A Guy Ritchie film starring Eiza González, Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Rosamund Pike should be a strong contender for one of the year’s best films. Unfortunately, In the Grey ended up being a disappointment from start to finish.

The film follows Rachel Wild, a woman tasked with recovering a company’s billion dollar investment from a dangerous drug lord and warlord operating from his private island. Supported by her highly trained team, including Bronco and Sid, played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Henry Cavill, Rachel devises a plan to secure both the mission and an escape route should things go wrong.

Despite an intriguing premise, the film struggles to go anywhere meaningful. The island setting feels restrictive, and the story spends much of its runtime teasing major developments without ever delivering enough emotional weight to make them matter. Even when parts of the plan appear to unravel, there is very little tension because the film never gives the audience a reason to care about its characters.

If it weren’t for the action sequences, In the Grey would be a lacklustre experience throughout. The action itself is entertaining enough, and while the film is an improvement over some of Guy Ritchie’s more recent projects, it falls nowhere near the standard of classics such as Snatch or the Sherlock Holmes films.

Outside of the action, the most engaging moments involve Rachel Wild using her intelligence and business acumen to outmanoeuvre Salazar’s financial adviser. These scenes offer a glimpse of a more interesting film hiding beneath the surface, but they are too few and far between to leave a lasting impact.

By the time the credits rolled, I felt largely indifferent to everything that had happened. Despite its talented cast and respected director, In the Grey ultimately feels forgettable. I can already see it ending up near the bottom of my rankings for the year, and it’s unlikely I’ll think much about it after writing this review.