★★★☆☆
Cert 15

Ryan Gosling (La La Land, Blade Runner 2049), Chris Evans (Captain America ) and Ana de Armas (Knives Out, No Time To Die) star in this action-packed thriller comedy from Anthony and Joe Russo (Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame). Based on the series of novels of the same name by Mark Greaney, The Gray Man is set to be released in the UK by Netflix both in cinemas and on their streaming service a week later.

Recruited by the CIA from his prison cell where he is serving a life sentence, steely-eyed inmate Court Gentry (Gosling) is given the code name Sierra Six and quickly becomes one of most feared hired killers in the business.

After accidentally uncovering dark agency secrets involving one his superiors (Regé-Jean Page), Sierra Six finds himself in the firing line and chased across the globe by psychopathic former colleague Lloyd Hansen (a hilariously mustachioed Evans).

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Chris Evans in The Gray Man

With only fellow CIA operative Dani Miranda (De Armas) on his side and the life of his former mentor (Billy Bob Thornton) hanging in the balance, Gentry must find a way to defeat his duplicitous boss and the man he has sent after him. Meanwhile, things are further complicated when a young girl is kidnapped and held captive, leading Gentry to take extraordinary measures to come to her rescue.

It’s fair to say that a decade ago, a film such as The Gray Man would have been marketed as a contender for the biggest blockbuster of the summer.
With high production values, and an equally impressive cast list, on paper the film checks all the box, but this being Netflix, it is hard to gauge what audiences will make of it at home, or how the film will perform at the box office.

There is a lot about the film that feels both old fashioned, but it is definitely entertaining.

Gosling and Evans put in two brilliantly yin/yang performances, with Evan in scenery-chewing mode and Gosling delivering yet another quietly understated performance. The result is a funny and genuinely enjoyable romp that is only slightly let down by its overlong and meandering screenplay.

Still, aside from some decidedly misjudged,not to mention superfluous torture scenes and a plot that doesn’t always make a lot of sense, one thing The Gray Man cannot be accused of is being boring.

But I would have liked to have seen more from De Armas, who is clearly capable of much more, as demonstrated in her brief- yet-memorable turn as the Cuban CIA agent in No Time To Die.