Ryan Gosling as the CIA operative Six Credit - Paul Abell—Netflix
It’s just another day at the office for the Gray Man. The CIA-trained assassin from the top-secret Sierra program has been sent to Bangkok and given a standard assignment: kill a bad guy. No further details are provided or required—the Sierra program furloughs American prisoners to serve in the CIA, and those details are above the Gray Man’s pay grade.
The assassin has his weapon trained on the glass ceiling above him, ready to take out the target standing there at a moment’s notice. Then a child appears next to the target and the Gray Man’s rigid moral compass redirects. To the great frustration of his superiors, he holds his fire.
The Gray Man of Netflix’s new movie—played by Ryan Gosling and true to his character in the 2009 Mark Greaney novel of the same name—treads a delicate line between the dark underbelly of his occupation and the harsh light of his signature strict moral code.
“Everyone in the movie is gray in some capacity, and I think it’s really reflective of the way that Anthony and I look at the world,” says Joe Russo, who directed the movie with his brother, Anthony Russo. “Not everyone is all good or all bad.”
The action thriller, which released in theaters on July 15 and will start streaming on Netflix on July 22, is a massive, nearly $200-million swing for Netflix, which has in recent months been struggling to maintain its onetime dominance. And if it does well—a standard which, given this era of hybrid release models and self-reported viewership metrics, may be hard for anyone outside of the streamer to discern—the Russo brothers have ideas for building out a “Gray Man” cinematic and TV universe. (Greaney has written 10 books in the series, with an eleventh due next month.)
After directing a string of action films, including four Marvel movies in five years, the Russo brothers have stayed true to form with The Gray Man in their mission to hold institutions to account even within the confines of a popcorn movie. In 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Chris Evans’ ostensibly socially-conscious patriot fights back against a corrupt system. In The Gray Man, the institution at hand is the CIA. Although the CIA did not directly support or assist with the movie, the filmmakers did consult former CIA agents. (Greaney’s experience training with military and law enforcement also informed the source material). Viewed within the broader context of the last 60 years, The Gray Man speaks to shifting depictions of the CIA onscreen.