While "The Gray Man" showcases Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Regé-Jean Page, this globe-hopping action thriller, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, is more interested in pounding pulses and taking breaths than throbbing hearts. It is a big, noisy, explosive adrenaline rush — a live-action spin on that old "MAD" magazine comic, "Spy vs. Spy" — and about as deep.
The story is simple. Six (Ryan Gosling) is recruited in prison by Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) to be a "gray man" and work for the CIA killing bad guys as part of the Sierra program, an elite unit. During one mission — to take out Dining Car (Callan Mulvey) — Six goes rogue. However, Dining Car reveals he is "Sierra Four" and Six will be targeted next. Four gives Six a medal that contains an encrypted drive with compromising information that incriminates Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page), Six's boss, who is high up in Langley.
