The Grey Review: A Haunting Film You Won’t Soon Forget
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The Grey’s notion of being stranded in the frozen wilderness tracked by ravenous snarling wolves, coupled with Liam Neeson’s physical performance as an emotionally wrought survivalist leader make for a fantastic and memorable film.
Horror Queen Says: Bloody Thumbs Up!
Written by BHM Editor Horror QueenJanuary 19, 2012
Release: January 27, 2012 (U.S. Theatrical)
Directed by: Joe Carnahan
Written by: Joe Carnahan & Ian Mackenzie Jeffers
Starring:
Liam Neeson: John Ottway Dermot Mulroney as: Talget Frank Grillo as: Diaz James Badge Dale as: Lewenden
This is the story of John Ottway (Liam Neeson), a sharpshooter working for an oil refinery in Alaska, keeping wolves and other predatory animals from attacking the oil drillers as they work. Ottway is a grave and depressed man, contemplating suicide after his wife has apparently left him… a while ago. He has a momentary change of heart upon hearing a wolf’s cry though, and instead goes on with life only to fall victim to a tragic plane crash coming home from work in a storm. There are eight survivors and much carnage, and it is in this harrowing situation that Ottway finds new strength and immediately assumes the role of determined leader. His sole focus now must be guiding the group in battling both the freezing elements and ferocious wolves they’re about to confront.
In this role of Ottway in The Grey, Liam Neeson is at this best and is truly the life and breath of the film.
Written, directed and produced by Joe Carnahan of The A-Team fame, The Grey could easily have been a fast-paced action thriller alone. Instead it weaves in a dramatic character study - of Ottway, seen though flashbacks of his wife and rigid Irish father, and also of family man Talget (Demot Mulroney) and obnoxious ex-con Diaz (Frank Grillo). This is what makes the film as gripping as it is. Each character is struggling to survive, and overcoming their own pasts and bonding with the others is a critical determining factor.
Ottway’s strength in character is also a factor. In one
very powerful scene he helps a dying man reach peace with his death and
this in turn strengthens the entire group in preparing for their own
fate. There are both psychic and spiritual layers to the film, with a
supposed connection between Ottway and the wolves as well as the hint
of the whole situation being karmic playback.
Performances by Mulroney and Grillo in The Grey are solid given the fact dialogue is limited by the harsh conditions surrounding the group’s journey. The wolves themselves are quite terrifying, a combination of trained animals and CGI (an exception to this is when they surround the men in the dark and look more like a string of Christmas lights than menacing creatures). And the cinematography by Masanobu Takayanagi shot on rugged British Columbia terrain is brilliant and daunting.
The success of They Grey however, rests squarely on Liam Neeson’s shoulders. One wonders if the tragic loss of his own beloved wife a few years ago contributed to his flawless performance in The Grey.
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