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Netflix's blockbuster action-thriller The Gray Man premiered globally on July 22, 2022.
From critics to audiences, the film has left an aftertaste for everyone with its conclusion. Some found it too dull for a Russo brothers' directorial, while others lauded the grandiosity of the production and cast of the film.
Led by two of Hollywood's leading men, Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans, the cast also featured Ana de Armas, Regé-Jean Page, Billy Bob Thornton, Jessica Henwick, Dhanush and Alfre Woodard.
Adapted from Mark Greaney's novel of the same name, The Gray Man is just the first in a series of 10 books. The film did well to establish Gosling as the eponymous CIA operative, potentially the face leading an entire franchise, should the Russo brothers choose to create a Bourne or John Wick-like universe of their own.
The Gray Man plot summary: A globe-trotting espionage thriller with one deadly mission after another
The Gray Man opened by introducing viewers to Ryan Gosling's Court Gentry, thereafter known as Six, sitting inside a prison and being recruited by Thornton's Fitzroy as top-secret level special ops.
In exchange for commuting his sentence, Fitzroy asked him to undertake covert and gray area missions for the agency while having no identity and being completely disposable.
It was an easy choice for Six, who had no family or loved ones to back to. The only bond that resembled emotionality for him was with Fitzroy's niece Claire.
Despite being a cut-throat hired gun, Six's honor was made very evident by the plot. This was perhaps an attempt to differentiate him from Chris Evans' sociopathic mercenary, who also acted in the gray area.
On one of his missions in Bangkok, Six found out that the man he was sent to kill was of his own kind: a past criminal, recruited by Fitzroy and called Four. Before dying, Four handed over a locket to Six and revealed why he was being hunted by the CIA.
Newly appointed group chief Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page), as it turned out, had a lot to hide. The receipts for his wrongdoings were within that locket, secured in a thumb drive.
To make sure no more of Fitzroy's men proved to be a liability to the agency and to retrieve the thumb drive, Carmichael hired an unhinged operative-turned-mercenary Lloyd Hansen.
Hansen's entry set the pace for the rest of the film, with guns blazing wherever Six went and men in uniform mindlessly attacking other men in uniform at his command.
From a plane being blown up mid-air to people being gunned down in the city center in Prague, The Gray Man created a sensory overload with all the fireworks.
Ultimately, Six had two jobs: saving himself from Hansen's maneuvers and saving Fitzroy and his niece Claire from his custody. Joining him in his mission was Ana de Armas' Dani, also a CIA operative, but on the moral and honorable side of the game.
After managing to evade countless army men, one last obstacle for Six and Dani came in the form of Dhanush's Lone Wolf. He successfully managed to retrieve the "asset" and get it back to Hansen, but the handover was interrupted by Six and Dani's disruptive gunfire and missiles.
Eventually, the Lone Wolf had an abrupt change of heart and decided to bat for the side of morality and gave the locket to Dani.
The Gray Man ending: Two of Hollywood's hottest men playing antagonistic roles had to have a face-off
In an attempt to break Fitzroy and his niece free of Hansen's scheme, Dani helped Six create a diversion by causing a lot of explosions for Hansen's team.
Meanwhile, Six broke them out of Hansen's custody and was in the process of getting them to safety when the mercenary figured out their plan and chased after the three.
Fitzroy was shot and ordered Six to take his niece away while he valiantly blew himself up along with Hansen's men. Six had almost escaped when Hansen got to Claire and held her hostage, driving both of them into a labyrinth. Having found them, Six agreed to play tango with Hansen if he let Claire go.
The mano-a-mano combat ended with Hansen being shot dead by Jessica Henwick's agent Suzanne Brewer. She offered to keep Claire safe and let Six live if he corroborated her story about Hansen being responsible for all the destruction that had been caused in the name of the CIA.
The final scene in The Gray Man showed Carmichael destroying the thumb drive and both Brewer and Carmichael being let off the hook for all the destruction. They then went looking for Six. As it turned out, Six had managed to escape Langley and was shown reaching the safehouse where Claire was being held.
As she had mentioned earlier in the film, Six was the only one who came close to being family for her now that Fitzroy was dead. In a call back to the babysitting scene, Six directed her to play the music they had bonded over via a note while he took down the men guarding the safehouse.
The film came to a close with the two of them driving off to an unknown destination.
The Gray Man is now streaming on Netflix.
