A covert team of elite operatives are living in the shadows. When a ruthless despot steals a billion-dollar fortune, they’re sent to take it back-an impossible heist that erupts into a deadly game of strategy, deception and survival.
Chuck says:
I have no hard proof to back this up but I’d be willing to bet that one of director Guy Ritchie’s favorite films is The Dirty Dozen. More than any other modern filmmaker, he gravitates towards films that revolve around a group dynamic. Whether it be Snatch (2000), King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, (2017) The Gentlemen (2019), Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023), or The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024) he returns again and again to the “guys on a mission” premise. He’s quite adept when it comes to creating a disparate group of characters whose differences wind up complimenting each other, the friction the oddballs he puts together generating as much humor as fireworks.
He returns to this setup once more with In the Grey albeit a more modest version of Ritchie’s sometimes sprawling adventures. Clocking in at just under 100 minutes, the filmmaker displays a sense of narrative economy that’s been missing from many of his previous features. This a slick, energetically rendered B-Movie, elevated by an A-List cast with a craftsmanship that focuses on story and character, something that’s become far too rare in this era of cinematic bloat.
Wasting little time, the first of the film’s three principals, Rachel (Eiza Gonzalez), clues the viewer in on her unique occupation. Basically, she’s a high-end leg-breaker, hired by investment firms to recoup delinquent loans. She uses all the charm she has at her disposal to negotiate the return of sums in the hundreds of millions and if any client refuses to meet her demands, she resorts to Plan B.
That would be Sid (Henry Cavill) and Bronco (Jake Gyllenhaal), who have their own methods of persuasion. The former uses various methods of corruption, payoffs mostly, to muck up the holdings of their target, while the latter employs more forceful means if those fail. The group’s target is Manny Salazar (Carlos Bardem), a Latin-American kingpin who absconded with $1 billion from a New York firm.
Of course, it wouldn’t be an action movie if everything went off without a hitch. Rachel ends up being kidnapped, prompting her cohorts to pull together a group of guys, each with a special skill set, to get her back. While this is a standard set-up, Ritchie throws us a curveball, offering up a seemingly neat conclusion that turns out to be a red herring, as well the late introduction of another villain.
While Cavill has never been an expressive actor, he serves much like a sounding board for more charismatic co-stars. Such is the case here, Gyllenhaal employing a wry sense of humor that belies his character’s lethal nature. His costar’s stoic reactions to his character’s sly jokes produce subtle laughs throughout. Thankfully, Gonzalez has enough presence to ensure this is doesn’t become a solely testosterone fueled exercise.
Again, nothing all that original here but Ritchie’s smart script and sharp execution elevate the material. While there’s a danger of using a first-person perspective to propel the story, here it works beautifully and, I would argue, is necessary. Rachel’s dense explanations regarding the ins-and-outs of her job, Salazar’s background and the consequences when things go wrong are sharply written, quickly delivered and always engaging. The same can be said for the myriad action scenes, nary a bit of fat on any of them, the editing accentuating the movement rather than obscuring it. Like his characters, Ritchie gets the job done with little fanfare but maximum competency.
Unfortunately, Grey will likely be overlooked amidst the bigger Hollywood blockbusters. That’s a shame, as it’s an effective old-school effort that today’s self-absorbed auteurs would do well to study.
3 Stars
