#81: The Gray Man by Mark Greaney
Source Material, Volume 6
Book - Published: 2009 | Pages: 456
Movie - Released 2022 on Netflix.
Written by: Joe Russo, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Directed by: Anthony and Joe Russo
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans
My kids go back to school soon so I’m clinging to what remains of summer. To me, summer reading and summer movie going are fun and easy breezy: Thrillers, comedies, rom-coms, and big action movies. This time of year, I just want a propulsive page turner that doesn’t make me think too hard and a movie where I can shut off my brain and go for a ride.
Enter, The Gray Man. As soon as I saw the cast (Ryan Gosling! Chris Evans! Ana de Armas!) I knew I had to see this movie. And when I found out it was based on a book, I knew I had to read it.
The Book
The concept is a familiar one: A total badass assassin - who operates “in the gray” - is set up on an impossible rescue mission intended to lure him into the open. He’s being chased by international teams of trained assassins who are highly motivated to take him out. It’s very Jason Bourne, James Bond, or Ethan Hunt. The gray man’s name is Court Gentry (100 points for a cool name) and he’s the best of the best.
If the concept isn’t new and the protagonist is the titular character who goes on to have many more adventures in other books, how did the author create tension and make the book exciting?
He did a really good job of setting up the full capability and badassery of Court Gentry. From the opening scene, I knew Court was the best. He blended in, had excellent situational awareness, and took out all the bad guys. He was almost superhuman.
As he was elevating him to superhuman status, Mr. Greaney also humanized him. Court dealt with serious injuries the entire book. He bled a lot and was in pain. While a lone operative, he still needed help from allies. The story wouldn’t work without the central relationship between Court and his handler Fitzroy and his family. Saving them was the rescue mission and Court cared for them and wouldn’t give up on them.
There were some really creative “outnumbered-with-your-back-against-the-wall” moments that had me asking not if he was going to get out of it, but how. The ways he got himself out of those sticky situation were, at times, MacGyver-esque in their ingenuity. And yet, each clever, narrow escape presented a new set of injuries or challenges to deal with.
So yeah, I had a fun time with this book. Cotton candy reading to be sure, but a solid thriller. I’ll be reading more in this series.
Now let’s talk about that movie.
I tend to ask myself while reading: “Would this scene make it into the movie? If so, how would it look? What would be the same and what would be different?” So many questions that pique my curiosity. The book is full of set pieces that would make for thrilling movie scenes. The filmmakers had a lot to work with considering the cast, budget, and source material.
Here’s what I enjoyed:
The action set pieces were cool and exciting. The one with the booby trap. The one where he’s handcuffed to a bench. The one where he’s on top of a train. There’s some great action in this movie.
It’s funny. Gosling groans in frustration. Evans screams in frustration. There are humorous bits that got a laugh out of me.
It eliminated superfluous characters and added kick-butt new ones. Fitzroy has a son, daughter in law, and two granddaughters in the book. The movie pares this down to one niece. Ana de Armas played a kick butt new character named Dani Miranda. She was brilliant and I can’t imagine the movie without her.
Simplified the story. Book Lloyd is a lawyer who overlooked a loophole in a multibillion dollar energy contract and blah blah blah now he has to kill the gray man. Movie Lloyd, played by Evans, is a Nick Cage-esque psycho who has been hired to take out the gray man due to his possession of compromising data on a drive. It’s easy to follow in both, but much simpler in the movie.
What didn’t work for me?
Certain scenes had bad CGI that didn’t look great.
Not much substance1. Part of me respects the movie for not trying too hard to be what it wasn’t. It’s a summer movie and we’re just here to have fun! And yet, it needed a little more depth and emotional momentum. Everything hinged on the relationship between the gray man and the niece he was trying to rescue. It might have been the actress or how she was written, but I had a hard time caring about her, which made it hard to believe he would risk bodily harm to save her.
Despite these minor quibbles and the fact that we already have great movies with Bourne, Bond, and Hunt, none of those movies have Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas2. Bring on the sequels, I’ll watch them.
What did you think of The Gray Man?
Thanks for reading,
Kyle
One of my favorite podcasters, Jeff Cannata, sums up his thoughts in the form of a limerick in every episode of The Filmcast. Here’s the one for The Gray Man:
If you’re subscribing or on a free trial,
Check it out! I think it’s worthwhile.
It’s got a great villain,
If you’re Netflix and chillin,
Who needs substance when you’ve got style?!
Nailed it!
Ok sure, Ana de Armas was in No Time to Die, but barely. I wanted more.