Movie review thread...
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The Gray Man
Apparently Netflix have invested heavily (financially and strategically) in this Russo Brothers adaptation of the first in the Mark Greaney series. The idea is it will turn into a Marvel or Mission Impossible type phenomenon and help save the company.
I just can't se it. It is difficult for me to comment because I have enjoyed the books and it really has played fast and loose with the source material, but while there are some elaborate set pieces - a battle on a tram that basically destroys half of Vienna stands out - it comes across as Bourne light to me.
Ryan Gosling is miscast as the eponymous hero and they've missed the essence of the character who in the books is a far more complex and morally ambivalent character. In the movie there is less sense of menace and he is likeable. In the novels the Gray Man would never share his back story and works alone. He's the fucking Gray Man - hunted by everyone, tortured by self doubt and disgust at the moral compromises he has to make but incredibly competent. Eats special forces troops for breakfast. He is the gray man because two seconds after meeting him you're either dead or have forgotten him. He's not an all American, likeable, honest joe you could play softball with. He's a sociopath who gets dirty deeds done.
Oh and no tits
Interested in others take but for me 3 fingernails ripped out with pliers / 5 double crossing counterfeiters
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@dogmeat so, coming from someone who hadn't read the books (didn't know they were a series of books till you said it)....i really enjoyed the film, thought he production values was good, all looked like real stunts and sets, not CGI (im sure there was, just wasn't super obvious to me)
but...not sure i see it as something big or grand enough to compare to something like Marvel....like, i would watch another one....but i didn't look to see if it was a book or anything
The one i want to see a sequel of is "old guard", immortal heroes/villans who have done battle throughout time....that i can see a big franchise built on
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@Kiwiwomble yeah it is next on my list of things to watch, having not read the books, only knew they existed following a post in here.
@dogmeat on the back story bit, do you learn it in the books? If so, then they either talk about it, or do flashbacks, which can be problematic and time consuming.
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I saw The Gray Man at the cinema, liked it for what it was, think it's quite cinematic even though most people will see it on Netflix.
I didn't know it was based on books so had no issue with the casting of Gosling.
I actually thought it was a better Bourne than the last two Bournes (Hawkeyes one and Damons final one).
##spoiler
The issue I have with it, and most of these style thrillers now is that they all have to be hero gets double crossed by their superiors. All the fudging time. Slightly off topic but I want to see a pure Mission Impossible movie like the TV show where they get given a mission and they do it, and the difficult stuff is the mission and not their bosses or a shadowy group within the CIA etc etc.
##endspoiler -
@Nepia said in Movie review thread...:
I saw The Gray Man at the cinema, liked it for what it was, think it's quite cinematic even though most people will see it on Netflix.
I didn't know it was based on books so had no issue with the casting of Gosling.
I actually thought it was a better Bourne than the last two Bournes (Hawkeyes one and Damons final one).
The issue I have with it, and most of these style thrillers now is that they all have to be hero gets double crossed by their superiors. All the fudging time. Slightly off topic but I want to see a pure Mission Impossible movie like the TV show where they get given a mission and they do it, and the difficult stuff is the mission and not their bosses or a shadowy group within the CIA etc etc.
so, no spoilers there then?
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@mariner4life said in Movie review thread...:
@Nepia said in Movie review thread...:
I saw The Gray Man at the cinema, liked it for what it was, think it's quite cinematic even though most people will see it on Netflix.
I didn't know it was based on books so had no issue with the casting of Gosling.
I actually thought it was a better Bourne than the last two Bournes (Hawkeyes one and Damons final one).
The issue I have with it, and most of these style thrillers now is that they all have to be hero gets double crossed by their superiors. All the fudging time. Slightly off topic but I want to see a pure Mission Impossible movie like the TV show where they get given a mission and they do it, and the difficult stuff is the mission and not their bosses or a shadowy group within the CIA etc etc.
so, no spoilers there then?
Opps, TBF you learn that premise pretty early on. (I haven't seen a trailer but I expect you learn it in the trailer too).
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@mariner4life its the first scene so not a huge spoiler
im hanging out for a good old fashioned treasure hunt film, even ones like National Treasure were silly but loads of fun
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@mariner4life theyre what the davinci codes ones should have been but as soon as you cast tom hanks you're taking yourself too seriously
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@Nepia yeah I enjoyed it as well, on Netflix. I haven't read any of the books either, so nothing spoiled for me. Very much in the Bourne type of movie, even Chris Evans was fun to watch as the bad guy.
Only bad thing for me is that they were trying to make Ana look bad with that shitty haircut, but she is still hawt..
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@bayimports said in Movie review thread...:
@Nepia yeah I enjoyed it as well, on Netflix. I haven't read any of the books either, so nothing spoiled for me. Very much in the Bourne type of movie, even Chris Evans was fun to watch as the bad guy.
Only bad thing for me is that they were trying to make Ana look bad with that shitty haircut, but she is still hawt..
it was also cool they actually made a comment about him "failing upward"...unlike other villains who make similar mistakes but its treated as normal
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@Nepia said in Movie review thread...:
I saw The Gray Man at the cinema, liked it for what it was, think it's quite cinematic even though most people will see it on Netflix.
I didn't know it was based on books so had no issue with the casting of Gosling.
I actually thought it was a better Bourne than the last two Bournes (Hawkeyes one and Damons final one).
##spoiler
The issue I have with it, and most of these style thrillers now is that they all have to be hero gets double crossed by their superiors. All the fudging time. Slightly off topic but I want to see a pure Mission Impossible movie like the TV show where they get given a mission and they do it, and the difficult stuff is the mission and not their bosses or a shadowy group within the CIA etc etc.
##endspoilerDoes it come with implausible plot hinges such as lazily written technology solutions to keep driving the story forward?
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@antipodean absolutely that seems the new norm for this genre
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@bayimports said in Movie review thread...:
@antipodean absolutely that seems the new norm for this genre
would we say "new"?....implausible tech is kind of the backbone of Bond
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@Kiwiwomble said in Movie review thread...:
@bayimports said in Movie review thread...:
@antipodean absolutely that seems the new norm for this genre
would we say "new"?....implausible tech is kind of the backbone of Bond
Yeah, in the same way we watched Batman...
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@antipodean not saying i dont enjoy films that use them
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@mariner4life said in Movie review thread...:
@Kiwiwomble said in Movie review thread...:
National Treasure
great movie unfairly shit on
Is it shit on? I thought the original is looked on quite fondly but 2 is looked on as a bit shit.
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@antipodean not sure too many have gone to the level of Taken 4 or whatever one it was...
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@taniwharugby said in Movie review thread...:
@antipodean not sure too many have gone to the level of Taken 4 or whatever one it was...
I mistakenly watched Taken 2. That's where that stopped thankfully. If they make a Wick IV (V ?) I won't be watching that either.
