Netflix July 22
If we keep it at 100%, some streaming efforts, even big-budget affairs, have a distinctly bottom-drawer vibe — the cinematic equivalent of posthumous album releases that should have gone well buried.
This is not the case, however, with the pedigree The gray man, an action-thriller co-directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, and starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, among others. Considered the most expensive film ever produced by Netflix, with a reported budget of $200 million, the film is an adaptation of the first in a series of novels by Mark Greaney, who was the co-writer of Twilight Era of Tom Clancy, and anointed Jack Ryan and Jack Reach successor.
The story – mercenary Black Ops Court Gentry (Gosling) is pursued by unstable former CIA colleague Lloyd Hansen (Evans), plus a gallery of international rogue assassins – is a familiar casserole of pure scheming. spy against spy. The trailer, however, bodes well for a chase sequence with massive streetscape destruction, in addition to showcasing a beautiful sequence of style and character. Add to that the fact that his off-screen players (the Russos, plus Captain America and avengers co-writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) have proven themselves capable of building worlds, and there’s good reason to believe that The gray man represents the opening salvo of an estimable new action franchise. [Brent Simon]
