In the Grey review: Guy Ritchie is stuck making the same damn movie

Running time: 97 minutes.Rated R (violence, language and a sexual reference).

In theaters.During “In the Grey,” underworld characters call each other “clever” so many times that the viewer starts to wonder if these trigger-happy people, as well as the man who wrote their repetitive lines, really are clever at all. Their limited vocabularies wouldn’t suggest as much.Dare I say they all sound like idiots?That man with the uninspired pen is, of course, the guy responsible for “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” — Guy Ritchie, the British writer and director who’s enjoyed a career resurgence thanks to entertaining crime thrillers.“The Gentlemen” was his best, “Wrath of Man” and “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” were fun and I’d rather not talk about “Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre.”With “In the Grey,” Ritchie has stalled out.While he’s made a good-looking movie with a hot cast, the palm trees and parallel bone structures only get you so far.

I’m sure Eiza González, Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal all had a fabulous month in sunny Tenerife, but joining them in turning on their out-of-office email replies are plot surprises and cinematic thrills.There is not a second of “Grey” that isn’t totally predictable.You’ve seen every frame before, and done a lot better.Yes, the “Mission: Impossible” and James Bond films are also variations on a well-worn theme.

There’s no need to reinvent the shootout.But those all at least attempt, with escalating stunts, effects and scenery, to outdo what came before them.

Richie reduces, reuses, recycles.  And that does not equal excitement.The movie begins with about an hour of talky table setting before any significant action happens, which ultimately isn’t explosive enough to justify the extended run-up to a bit of gunfire and a few bombed buildings.The film’s damp squib of a conflict? An unpaid loan.González plays an Olivia Pope type named Rachel Wild, a high-end debt coll...