Netflix has struggled lately, losing $50 billion in market value in April when it disclosed that it had lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, and then announced this week that it had lost an additional 970,000 subscribers in the second. quarter, a success that was actually cast in a positive light, as it was less than the streaming service’s own projections. It’s not all sunshine and roses at the 21st-century entertainment giant, though it’s aiming to turn things around starting this weekend with the gray manJoe and Anthony Russo’s spy vs. spy saga in which ryan gosling Rogue CIA agent battles sociopathic mercenary Chris Evans. The most expensive production in the company’s history (priced at $200 million), it’s Netflix’s biggest bid to date to create a true action blockbuster and, with it, a lucrative franchise.
Netflix should have no illusions. Premiering online on July 22 (after an earlier theatrical run), the gray man he executes his mission with professional competence but with a frustrating lack of extraordinary flair; its chaos rarely gets in the way that crowd-pleasing events should, despite the plethora of globe-trotting locations, huge sets, and Chris Evans’ charismatic evil twist. Swinging for the fences, it ends up as a double instead of a home run, making it another Netflix action tent short of greatness.
Over the past three years, the company has worked diligently to concoct a slam-bang sensation on par with Marvel’s reliable hits (or a phenomenon like Tom Cruise’s recent one). Top Gun: Maverick), only to arrive at efforts that feel more like approximations than originals. For an industry titan that so often leads the way, Netflix has generally floundered when it comes to the more aggressive film genres.
Dating back to 2019, Netflix’s action record is decidedly spotty, courtesy of movies that, on a creative level, either disappointed or flopped outright, including triple border, Spenser Confidential, gunpowder shake, Kate, Beckett, the man from toronto, spider head, The Adam Project, red noticeY Extraction. While the last three were apparently hits, just like the old guard—Evidenced by the fact that everyone is getting sequels (except for The Adam Project)—none became water cooler-style shootouts that made a dent in the larger pop culture conversation. They are diligent programmers who fade from memory almost as soon as the credits roll, unable to deliver either massive, adrenaline-pumping thrills or strong, stripped-down thrills. Whether it’s expensive A-list ventures or B-movie adventures, they’re more often than not boring at best and laughable at worst.
Some of this is simply the result of hiring the right stars (Dwayne Johnson, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds, Oscar Isaac, Chris Hemsworth) and then producing the wrong projects. Yet within that failure there seems to be something more fundamental. Netflix has had tremendous success in the drama arena by giving authors relative carte blanche, whether it be Martin Scorsese with the IrishAlfonso Cuaron with RomeJane Champion with the power of the dogNoah Baumbach with marriage storyMaggie Gyllenhaal with the lost daughter, Rebecca Hall with StepPaolo Sorrentino with The hand of God, Lin-Manuel Miranda with Tick, tick… Boom! or, apparently, Andrew Dominik with the next Blond. That strategy has won accolades and Academy Award nominations (and wins) to a degree that suggests providing real artists with resources and autonomy is a winning formula. When it comes to blockbusters, though, the opposite has happened: given millions (if not hundreds of millions) to go gonzo to their heart’s delight, most of Netflix’s action directors (Rawson Marshall Thurber, Shawn Levy, Peter Berg) have created plans. , naps deficient in personality.
“When it comes to blockbusters, though, the opposite has happened: given millions (if not hundreds of millions) to go gonzo to their heart’s delight, most of Netflix’s action directors (Rawson Marshall Thurber, Shawn Levy, Peter Berg) have created plans. , naps deficient in personality.”
The first exception to that rule is Michael Bay, whose 6 underground it came and went without a glance at the end of 2019 even though, on a technical level, it was as gloriously overkill as anything it’s ever done. Three years later, Bay’s big show starring Ryan Reynolds still feels like a victim of poor marketing, i.e. Netflix failed to promote its original material both in the press and on its own home page, other than a marketing error. artistic calculation. However, its poor performance also means that Netflix needs to treat action differently from drama, exercising tighter quality control over its productions to make sure they don’t move in random directions. In other words, no one needed to look over the shoulders of Scorsese or Campion, but maybe a little more of that would have done something. red notice or a Spenser Confidential some good ones, a course that Marvel takes, to the tune of billions, in all of their outsized CGI endeavors.
Of course, Marvel’s director-neutral assembly-line approach to moviemaking rarely spawns masterpieces (and has recently led to some serious mistakes of my own). Still, it has helped the comic book giant rise to the top of the industry, while also avoiding the kind of action-adventure flops that Netflix churns out all too often. his last, the gray man, will probably satisfy many but wow few. And in light of the Russos’ past, Marvel triumphs with Captain America: The Winter Soldier Y avengers endgameit’s hard not to wonder if the difference between the two companies’ fortunes is the measure of freedom Netflix offers its action directors, to their detriment.