“The Grey” is an interesting blend of metaphysical conversations about life, death and God and your standard survival thriller. Does it work? Not really and the ending stinks. As soon as the oil company plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness, you can bet that most of the survivors will meet untimely ends. And with wolves nearby, you know that their deaths won’t be easy or pretty. You see, the wolves resent intrusion into their area so they’re not really interested in eating the survivors, only killing them. In between trying to get away from the wolves, the men talk about faith, the meaning of life or not. Liam Neeson plays the movie’s chief atheist, a skilled sniper who keeps flashing back to his final misty moments with an absent wife. Meanwhile you know where the story is headed and each death is telegraphed way before it happens. The only suspense is which interchangeable survivor dies next.
Director Joe Carnahan seems concerned with three things: the pervading cold, the masculine conversations and the acting, some of which is pretty good. Besides Neeson, who’s always effective, the standouts are Frank Grillo as a hard-bitten ex-con and Dallas Roberts as a genial religious type. Otherwise, the characters are far from memorable. Their main purpose is to trudge through the cold or wait for the wolves to reappear, which goes on until the end. By the way, did I say the ending stinks? The cinematography is beautiful, providing artistic beauty throughout and Carnahan’s ‘thoughtful’ style of man vs. the elements is definitely unique. “The Grey” appears to be another successful January movie for Liam Neeson, after Taken and Unknown. 1/29/12
1 comment:
Thank you for this review! I now know most definitely this is NOT a movie that I would enjoy.
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