‘The Gray Man’ and the Top 10 Trash Special Ops Movies

The Gray Manspoilers throughout

The Gray Man 2022

Directed by the Russo brothers, starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans as dueling CIA operatives, based on Mark Greaney's 2009 novel (once set up for James Gray with Brad Pitt, then a gender-swapped Charlize Theron). Sean and Chris agree the ingredients are right on paper and the movie still doesn't work: every set piece is digitally animated to the point of weightlessness, the Bangkok opener and midair plane sequence borrow visibly from Only God Forgives and a decade of Tom Cruise movies without understanding what made them tense, and the script keeps piling on backstory (an orphaned niece, a pacemaker, a tragic dad) whenever it should just let a scene breathe. Chris Evans plays the villain gleefully glib (good for a laugh in the moment, empty calories after), while Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Regé-Jean Page, Wagner Moura, Billy Bob Thornton, and Julia Butters are all stuck in underwritten parts. Sean's verdict: 'bones with no skin, heart, or soul.' Both land closer to subpar than disaster.

The movies Gray Man is stealing from

Only God Forgives 2013

The visual reference point for Gray Man's nighttime Bangkok assassination opener, right down to Ana de Armas's flower suit.

Ambulance 2022

Sean's comparison for drone-shot action that actually works: every shot answers 'what can this camera do that we couldn't do 10 years ago,' something Gray Man's drone coverage never bothers with.

True Lies 1994

Sean's example of a movie that already pulled off Gray Man's trick: a self-aware riff on ridiculous action thrillers that's also a legitimately great action thriller.

Free Guy 2021

Chris's prior punching bag; he says Gray Man isn't quite as soulless but lives in the same 'frictionless smarm' zone.

The Dark Knight Rises 2012

One of several movies that already did Gray Man's midair-plane-explosion, parachuting-out set piece.

The Mummy 2017

The Tom Cruise version, cited as another movie that already did the plane-explosion sequence.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier 2014

One of the Russos' MCU credits, brought up as proof they can do genre well inside a prefab world.

Avengers: Endgame 2019

Referenced as the Russos' biggest hit, and the expectations that come loaded into anything they make next.

Extraction 2020

A Russo-produced (Joe Russo co-wrote) hand-to-hand actioner brought up as part of their post-John Wick, post-Jackie Chan action influences.

Cherry 2021

The Russos' other post-MCU feature; Chris says as soon as they leave a prefab world, he doesn't understand what they're going for.

Red Notice 2021

Cited as evidence of the kind of expensive, glib Netflix movie the service keeps greenlighting instead of another Stranger Things.

What's going on with Ryan Gosling

Murder by Numbers 2002

Sean calls this Barbet Schroeder-directed thriller, with Gosling at 21 opposite Sandra Bullock, the sneaky formation of the whole Gosling persona: smarter than everyone in the room, a little dangerous, never toxic.

Drive 2011

Named as the kind of idiosyncratic, iconography-driven role Gosling usually chases.

The Place Beyond the Pines 2012

Named alongside Drive as evidence Gosling usually has good taste, which makes his Gray Man backstory scene land worse by comparison.

Barbie 2023

Gosling's next role, already on a press tour as Ken when this episode was recorded; Sean reserves judgment until it's out.

The rules of the subcontractor movieChris's seven commandments for the genre

The Bourne Legacy 2012

Source of the 'crisis suite' rule: Edward Norton demanding 'integrated grids and comms.'

The Bourne Identity 2002

Clive Owen's 'Professor' is Chris's favorite example of a deadlier assassin who makes the hero look sympathetic by comparison.

The Bourne Supremacy 2004

Karl Urban's Kirill, cited alongside Clive Owen's Professor as the genre's deadlier-assassin rule.

Grosse Pointe Blank 1997

Dan Aykroyd's hitman making John Cusack's look relatable: the rule applied outside the CIA-subcontractor genre proper.

The Jackal 1997

The Bruce Willis remake, cited for its armorer betraying the assassin (the same rule Day of the Jackal sets up with its forger).

The Top 10 Trash Special Ops Moviesthe genre's history and current crop, roughly in the order discussed

The Day of the Jackal 1973

Chris's pick for where the genre starts: Fred Zinnemann's step-by-step account of an assassin (dyeing his hair, forging a passport, building an undetectable gun) evading the entire French military. Both call it possibly the best movie they'll discuss all episode.

The Killer Elite 1975

Sam Peckinpah's post-Vietnam entry, with James Caan and Robert Duvall playing killers-for-hire; Chris calls it a blueprint rather than a successful film, jacked-up 70s acting and all.

Ronin 1998

John Frankenheimer's car-chase heist movie with Robert De Niro as a possible ex-CIA gun for hire; both call it the genre's near-perfect version, and a former Rewatchables pick.

The American 2010

The George Clooney/Anton Corbijn entry from the post-Bourne wave.

The Peacemaker 1997

The Hollywood version of the same post-Bourne-adjacent cycle: more plainspoken, government-agent action.

John Wick 2014

Chris's argument that Wick is really an extension of Bourne: a samurai figure transplanted into the modern subcontractor world.

Jason Bourne 2016

The belated sequel; Sean says it's all fighting with no story, and compares his own decade-long wait for it to his letdown with Gray Man.

Body of Lies 2008

Chris's shoutout for Russell Crowe's handler character, who runs the entire movie on an early Bluetooth.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado 2018

Called a key text: half subcontractor movie, half Western, with Benicio del Toro doing a Man With No Name turn under Stefano Sollima, son of Sergio Sollima.

Without Remorse 2021

Sollima again, with Michael B. Jordan; a more traditional, muscular Tom Clancy take that Chris says isn't good but is squarely in the genre.

Safe House 2012

Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds crisscrossing South Africa; Chris says it's basically all he wants from a movie like Gray Man. Sean's first-night-in-L.A. pay-per-view watch, to his wife's dismay.

Man on Fire 2004

Tony Scott's Denzel Washington vehicle, an ex-CIA bodyguard in Mexico. Called clearly the superior of the two Denzel picks.

Mile 22 2018

Pete Berg's messy, John Malkovich-supervised wetwork-team movie; Chris says it has no redeeming qualities and he loved every minute of it.

The Gunman 2015

Sean forgets most of the plot but remembers liking Javier Bardem as an ex-assassin posing as an aid worker; the two spend a while arguing over whether it's actually called 'The Gunman.'

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi 2016

Michael Bay's 'true story' entry, paired with 6 Underground as a Bay double feature.

6 Underground 2019

Chris's Netflix favorite, written by Deadpool's Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick as a self-aware, Naked Gun-style parody of Michael Bay movies. A read Chris says the rest of the country didn't share.

The Contractor 2022

Chris Pine as an ex-Green Beret doing wet work for Kiefer Sutherland's handler; Chris says the first hour is the genre nailed, then it loses him when Ben Foster's character exits.

All the Old Knives 2022

Named as an adjacent but distinct genre: more le Carré, a relationship drama between two spies rather than a subcontractor shoot-em-up.

Also mentioned raised along the way

In passing Star WarsRogue One: A Star Wars StoryTop Gun: MaverickMarcel the Shell with Shoes OnThe MuleCommandoPredatorNo Way OutThe PackageDeath WishDirty HarryTakenTerminator Genisys

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV The Terminal ListBridgertonIronheartStranger ThingsHouse of CardsWinning Time

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