Ava Kueffer

To all fans of The Gray Man books that haven’t seen this film already, I don’t recommend watching it, especially not on the big screen. You’re just bound to be disappointed. This movie would be good but overall forgettable if it were isolated in a void: a generic but decent action film. However, this is intended to be an adaptation of the first book of a very good series and butchers the original plot from its own source material. Characters are changed to resemble the originals only by name, inexplicably added, omitted entirely, or make their debut (or die) far earlier than they would have in the books. The plot is drastically altered as well, to the point where I wondered if what I was watching was actually meant to be The Gray Man. Everything felt flat and empty, especially the characters. From the very first chapter, almost everyone that appears has distinct motivations, personalities, and beliefs in such a way that makes all of them feel fleshed-out and unique. Even the antagonists have substance that makes them likable to an extent, even when you’re supposed to root against them. You really get the feeling that they’re people and not just cardboard cutouts of stereotypical villains you can find anywhere, unlike in this movie. Any hint of personality the characters infrequently display in this film is significantly more annoying and less lovable than how they were first written. I can acknowledge that for a movie that is not intended to have any follow-ups, some plot edits must be made for the story to make sense within a single self-contained piece of media. And indeed, I would not be here writing this if only negligible changes were made for the movie to work. But all of the heart that was evident in the source material should not be sacrificed to trim it down to fit into an hour and a half. It’s a shame that such an astounding book series got a movie that was mediocre at best and an embarrassing disaster of an “adaptation” at worst. For many people who aren’t familiar with Greaney’s writing, this uninspired, disjointed compilation of action scenes tied loosely together with a copy-and-paste storyline is their first impression of The Gray Man, and that’s just an injustice, both to the audience and the author. To anyone out there leaving this movie not-so-satisfied with the bland disappointment we got, I highly recommend checking out Mark Greaney’s books for the real story. But if you’re just looking for a movie to turn your brain off to and watch guns go boom, this is right for you. Thanks for stopping by to read this. I hope my review helps.