Netflix’s most expensive movie, “The Gray Man,” is about as… gray as it gets

Ryan Gosling in “The Gray Man”, a kind of human “Terminator”.Photo: Netflix

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I admit that, probably together with almost 90,000 readers of Hotnews, I waited impatiently for the film, also addicted to the mash-ups with which Netflix covered thousands of meters of facades in Bucharest (I imagine what it was like in the American and Western metropolises !). A stellar cast was just announced, with Ryan Gosling as the lead and Billy Bob Thornton, one of my favorite actors (ah, “Fargo” season 1!) and who I feel is under-appreciated, Ana de Armas and Chris Evans . The production belongs to the Russo brothers, who made their name on super-meriting superheroes at the box office (Avengers).

As those who have illusions are often disillusioned, I cashed in hard right on the day of the release, that is, Friday, July 23. The first disappointment was that at 8 in the morning I could only see the trailer, until I realized that in California, where Netflix is, it is only on Friday when it is 10 o’clock here.

But I ate the big bun by finally seeing the whole movie yesterday, in several installments. More, because “The Gray Man” in no way keeps you glued to your seat from start to finish. You do one thing or another around the house, go out for obligations, hang out on the net and come back with the hope that something passionate and quality will follow.

But the movie is actually one with superheroes, a genre that I admit I hate, except that they are professionals in espionage, martial arts and weapons of all kinds, so people without supernatural qualities. The “good guys”, however, move untouched by the curtains of bullets and grenades of the “bad guys” more than the Moldovan commissar (who even he cashes in, however, in the end) or the partisans who destroyed the impressive fascist troops. And they respond to enemies with firepower comparable to that of a modern cruiser.

The “good ones” also demonstrate other paranormal qualities: they move from one country to another and from one continent to another as fast as the crew of “Star Trek” by teleportation, they read the evil intentions of those around them by telepathy and escape from the harshest conditions of detention with minimal means, like a camping tripper – or even without them. And Ryan Gosling is beaten and even stabbed several times, loses a lot of blood, but recovers even more lively than before. “It didn’t touch my liver or kidney” – clear?

There can be no question of acting performances. Gosling’s figure does not change its expression for two hours. Billy Bob Thornton has a cameo role that could have been played by any amateur. Ana de Armas is as convincing when she serially beats well-trained men and shoots as our “terrorists”, “from all positions”, as the girls who praise foot creams in commercials.

Ana de Armas – angelic and lethal, therefore unconvincing (Photo: Netflix)

Add the orphaned child with a pacemaker who softens the hearts of even the most ruthless killers for a tearjerker that could very well be missing. And an ending that leads nowhere and doesn’t close anything — maybe Ryan is off with the baby to a “Gray Man 2”? And you will understand why the “bombshell of the summer” has reviews like “only if you really have nothing else to do” on all the specialty pages. Better watch a “John Wick” again, not this pastiche! Or “Red Notice”, that it at least had a sense of humor!

In our country, such a $200 million “job” with such results (it is estimated to have grossed only $200,000 last weekend when it was released in 400 theaters) would immediately lead to the thought of “parandarat” and DNA. At Netflix, it only helps you better understand why subscribers have started to drop, and will insert ads next year…

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