Review: The Grey

An emotionally broken Liam Neeson is one of a group of fuel plant workers in Alaska whose plane crashes in the harsh wilderness, killing some of the men on impact. Neeson, going through some kind of personal grief (we see him acting suicidally early on, thankfully not going through with it), nonetheless acts as leader, as he was employed by the company as a sharpshooter to take out any threat from wild beasts. Yes, not only are the men having to battle the weather and possible starvation, but there are hungry, nasty wolves out there ready to pounce. Frank Grillo plays the most antagonistic of the workers, whilst others are played by Dermot Mulroney (“Young Guns”), Nonso Anozie (“Brighton Rock”), and Dallas Roberts (a million miles from the chilling surgeon he played in “Tell-Tale”).

 

Director Joe Carnahan (“Narc”, the underrated “Smokin’ Aces”) and star Liam Neeson atone for “The A-Team” with this harsh (really harsh), macho 2011 man vs. nature flick. Aside from a rather monotonous voiceover narration that is soon dropped, Liam Neeson is perfect in this (Bradley Cooper was apparently the original choice, and I can’t imagine that working at all). I’m not sure if he was using cinema for cathartic reasons, but his own real life tragedy was on my mind throughout. The scene where Neeson prepares a dying man for the inevitable and calms him down is quite affecting and even beautiful in a gritty, macho kinda way. In fact, were it not for the lack of depth afforded supporting characters (Frank Grillo should be commended for not quite overplaying his 2D role), and some of Mr. Carnahan’s stylistic choices, this film would’ve been even better.

 

None of the other actors get much to chew on (Grillo and Dallas Roberts come off best), but at least Dermot Mulroney gets one helluva final scene. As is his wont, Carnahan and his cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi (“The Warrior”) adopt a muted, dark, and grainy visage for the film. The grain doesn’t add texture, it adds fake dirt (and clearly added in post), and during night scenes it’s a tad dark and murky. That said, I must say that even the occasional use of shaky cam wasn’t as bothersome to me because it makes the wolves seem more ferocious than they probably really were on set. It is certainly employed a lot more effectively than in “The A-Team”. The day scenes, despite the grain, are also really well-shot and attractive. Meanwhile, grainy or not, if that shot of the wolf pack’s eyes peering out of darkness doesn’t send chills down your spine, then you’re clearly even more disabled than I am (I’m a paraplegic, just in case you think I was being horrible for the sake of it).

 

I have no doubt that some of the wolves’ eyes are fake (either CG or prosthetics), but they’re more convincing than usual. That surprises me given the names Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger are in the credits, and those guys tend to be pretty uneven (The FX in “From Dusk Til Dawn” being rather fake, for instance). The sound design is terrific too, here, and the film has the biggest and most effective ‘jump’ scare I’ve had in ages. You will not see it coming. There are also few things more blood-curdling than the sound of a wolf pack howling. The opening plane crash is overly stylised and crappy, however. “Cast Away” set the benchmark for plane crashes and hasn’t been improved upon since.

 

Although not original or especially brilliant, this film will be loved by a particular audience. It’s one grim, tough sonofabitch, and I don’t think I’ve seen a film that more effectively encapsulates the fear of impending, inevitable death. Scripted by Carnahan and Ian Mackenzie Jeffers (the equally grim but uninteresting vigilante flick “Death Sentence”) from the latter’s short story, this is a solid genre film. Stay through the end credits for an hilariously macho final moment.

 

Rating: B-