In Alaska a team of oil workers board a flight home however they cross a storm and the airplane crashes. Only seven workers survive in the wilderness and John Ottway who is a huntsman that kills wolves to protect the workers assumes leadership of the group. Shortly after they learn that they are surrounded by a pack of wolves and Ottway advises that they should seek protection in the woods. But while they walk through the heavy snow they are chased and attacked by the carnivorous mammals.
Review
Liam Neeson the gritty action hero. How unbelievable that at nearly 60 years old an actor can redefine his career and become more bankable. Neeson has somehow rechanneled the seriousness he brought to dramatic roles into creating utterly convincing heroes in decent (at best) thrillers.
But that's not "The Grey." "The Grey" earns marks far above decent and Neeson's performance makes it better. I know the calendar clearly reads January but that's a matter of maximizing boxoffice potential in this case. Writerdirector Joe Carnahan ("The ATeam") has turned a new leaf in this harrowing wilderness survival thriller a film as dedicated to exploring the true extent of the human will to live as much as shocking its audience with menacing wolf attacks.
Neeson leads the pack in all manner of ways. Paid to protect oil workers from nature's dangers (especially wolves) Neeson's character Ottway turns out to be a group of drillers' best chance for survival when their plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness near a wolf den. He's far from a boy scout however and he's emotionally wounded by the past as evidenced by visions of his wife.
Most of the early indicators in the film give you the sense that Neeson will do his usual solemnfaced hero routine that he executes to perfection but the way the film unfolds (not in terms of plot but in terms of the quality of the storytelling) asks him to go beyond that. He definitely responds.
When looked at in its most fundamental form "The Grey" could be considered just another film in which a group of imperiled people die one at a time en route to finding safety. Carnahan however slows down that pace so that we can absorb the extent of the danger and imagine ourselves in it. When death does occur it's visually striking jawdropping andor thoughtprovoking as compared to standard efforts at the genre that involve only jumpscare deaths or death by character stupidity.
Only one character Diaz (Frank Grillo) gets a stereotype as the stubborn selfcentered jerk who disagrees with Ottway on purpose. Most movies would've killed him off before he got too annoying but Carnahan and cowriter Ian Mackenzie Jeffers (who wrote the short story the film's based on) have more interesting plans in store for him.
It's also not just a film about people being hunted by wolves in the wilderness. There's no bloody man vs. wolf climactic battle unlike what the trailers would have you believe so film fans prone to take misleading marketing out on the film itself be prepared. "The Grey" is much more of a suspenseful drama with highadrenaline scenes lurking around every corner.
As such the visual style of "The Grey" asks for something different from Carnahan than the overthetop highflying nature of his previous two films "The ATeam" and "Smokin' Aces." The overall tone is gritty and naturalistic so snowcaked beards without the blistering frostbite makeup.
The action is also more frenetic and gripping. Rather than shooting the action scenes in a traditional sense he wants the viewer to feel as if they are experiencing them along with the characters. If a character falls from a tree top and hits 20 branches on the way down that's exactly what the camera's doing. This maximizes the intensity of every major sequence. As for the wolves they're horrifying yet never painted as the bad guys. They're just part of nature.
When it comes to issues of faith and the will to survive that's when "The Grey" really jumps up and above the bar for its genre. The story is told in such a way that when people die it's not for our entertainment but to highlight the unpredictable nature of ... nature and life and death. As Ottway wrestles with these same issues its Neeson's performance that makes it hit home.
"The Grey" gives its audience the rare gift of genrefilm entertainment with some serious food for thought and an ample dose of emotion. Carnahan's choices on how to tell the story along with an ending not typical of genre films only make it all the stronger. Both he and Neeson display the true nature of their strengths. Hopefully we've seen only the beginning of Carnahan's potential and that nature is kind enough to Neeson to let him continue challenging the norm for the standard heroic performance.
Steven C
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