The Gray Man introduces the enigmatic and elusive Court Gentry, a former CIA operative and a legendary hired gun. With a terrifying ability to vaporize targets and a strict moral code, he stalks the gray margins of the world, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible, then fading away. When his government and former employers turn on him, there is no safehouse to run to, no way to lie low. In a constant state of escape and pursuit, Gentry tears through the Middle East and Europe in a riveting life-or-death race against time.
The Gray Man is an American action thriller film directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, from a screenplay the latter co-wrote with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Mark Greaney. The film stars Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Regé-Jean Page, Wagner Moura, Julia Butters, Dhanush, Alfre Woodard, and Billy Bob Thornton. Produced by the Russo brothers’ company, AGBO, it is the first film in a franchise based upon Greaney’s Gray Man novels. The plot centers on CIA agent “Sierra Six”, who is on the run from sociopathic ex-CIA agent and mercenary Lloyd Hansen upon discovering corrupt secrets about his superior.
An adaptation of Greaney’s novel was originally announced in 2011, with James Gray set to direct Brad Pitt, and later Charlize Theron in a gender-swapped role, though neither version ever came to fruition. The property lingered in development hell until July 2020, when it was announced the Russo brothers would direct, with both Gosling and Evans attached to star. Filming took place in Los Angeles, Paris and Prague between March and July 2021. With a production budget of $200 million, it is among the most expensive films made by Netflix.
The Gray Man began a limited theatrical release on July 15, 2022 followed by its digital release on Netflix on July 22. It received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the ensemble cast and action sequences, but criticism toward the “clichéd script and breakneck pacing.”[3] The film is being followed by a sequel, with Gosling reprising his role, as well as a spin-off.
About the Storyline
In 2003, senior CIA official Donald Fitzroy visits a prisoner named Courtland Gentry in Florida. Eight years earlier, Gentry was a minor convicted of killing his abusive father to protect his brother. Fitzroy offers him his freedom in exchange for working as an assassin in the CIA’s Sierra program.
In 2021, Gentry, now known as Sierra Six, is working with fellow CIA agent Dani Miranda to assassinate a target suspected of selling off national security secrets in Bangkok during the national Songkran festival. He is unable to do so stealthily without harming civilians and attacks the target directly, mortally wounding him.
Before dying, the target reveals that he worked in the Sierra program as Sierra Four, and hands Six an encrypted drive detailing the corruption of CIA official Denny Carmichael, who is the lead agent on the assassination mission. Carmichael is elusive about the true purpose of the mission and the contents of the drive when confronted by Six, and Six refuses evacuation from Bangkok with Carmichael’s men.
He sends the drive to former Sierra Program handler Margaret Cahill in Prague, and calls a now-retired Fitzroy to request extraction. Carmichael hires mercenary Lloyd Hansen, an ex-CIA agent kicked out of the agency for his sociopathic tendencies, to track down Six and retrieve the drive. Hansen does so by kidnapping Fitzroy’s niece Claire, forcing Fitzroy to authorize Six’s murder by the extraction team. However, Six kills them and escapes.
Frustrated, Carmichael sends his subordinate Suzanne Brewer to oversee Hansen and keep him in line. Hansen keeps Claire hostage in a mansion in Croatia, where he has based his operations. Hansen also puts a bounty on Six’s head to attract mercenaries and assassins to hunt him down. Six heads to Vienna to find Claire’s pacemaker’s serial number from Laszlo Sosa, but Sosa betrays him for the bounty.
Six escapes just as Hansen arrives with his team, and is rescued by Miranda. Miranda’s reputation is in tatters following the Bangkok mission and she initially plans to bring him in to salvage her career at the CIA. Six convinces her to drive him to Cahill’s apartment in Prague, where she decrypts the drive, which reveals the extent of Carmichael’s corruption on behalf of a mysterious benefactor working for a shadow government. Hansen sends several teams of assassins to Cahill’s home, and the terminally ill Cahill blows up her home to give Six and Miranda a chance to escape.
The Gray Man (2022)
Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Regé-Jean Page, Jessica Henwick, Dhanush, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfre Woodard, Wagner Moura, Julia Butters, Callan Mulvey, Eme Ikwuakor, Scott Haze
Screenplay by: Joe Russo, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Production Design by:
Cinematography by: Stephen F. Windon
Costume Design by: Judianna Makovsky
Set Decoration by: Nancy Haigh
Art Direction by: Gregory F. Anderson, Neal Callow
Music by: Henry Jackman
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Netflix
Release Date: July 15, 2022 (United States), July 22, 2022 (Netflix)
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