Time: 97 Minutes
Age Rating: R13 – Violence & offensive language
Cast:
Jake Gyllenhaal as Bronco Beauregard
Henry Cavill as Sid
Eiza González as Rachel Wild
Kristofer Hivju as Axel Oloffson
Fisher Stevens as Mr. Horowitz
Rosamund Pike as Bobby Sheen
Director: Guy Ritchie

I’ve generally liked Guy Ritchie’s recent work, though lately many of his movies including Fountain of Youth have felt very run of the mill and forgettable. Based on the trailer, his latest movie In the Grey seemed to be following that trend. Out of his 2020s output, it’s certainly not one of his better movies, but I still enjoyed it.

In the Grey has a very standard and simple espionage action plot. There is virtually no character depth and is overall a fairly predictable movie despite the attempts at having twists. Much of the movie consists of montages of characters making plans, explaining said plans, and also repeatedly rehearsing said plans. It feels so on autopilot for the first half of the movie, and there’s no tension as the characters just breeze through things confidently and not experiencing any conflict or issues. It’s only in the second half where things change a little bit after the first action scene. Things pick up from this point thankfully; the tension and stakes are somewhat felt, even if the plot is still quite predictable. In the Grey has some of the quippy dialogue you can expect from Ritchie’s other movies, they don’t feel as fresh here, but there are still some effectively funny moments.

The cast are all solid, even if they don’t have much in the way of characterisation or development to work with. The main actors in Jake Gyllenhaal, Henry Cavill and Eiza Gonzalez are good. Gonzalez stands out the most out of these 3, while Gyllenhaal and Cavill have an enjoyable on screen dynamic together.

Guy Ritchie’s direction is pretty good and his familiar style is felt here, especially with the fast paced editing. The action is entertaining when it’s present, I liked that much of it is visibly practical.

In the Grey is predictable and a bit on autopilot, but is still a stylish and entertaining enough action thriller with a solid cast.