ABC Film Challenge – Thriller – Z – Grey Lady (2017) Movie Review
Director: John Shea
Writer: John Shea (Screenplay) John Shea, Armyan Bernstein (Story)
Starring: Eric Dane, Natalie Zea, Amy Madigan, Adrian Lester, Carolyn Stotesbery, Chris Meyer, Rebecca Gayheart
Plot: A Boston police officer goes to Nantucket to investigate the murder of his partner, but he finds more than he bargained for.
Runtime: 1 Hour 47 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Grey Lady starts when Doyle (Dane) sees his partner Maggie (Gayheart) murdered by a masked man that once had a connection to his own Sister’s murder. After his recovery Doyle leaves Boston heading to Nantucket in search of potential answers about his family.
After it turns out the killer has followed Doyle to Nantucket, he must start to investigate the area, which might have his family around him, but we face the race to stop the killer before it is too late.
Thoughts on Grey Lady
Characters & Performances
Doyle is a good cop, he has always had an ongoing case into his sister’s murder and when his partner is murdered by the same killer. He starts to go deeper into his family’s past. Doyle must get to know a new town, where everyone seems to have a secret or a story. He will need to use his skills to solve the crime, but he never seems to have much urgency about what is going on. Eric Dane is solid enough in the leading role, where he will do everything he needs to bring us a determined cop.
Melissa is a local woman that Doyle meets on the island, she has her own story for escaping there, becoming somewhat of a love interest for Doyle. Lola is the Aunt that Doyle is searching for, he doesn’t have the best memory about who she is now and she wants to keep her identity a secret from him.
Johnson is the local cop that is will to help Doyle learn the layout of the land and help in his investigation. Eli and Perry are brother and sister who are on the island looking for their own answers. We get plenty of potential suspects on who could be the killer, even though we learn early on who they are. The performances in the film are solid enough without ever reaching any top level heights.
Story
The story here follows a detective that will travel to Nantucket to investigate his past as a serial killer seems to targeting him. This is an investigation story that will dive into the family history, while having a twisted serial killer out there. It does give us a series of suspects, only to give us the killer early on. When it comes to the full investigation nothing is overly interesting, with the pacing being very slow. Nothing feels like a giant reveal, with the side characters just not coming off as effective as possible.
Themes – Grey Lady is a crime thriller that has a serial killer stalking what seems like one family, with one detective traveling from Boston to Nantucket to solve it. The crime side of the film plays into the idea of unsolved one haunting a detective, while trying to offer up twists along the way.
Grey Lady is a flat thriller that is trying so hard to build a connection, it ends up feeling disconnected.
