The Grey (2011) – Review

After his late-in-the-day transition into a grizzled action hero, it seemed like Liam Neeson’s more weightier roles seemed behind him – especially when you considers that in 2010 he appeared as Hannibal Smith in Joe Carnahan’s movie version of The A-Tean. Coincidentally, Carnahan seemed to be heading progressively into a noticably lighter headspace too, after his grimy and grim breakout movie, Narc, had given way to more stylized, comedic thrillers like Smokin’ Aces, Stretch or the adventures of TVs beloved soldiers of torture.
However, in 2011, both reunited to make unfeasibly grizzled adventure movie The Grey; a hard edged movie that merged philosophical musings about mortality and faith with the sight of a suicidal Neeson preparing to fight off a pack of voracious wolves with his bare, fucking hands. Sure, Leonardo DiCaprio had a hard time with that bear in the wilderness in The Revenant, but at least that thing left him alone afterwards.

Deep in the harsh wasteland of the Alaskan wilderness, we find the world weary form of John Ottway who makes his living as a sharpshooter for and oil facility. But when he isn’t protecting the workers from attacks by frequent and vicious grey wolves, we find that he’s suffering from crippling depression that almost veers into suicide thanks to the issues he has after losing his wife. Barely able to push back the darkness, the very next day he finds himself leaving the facility for good as his tenure is up, but as he boards a plane to Anchorage with some fellow workers, he finds that his existence is about to get a whole lot harder after the plane crashes in the middle of an icy nowhere. The survivors father in the aftermath, shocked and wounded and try to take stock of the sizable dead, but Ottway soon realises that if he and his six, hapless comrades don’t start to prepare, then the biting cild will be the least of their issues.
You see, Ottway has blown enough wolves away to predict and read their behavior and it seems that the plane ended up in the hunting territory of a pack of particularly hefty Greys that immediately start stalking the group with the aim if picking them off one at a time. However, while the majority of the survivors listen to Ottway’s advice, swaggering tough guy John Diaz seems highly doubtful, especially when the number starts to inevitably dwindle due to the hostile elements or the judicial placing of wolf jaws.
As each of these men eventually bond in such hopeless circumstances, each are forced to face their own mortality and beliefs in the face of such an uncaring environment- but all the navel gazing in the world isn’t going to help them return to their families.
But what about Ottway? What does he believe in while confronted with the furry, snarling face of certain death?

Based on the short story, Ghost Walker, by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers, The Grey has all the attributes needed to succeed in the harrowing genre of the survival thriller. A central, mournful performance by a grizzled, veteran actor; a clutch of similarly haunted-looking supporting actors who obviously look like that hadn’t completely reckoned on the brutal filming conditions and a suitably mean species of indigenous predator who will ruthlessly push our characters too the edge. But while The Grey has all these things in frigid abundance, it also comes with a more philosophical stance that help gradually melt the macho attitudes of these alpha males while the ice around them predictably remains unchanged.
Carnahan, possibly reacting to the scale of The A-Team, dials back the scope immeasurably, delivering both a bigger and smaller canvas thanks to the vast, Alaskan wilderness and the fact that we barely have seven main characters. The director accurately manages to transfer the ungodly temperatures to anyone watching the film making you wish you’d brought a blanket along while the merciless wind cuts the players to the bone and it also helps that the cast look like they’re genuinely hurting. Also, Canahan shoots the wolves with a mixture of quick flashes and long, drawn out shots that are laced to the brim with menace. The scene where the survivors first realise exactly how deep in frozen shit they are when the night is suddenly lit up with numerous pairs of glittering eyes will turn your blood to ice.

In the midst of this stands Neeson who has obviously showed up to work. Taking that image of a leathery ass-kicker and re-molding it into an emotionally wounded widower who is utterly lost, he owns the film just as much as Ottway owns his grief and when you remember that the actor lost his actual wife, Natasha Richardson, in a skiing accident only two years prior; you can’t discount that Neeson might have used The Grey to work through his own personal matters. Whether this is true is not, the results can’t be denied and whether it’s the atheist Ottway bellowing “fuck-face” at god or the sight of the actor poised to fist-fight the alpha wolf with little broken liquor bottles wedged between his fingers like a particularly ingenious set of knuckle dusters.
There’s an argument to be made that the majority of the rest of the cast is somewhat underwritten in comparison. In fact, save for Frank Grillo’s complaining thug, the only real thing that differentiates the characters fully is the manner of their deaths which, interestingly, finally reveals what kind of man there were in life. While some are taken by snapping jaws out of nowhere, others have reassuring visions of loved ones that ultimately proves to be deeply moving – in fact a moment that sees Neeson tearfully flick through the wallets of the deceased in order to see the family photos of his fallen comrades hit me clean in the feels far harder than I was expecting and it’s testament to Carnahan’s direction and Neeson’s acting that this violent, survival thriller manages to draw just as many tears as it does gasps.

While some who prefer their gripping, outdoor adventures with a little less despair may miss the point of that devastating final shot (stay tuned to the end of the credits for a tiny sliver of resolution), this movie, that merges hints of animal attack and disaster movie into its DNA, sticks to its themes admirably as this bunch of tough guys are gradually humbled by sheer attrition.
There’s not a lot of laughs and a chance of happy ending may be as remote as the smoldering crash site, but Carnahan stages an emotional blitzkrieg that strips the notions of masculinity and “a good death” to the bone.
Plus – and I cannot empathize this enough – Liam Neeson fights wolves.

🌟🌟🌟🌟