It may not have been because of the reviews, but we all knew that reviews never had anything to do with the special sauce for streaming success anyway; indeed, The Gray Man, the latest action thriller from the Russo brothers, has continued its ascent up the Netflix ladder, currently sitting at the sixth most viewed Netflix movie within the first 28 days of its release, right above The Unforgivable and just below fellow Russo action flick Extraction.
Despite a less-than-impressive sum of its parts, the film was never lacking in practical firepower; its $200 million production budget made it the most expensive Netflix project to date, and it was bolstered by a star-studded cast led by Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, and Regé-Jean Page.
The film has clocked just under 224 million hours watched as of now, which is an honorable shout from Extraction‘s 231 million, but The Gray Man still has two weeks left to close the gap before its first-28-days window closes, leaving Gosling and the gang plenty of time to crack the top five and join the likes of Red Notice, Don’t Look Up, Bird Box, and The Adam Project.
The film stars Ryan Gosling as Court Gentry, a former convict who is recruited to the CIA under the moniker Sierra Six (we find out soon enough what happened to Sierra’s One through Five). When he uncovers some incriminating information on the organization, he soon finds maniacal hitman-for-hire Lloyd Hansen (Evans) gunning for his head, leading to an explosive globetrotter where Gentry’s capability is tested at every turn.
The Gray Man is available to stream on Netflix.