The Grey

Genre: Thriller
Released: 2012

Rating:  

“The Grey” may not be exactly what you’re looking for based on the trailers but Joe Carnahan delivers a rather brilliant, deeply emotional, philosophical flick with an emotional yet kick-butt Liam Neeson. I have a bad feeling that people will walk in to this film expecting what the trailers have been saying. It’s not “Taken” in the snow! There are very intense scenes of action and violence but a lot of the film is set in a more realistic tone of survival where these men are truly figuring out the meaning of life. Carnahan really brings you to this sub-zero world and lets you suffer with these characters as they try to keep themselves alive from the cold and the wolves. Through the use of beautiful cinematography, great performances and minimal CGI, the film brings us to a world and lets us “enjoy” the real experience.

Neeson and his cast were really thrown in to the element of this story. Scenes were filmed in twenty to forty below degree weather where it was hard to even speak their lines. As Neeson said, there was very little acting going on. Carnahan also didn’t want to go the route of using CGI wolves during the sequences. Using animatronics and puppets, he was able to give the film a more realistic spin.

»Watch Kevin’s interviews with the cast

I have to say that “The Grey” easily contains the most intense, breathtaking and mind-blowing plane crash I have ever seen in a movie. I was sitting next to a fellow critic of mine as I found myself gasping for air and being blown back in my chair. The sounds and visuals were just so real that it felt like I was right there with the characters as the plane was going down. The scene that occurs after the plane crash is even more intense. I just love how the film bounces back and forth between being very slow moving to extremely intense. It’s a great balance.

“The Grey” stars Liam Neeson (“Taken” (make sure you watch the unrated version and not the awful PG-13 version), Dermot Mulroney (“My Best Friends Wedding”), Dallas Roberts (“3:10 To Yuma”), Frank Grillo (“Warrior”) and Nonso Anozie (“RocknRolla”).

The film opens and we meet Ottway (Neeson) who works for an oil drilling team in Alaska. His task it protect his men from anything harmful, i.e. wolves that enter their compound. The one thing he couldn’t protect them from was the horrific plane crash that took place as the men were all heading home. Ottway and over a half-dozen survivors are now stranded in the middle of a wolf den located in the wild in Alaska. They’ve essentially landed in the most dangerous area they could have possibly landed in. One by one, the men are picked off by wolves and the film leads us down a path of survival. Ottway takes the lead and tries to lead everyone to safety but they slowly start to figure out that safety might not be an option. If the wolves don’t kill them, the sub zero temperatures will. So the question is, how do you survive?

I have to say that I love use the breath in this film. I know that’s a random aspect of the movie to bring up but it was such an effective tool. There were two particular shots where the breath became an important tool to create anxiety in the audience. One particular shot was right at the beginning when the characters were on the plane. There was a tracking shot that went down the aisle as all the men were sleeping. All you could see was, what appeared to be smoke, rising from the seats. We slowly start to figure out that this “smoke” is actually the characters’ breath because it’s so freezing cold. I know I’m picking up on the smallest detail but that shot was just brilliant. It’s also used later on with the wolves in another scene.

I really enjoyed how deep the film went in to the minds of these characters. As they struggle to survive we get down to the nitty gritty of who these people really are. It was like pulling back the curtain and see these characters at their most vulnerable state. There’s a great scene between Liam Neeson and Frank Grillo where they talk about fear. Neeson tries to explain that he’s very scared but has to keep it to himself. The dialogue interaction in this scene felt so real and natural. It just really opened up the characters and allowed us inside.

The film does have very intense and action packed moments. Liam Neeson gets to be the amazing action star that he has become. He even has some pretty awesome dialogue moments where I found myself doing back flips in my theatre chair.

Just know that this is a pretty deep film. If you’re looking for a straight-up action flick, you won’t find it here. The movie will make you think and leaves you with questions unanswered. I don’t feel that all films need to end and have all questions answered. The best types of movies are the ones you think about for days and weeks later.

I guess my biggest problem with the film, overall, is that it does drag a bit too much towards the end. I feel like Carnahan could have cut off about fifteen minutes. It’s still worth seeing in a theatre, hence the 4 BDK rating.