{"id":586839,"date":"2026-05-16T06:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/586839\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T06:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:07:11","slug":"in-the-grey-review-jake-gyllenhaal-in-generic-guy-ritchie-flick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/586839\/","title":{"rendered":"‘In the Grey’ Review: Jake Gyllenhaal in Generic Guy Ritchie Flick"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIf nothing else, Guy Ritchie<\/a>\u2019s latest effort proves that a movie can be ridiculously convoluted and simple-minded at the same time. Depicting the efforts of a lawyer and team of mercenaries to procure $1 billion from a shady tycoon who\u2019s defaulted on a bank loan, In the Grey throws endless legal and logistical machinations into what is essentially the sort of mindless action movie featuring the likes of Stallone and Schwarzenegger in the 1980s. Come to think of it, those two would have been perfect casting for the central male characters Sid and Bronco, whose names would probably have provided that film its title.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs if aware that things are about to get confusing for the audience, writer-director Ritchie throws plenty of narration at us early on, emanating from Rachel Wild (Eiza Gonzalez<\/a>), the sort of ultra-confident lawyer who clearly dresses for success. The plot is set in motion when Rachel convinces investment banker Bobby Sheen (Rosamund Pike, leaning into her onscreen ice queen image) to hire her to retrieve the money from the defaulter, Manny Salazar (Carlos Barde), for a ten percent recovery fee, with $10 million up front.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tIn the Grey\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Bottom Line<\/p>\n

\tNothing to see here, other than star power.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRelease date: Friday, May 15
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Henry Cavill, Eiza Gonz\u00e1lez, Kristofer Hivju, Emmett J. Scanlan, Jason Wong, Michael Vu, Fisher Stevens, Rosamund Pike, Carlos Bardem
Director-screenwriter: Guy Ritchie
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRated R,
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1 hour 38 minutes\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, it won\u2019t be easy, since Manny isn\u2019t hesitant about killing to achieve his ends. So, while Rachel deals with his lawyer (Fisher Stevens<\/a>, defining his sleazy character mainly by sweating and mopping his brow), she also enlists ex-special forces agents Sid (Henry Cavill<\/a>) and Bronco (Jake Gyllenhaal<\/a>), both of whom she once got out of prison, to handle the more, shall we say, physical aspects of the job.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe intrigue includes Rachel sabotaging Manny\u2019s hotel real-estate project in Saudi Arabia and Sid conning Manny\u2019s equally crooked accountant (Mohammed Al Turki) with, I kid you not, a rigged game of backgammon (hey, it worked for James Bond with gin rummy in Goldfinger). As the barely comprehensible 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. When there\u2019s an establishing shot of the Empire State Building, the setting is helpfully labeled as \u201cNew York.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut all of this is merely an excuse for a series of elaborate action sequences, with Sid and Bronco (it\u2019s fun to say, don\u2019t you think?), abetted by an anonymous team they\u2019ve recruited, battling Salazar\u2019s forces, who seem to number in the hundreds \u2014 including his chief henchman (Kristofer Hivju, Game of Thrones), who\u2019s so menacing even his overgrown beard seems aggressive. Ritchie has no small amount of experience staging this sort of thing, and scenes showcase his directorial efficiency. They\u2019re sometimes too efficient, however, with Sid and Bronco and their team executing 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. At a certain point, it kind of lessens the stakes.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the Grey \u2014 the meaning of the title is explained via narration, naturally, by Rachel, who informs us that she operates in the grey zone between legal and illegal, moral and immoral \u2014 is the sort of movie in which the cartoonish villain is never seen without beautiful women in skimpy bikinis lounging poolside in the background. In between ruthlessly mowing down the bad guys, Sid and Bronco exchange the sort of deadpan quips indicating that they\u2019ve seen plenty of movies like this and know exactly how to behave.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt all goes down easily, especially since the 98-minute film (including credits) doesn\u2019t smack of Ritchie\u2019s usual bloat. On the other hand, the jagged continuity and glaring plot holes indicate that it may be as short as it is only because of extensive editing.<\/p>\n

\n\tAll three principals have previously worked with Ritchie and their comfort comes across onscreen. Gonzalez definitely seems to be having fun with her role, while Cavill and Gyllenhaal, both seemingly aware that this will not be a high point in their filmographies, underplay in such appealingly relaxed fashion they seem to be angling for the chance to star in Sid and Bronco 2. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If nothing else, Guy Ritchie\u2019s latest effort proves that a movie can be ridiculously convoluted and simple-minded at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[200548,96,200549,127399,806,35354,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-586839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-eiza-gonzalez","tag-entertainment","tag-fisher-stevens","tag-guy-ritchie","tag-henry-cavill","tag-jake-gyllenhaal","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}