Courtland Gentry (Ryan Gosling) had been a convicted murderer since 1995. In 2003, he received a visit from CIA operative Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) at the Florida State Prison. Fitzroy offered to commute his sentence in exchange for working with him in the Sierra program, to be deployed by the CIA in secret assassination missions. Now known as Six, Gentry quickly became one of the most efficient of these men who lived "in the gray."

One New Year's Eve, Six was assigned on a hit in Bangkok. Before his mark died, he gave Six a chain with a flash drive containing incriminating evidence. When his CIA bosses Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page) discovered this, he knew he would be in big trouble. So, against better judgment, he desperately hired mercenary ex-CIA agent Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans) to go get Six and retrieve the drive.

Coming from a four-year hiatus since "First Man" (2018), Ryan Gosling transforms into an all-out action hero here as he got to do superhuman stunts here as Six, who always got himself into and out of the tightest of scraps. However, despite all the cold merciless killing he did left and right, Gosling's Six still had a beating heart in him, especially when it came to young Claire (Julia Butters), Fitzroy's niece whose safety had been compromised.

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Ana de Armas played CIA agent Dani Miranda, Six's backup in the Bangkok mission and partner for the rest of the film. Her Bond girl action stint in "No Time to Die" was certainly no fluke, as she engaged in even more intense stunts here. Veteran actors Billy Bob Thornton (as Six's mentor Fitzroy) and Alfre Woodard (as retired CIA chief Cahill) both contribute their experience and expertise as senior agents on Six's side.

As the psychotic Lloyd Hansen, mustachioed Chris Evans was clearly having fun. He did not see action at first, as he was just ordering his men around, but eventually got himself dirty in the third act already. Regé-Jean Page was shallow, petty and unconvincing as the unscrupulous new CIA head Denny Carmichael. Jessica Henwick could have done more as the conflicted Suzanne Brewer, instead of just making snide side comments.

The $200-million budget was very evident as the settings shifted city to city, and the explosive stunts got bigger and wilder. The Russo brothers effectively built up action scenes, starting them small before blowing up into city-wide mayhem. There were no superheroes here, but wow, they demolished downtown Prague. It did feel a bit too long in the middle, but Evan's torture scenes and off-the-cuff humor (including a Ken doll joke) kept us alert.

This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."