By snoadmin
“The Grey,” directed by Joe Carnahan, has been marketed as an action-thriller in the vein of “Taken,” in which Liam Neeson fist-fights a pack of wolves. The trailers are misleading. It is not like that at all; it’s much better.
“The Grey” stars Neeson as Ottway, a depressed man working as a sniper killing wolves on an oil drilling plant in Alaska. While taking a trip back to civilization to see loved ones, the plane crashes, leaving Ottway and a few other survivors stranded in the frozen Alaskan wild.
The film is more about survival than it is about action, and the wolves are just one of many things that threaten the survivors as they try to make it home. They have to struggle to find food and shelter, and keep from freezing to death.
That is not to say there are not action-packed moments in the film. At times the film is structured like a horror movie, with the wolves playing the role of the killers, stalking their prey. Despite some questionable CGI, the wolves are effectively terrifying once it is made clear that they are not afraid of the humans, and they see them as a threat. Although the wolves act more like monsters than actual wild animals, the film makes it believable.
What makes the “The Grey” different than an average survival thriller is the way it treats the characters. The survivors start off as a fairly bland group of clichés, like the “family man who has to get back to his daughter” (Dermot Mulroney) and the “young stupid one” (Joe Anderson). However, as the film progresses, each one of these characters is humanized and made believable.
The worst of the clichés is Diaz (Frank Grillo), who plays the obnoxious naysayer and constantly complains and disparages Ottway and his plans. In an ordinary thriller, a character like he would be the first to die, but instead the film slowly reveals more about him until he becomes relatable and sympathetic.
The film spends enough time on each character to make the audience care about whether they live or die. Every death is dealt with realistically, and with the appropriate amount of respect and time. The deaths matter, and they clearly affect the other survivors when they lose friends. This is refreshing to see in a movie that could have easily just picked off the other characters as soon as possible to make way for Neeson.
Neeson’s portrayal of Ottway is interesting. He doesn’t play him like his character in “Taken,” who is constantly one step ahead of his enemy and always makes the right decisions. He is just a scared man who wants to believe that he can survive this but really doesn’t know how. He makes mistakes, which makes him seem more human than some of the other over-the-top action-movie characters that he’s played lately.
This was an interesting and refreshing choice for Carnahan, whose past few films have been big-budget cartoonish action films like “Smokin’ Aces” and “The A-team.” Those films are fun, but they don’t take themselves very seriously. This film was unexpectedly dark and quiet, with some legitimately beautiful cinematography along the way.
“The Grey” is a film that is definitely going to surprise audiences. Unfortunately for some people, it might be for the wrong reasons. People who went into this film expecting what they saw in the trailers aren’t going to get as many wolf-punches as they hoped for. However, for fans of Liam Neeson and people who want to see an unexpectedly great thriller in January, this film will not disappoint.
3.5/5 stars
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