Joe Russo

The Bluth family in Arrested Development (2003) is good company for an evening, though keeping up with the storytelling can become work. We laughed, and it was the performances that kept us watching when the plotting grew tiring. Joe Russo directed the pilot and further episodes with his brother Anthony, his principal collaborator. We rate their handling of a crowded cast, while allowing that a television comedy's performances belong to more people than the directors.

They had already made Welcome to Collinwood (2002), produced by Steven Soderbergh, before television became central to their work. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) brought them into Marvel filmmaking, applying their experience with ensembles to action and interlocking plots. That skill carried through Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). We can see why this work suited them: the appeal lies in making room for characters inside a story with a great deal to get through.

The method is practical and collaborative, with storyboard-heavy preparation for complex action and close work with writers and cast. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are recurring partners, alongside casting director Sarah Finn. Those jobs matter to films whose appeal depends on keeping so many people distinct, and Joe's contribution should not be discussed as though he worked alone. Yet Arrested Development remains the more persuasive example of what the brothers can do: its performances are worth returning to even when we have had enough of following the story.

The weakness is clearer in The Grey Man (2022): the direction is efficient, the images bland and the ideas second-hand. We welcome the brothers' willingness to change genres rather than settle into a single style. But we want more from their action films than evidence that a complicated production has been kept in order. Start with Arrested Development, and be prepared to forgive the storytelling some tiring stretches.