THE GREY
This weekend saw the release of The Grey, an action thriller directed and co-written by Joe Carnahan (Narc, The A-Team). The film stars Liam Neeson (c’mon) as JOHN OTTWAY, part of an oil drilling team whose plane crashes into the Alaskan wilderness. Soon after the initial shock of falling out of the sky, the survivors quickly realize that now they have to deal with goddamn wolves. This becomes apparent when they’re attacked by goddamn wolves.
I liked this film quite a bit. The characters are not exactly varied, but they are not one note either; each one gets to display a little humanity (for better or worse) here and there, so you actually care whether or not they get ripped apart by these snow-demons. Neeson simply nails it as a man who is deeply pained by events in his past. Not to say this film stretches him as an actor, but there’s enough here to make the audience sympathize with the character.
Even with its two hour running time the film doesn’t really drag. On the contrary, it moves along with a trim, terrifying fierceness; almost like a feral, angry dog of some kind. After the opening with Neeson, we meet the rest of the food. Once we do, the film smashes them down to the ground at plane-crash-miles an hour in a really cool sequence my words will only ruin. Soon after that, wolves happen. And each sequence with these creatures is frightening. Carnahan uses any digital/practical effects really well. I honestly can’t think of one instance of obvious Hollywood fakery. Except when people get their throats ripped out, I think that was trick photography.
As frightening as those wolves are, and there are times when you believe these are storybook monsters, the survivors are still in the middle of Alaskan no-man’s land during the snowstorm that brought down their plane in the first place. I’d hate to spoil the rather cruel surprises this film rightly hides from the trailers, but suffice to say that Alaska must absolutely HATE these guys.
In fact, I was waiting for a flashback scene that revealed one or two of them had sex with Alaska's wife. So, the film works, is what I’m getting at. It’s packed with action, and each cast member holds there own, especially that Neeson guy. Just see the movie already.
