With Netflix releasing their most expensive film to date, The Gray Man offers audiences a thrilling set of action set pieces involving some of Hollywood’s greatest talents. The film features Chris Evans facing off against Ryan Gosling, with guns, explosions, and a promise of sequels and spinoffs to turn The Gray Man into a Netflix franchise.
The Gray Man follows the story of Ryan Gosling’s character, a man with no real name, and a CIA asset. Audiences watch as this character unveils agency secrets that start a global manhunt, leading former employers to send Chris Evan’s deadly assassin to hunt him down. It’s a film premise that works, with many films before it being able to scratch the itch that The Gray Man left behind.
9 Blade Runner 2049
If audiences are looking to get more of Ryan Gosling in an action role, then Blade Runner 2049 is the perfect film. From director Denis Villeneuve, comes a beautiful cinematic experience. Visually and audibly, Blade Runner 2049 is a great movie. Gosling proves himself as a great action star, with a great weight of emotional range.
The film follows Officer K, a replicant who was built for and works as an officer for the Los Angeles Police Department in a dystopian future. K soon finds a secret that could create chaos and sends doubts about his own identity. This mystery takes many leaps and leads K to Rick Deckard, the famed Blade Runner of the first film.
8 Heat
A dangerous game of cat-and-mouse is always exhilarating, and something featured prominently in The Gray Man. With 1995’s Heat, fans can experience a similar thrill with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. The two actors, veterans of the field, play wonderfully as a criminal mastermind itching for a final score, against a police lieutenant who is hot on his tail.
Heat features a variety of emotions, intrigue, vulnerability, and action. It’s a tense ride throughout and has some great scenes for audiences to enjoy. Fans of The Gray Man will enjoy Heat, as it’s a classic thriller film that has the viewer subconsciously rooting for both sides.
7 The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Identity is the beginning of the Bourne film series. It is regarded as one of the more iconic action-thrillers of film history. Starring Matt Damon, Bourne is rescued from the ocean with no clear indication of who he is. As a John Doe, he discovers that he has a set of skills that enable him to survive against the hunters that seek his demise.
It’s a great thriller, that leaves audiences asking questions about identity of this character, and what makes him so dangerous to the government that is trying to kill him. It’s a great mystery, and one that unravels throughout three films.
6 Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has enjoyed success both critically and commercially for well over ten years now. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is Marvel Studios’ attempt at something more serious, with a paranoid, political thriller leading Captain America and Black Widow in an act of war against SHIELD.
Fans of The Gray Man will enjoy this film, even if they have not been keeping up to date with the MCU. It holds a similar style to The Gray Man, thanks to the directors being the same as Anthony and Joe Russo. There’s a great deal of suspense and action that blurs the lines of what a classic hero and villain are, with many deeper themes throughout.
5 Face/Off
Another twisted game of cat-and-mouse involves John Travolta and Nicolas Cage as they attempt to play each other in this tense thriller. FBI Agent Sean Archer has spent a lot of years hunting the crazed terrorist Castor Troy, and Face/Off sees both men undergoing facial surgeries to assume the identity of each other to finish their fight once and for all.
There’s a great deal of action in Face/Off, and the hunting of the two characters, assuming both identities, is a great twist on the thriller setting. The Gray Man fans might recognize some influences, in the way the two characters interact and have choreographed fights.
4 Skyfall
As a standout spy movie, Skyfall seems to be the best instance of a James Bond film involving a gritty plot, and a political landscape that makes the audience question who deserves to win. Skyfall features another outing for Daniel Craig as James Bond, and a great villain in Javier Bardem’s Raoul Silva.
The film easily scratches that espionage and action itch that The Gray Man left audiences with. There are some great set pieces for the film, which even feature the London Underground on a collision course. The film truly pushes James Bond to his limits, and to see a spy as famed as Bond so rusty and out of his depth, makes for a thrilling experience.
3 The Nice Guys
A rather different genre to The Gray Man, The Nice Guys still offers audiences a fun experience. As an action-comedy, The Nice Guys is thoroughly entertaining. The film is set in the late 70s and follows the story of a private detective and an enforcer who team up to figure out the whereabouts of a young girl who has disappeared.
What makes the film great is the cast of Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. The duo has great chemistry, and the film leans into the buddy comedies of old. Ryan Gosling is a lot of fun as a screaming and incompetent private detective. It's a far cry from his role in The Gray Man.
2 Extraction
Netflix produced another big-budget action flick with 2020’s Extraction. The film is set to rouse audiences with the sequel, Extraction 2. The Russo Brothers were involved in the story for Extraction, the same two that directed The Gray Man. Watching Extraction will remind audiences of their capabilities for a gritty story, which involves Chris Hemsworth as a black-market mercenary on a mission to save an Indian drug lord’s son.
There’s a great deal of spectacle on the action front when it comes to Extraction, making for a fun and casual viewing experience for those that want a great verse in action. Watching Hemsworth in a role like this is vastly different to Thor the God of Thunder, just like Chris Evans is different in his tenure as Captain America.
1 John Wick 2
No action will quite hit like that of a John Wick film. The franchise features Keanu Reeve’s titular character embarking on a quest for Rome, to battle against some of the deadliest killers that the world has to offer. There’s plenty of action, thrills, and suspense as John Wick tries to regain a sense of a normal life, all whilst the world seems to want him dead.
No man can be as terrifying and committed as John Wick when there’s a task to accomplish. The film features the character alone, with nothing but his set of skills to help him survive. With a bounty on his head, John Wick explores the many fun and choreographed ways the character can kill another.
The Gray Man is available now on Netflix.