In the Grey: A Review of Guy Ritchie's Overly Complex Action Flick
Guy Ritchie's latest film, In the Grey, is a convoluted and generic action movie that fails to live up to its star-studded cast. The film follows a team of mercenaries led by a lawyer, Rachel Wild (Eiza Gonzalez), as they attempt to retrieve $1 billion from a shady tycoon who has defaulted on a bank loan. The plot is riddled with legal and logistical machinations, but ultimately boils down to a mindless action movie featuring the likes of Stallone and Schwarzenegger in the 1980s.
The film's opening sequence is filled with narration from Rachel, who is portrayed as an ultra-confident lawyer who dresses for success. She convinces investment banker Bobby Sheen (Rosamund Pike) to hire her to retrieve the money from the defaulter, Manny Salazar (Carlos Bardem), for a ten percent recovery fee, with $10 million up front. However, Manny is not hesitant about killing to achieve his ends, and Rachel must enlist the help of ex-special forces agents Sid (Henry Cavill) and Bronco (Jake Gyllenhaal) to handle the more physical aspects of the job.
The intrigue includes Rachel sabotaging Manny's hotel real-estate project in Saudi Arabia and Sid conning Manny's equally crooked accountant with a rigged game of backgammon. As the plot unfolds, Ritchie tries to make it simpler for us with a constant use of onscreen graphics labeling everything in sight, including the ingredients of a Negroni. However, the jagged continuity and glaring plot holes indicate that it may be as short as it is only because of extensive editing.
The film's action sequences are staged efficiently by Ritchie, but they lack realism. The characters execute every maneuver flawlessly, communicating throughout via earpieces that never go on the blink, without any of them suffering so much as a scratch. Meanwhile, the bad guys fall over like dominoes, which lessens the stakes.
In the Grey is the sort of movie in which the cartoonish villain is never seen without beautiful women in skimpy bikinis lounging poolside in the background. The film's tone is light-hearted, with Sid and Bronco exchanging deadpan quips indicating that they've seen plenty of movies like this and know exactly how to behave. However, the film's short runtime of 98 minutes (including credits) and lack of bloat suggest that it may be as short as it is only because of extensive editing.
Overall, In the Grey is a generic action movie that fails to live up to its star-studded cast. The film's convoluted plot and lack of realism make it a forgettable addition to the action genre.
