‘The Gray Man’ Plane Crash Is the Best Action Scene of the Year

Say what you will about The Gray Man—Netflix’s star-studded action-thriller that received less-than-glowing reviews from critics after its streaming release on Friday—but you can’t deny that it has one perfect action scene: That epic plane crash.

Based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Mark Greaney, The Gray Man casts Ryan Gosling as a James Bond/Ethan Hunt-type character. Known only as his CIA agent code name, “Six,” Gosling’s character is recruited from his prison cell to join an elite unit of the CIA as a trained assassin. But when the CIA decides it doesn’t need its “gray men” anymore, suddenly, Six is the one on the run, being hunted down by a hit man named Lloyd (played by a sociopathic Chris Evans).

For a brief moment, Six has an ally in his old mentor at the CIA, Fitzroy (played by Billy Bob Thornton), but that quickly changes when Lloyd kidnaps Fitzroy’s beloved niece. It just so happens Six is on a plane being transported to safety when a frightened Fitzroy calls his men to tell them there’s been a change of planes. The new mission? Kill Six. Six, of course, is not so easily double-crossed. He fights back, and despite being extremely outnumbered, he seems to be winning. Then a stray bullet rips a hole in the aircraft, and suddenly, they are all going down.

Now, I love a good plane crash scene—the LOST pilot, for example, is particularly memorable—but The Gray Man plane crash takes things to the next level. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo detail every moment, making audiences feel less like they are watching a movie, and more like they are experiencing a plane crash simulation ride at a Universal theme park. The camera spins, plummets, and crashes right alongside Gosling, as he attempts to both secure his oxygen mask and beat up the bad guys simultaneously.

It’s fast-paced and chaotic, but at no point do you ever lose track of what’s happening. The Russos walk you through the destruction step by step: First, the hole in the plan gets bigger. Next, the engine on the left side goes, sending that wing up in flames, quickly followed by the engine and wing on the right. Via precise camerawork, the audience is sent tumbling alongside Gosling as he finally falls from the plane.

But this is Six, and he’s very good at his job, so rather than panic, he gains control of his freefall. Then, in perhaps Gosling’s most badass moment of the film, Six quite literally robs a man of his parachute while they are both plummeting towards the earth. The scene finally ends with this jaw-dropping stunt, bookended with the brief by instantly recognizable notes of Monty Norman’s “James Bond Theme,” no doubt an homage to Six’s 007 inspiration.

Watching this plane crash scene, I understood why The Gray Man is one of the most expensive Netflix movies to date. Whether or not that $200 million price tag will be worth it for the streaming service remains to be seen. But, at the very least, The Gray Man can boast that it contains one of the most exciting, thrilling action sequences that money can buy. That has to count for something.