot/storyline of the movie was well written and properly arranged to suit the scene sequence arrangement. The storyline was unpredictable, especially between the Villain and the protagonist which created the suspense necessary to hook viewers to the movie till the end. The location for the movie was perfect which aided all the smooth transition of scenes in the movie.

I know some people criticize this movie because it is kind of cliché. Anyone watching this kind of movie would simply say it's similar to James bond, mission impossible franchise, and any other CIA-related movie but it's not. Rating this movie, action scenes 4 stars, plot/storyline 4 stars, and the overall rating, is 8 out 10. If you haven't watched this movie I urge you to do so because you won't be disappointed. It is a movie that one would watch, have good laugh-out moments, and get to experience a thrilling action pursuit.