Directed by:
Joe CarnahanCinematography:
Masanobu TakayanagiComposer:
Marc StreitenfeldCast:
Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, James Badge Dale, Joe Anderson, Dallas Roberts, Frank Grillo, Nonso Anozie, Anne Openshaw, Jacob Blair, Ben Hernandez Bray (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
In The Grey, Liam Neeson leads an unruly group of oil-rig roughnecks when their plane crashes into the remote Alaskan wilderness. Battling mortal injuries and merciless weather, the survivors have only a few days to escape the icy elements – and a vicious pack of rogue wolves on the hunt – before their time runs out. (Open Road Films)
Videos (26)
Reviews (9)
I didn't like all those dream scenes, they are inconsistent with the setting, and sometimes the too digital or too artificial wolves (like Gmork in The Neverending Story but at least he was scary). But I have no problem with it within this small survival subgenre. Well-layered characters, absence of pathos, excellent kill scenes, and above all, captivating atmosphere, mainly thanks to the brilliant sound design (the wolves in the forest, etc.). Some scenes (jumping over a chasm, or even the excellently and suggestively filmed airplane crash) are intense and have incredible balls, and the viewer feels like they are pushing their limits along with the main characters. Fortunately, they didn’t screw up the ending.
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When a film from this environment and with this theme holds together thanks only to the charisma of the lead actor,
something is wrong. We cannot admire Alaska here because it is always either dark or snowed out (less cost for the
filmmakers due to studio shooting this way). Nor can we enjoy Joe Carnahan’s camerawork. This did not necessarily have to
be a reproach if the film worked as the riveting, dark survival drama that it was supposed to be, but which it is not
because of its screenplay. The characters are uninteresting (if the plane crash was survived only by Liam Neeson, the movie
would’ve only benefited from it), the dialogue scenes are no good, and there are zero innovative ideas that would
contribute to the subgenre. You will not be bored, because sometimes horrifying (digital) wolves appear, but I give it a
weak three stars only thanks to Neeson.
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"Fuck it. I’ll do it myself." Snow, dogs, despair, fear, death. The Grey isn’t a classic survival thriller, the central theme is too profound and thoughtful. A pretty depressing central theme, by the way. A “life’s a bitch" central theme. The journey south with the survivors of the air crash is just something extra, for fun. Tense fun. Breathtaking and chilling scenes full of fear alternated with excellent action scenes. To add to things, we have the awesome Liam Neeson who tramples all competition. The gang with the snappy lines that are with him are just added spice. Each death in the movie is powerful, each is different. Carnahan has made a complete turnabout since his last movies and it’s a damn good one. P.S.: Wait for the post-credits scene. I got a book. It's called: "We're all fucked". It’s a bestseller.
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Demonized CGI wolves in a movie that can’t decide if it wants to be a snowy, melancholic existential affair about coming to terms with loss or an uncompromising movie about survival with rather over-the-top scenes saying something like “Liam Neeson is the new MacGyver/Bear Grylls/Chuck Norris". Both approaches work well alone, but they clash with each other too much in this picture. And that’s a shame.
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Such a relaxed boyish outdoor film - they flew in, camped, they opened a bottle of Jack, talked about God, whores, children, and sometimes someone was eaten by a wolf. In my opinion, Carnahan's attempt at a harsh survival drama has nothing to do with horror, and rather it is much more of the director's attempt at a serious existential theme that is overwhelmed by the strange artificial taste of digital "evil" and digital epic. The decor suits the film very well, Liam Neeson suits it, Streitenfeld's lyrical music also suits it (I would rather expect such music in a Nordic film)... but it hurts the film a lot that Carnahan has a tendency to tighten the cruelty and ruthlessness of nature ad absurdum: I can imagine that as a raw drama without a single digital touch, this could be a brilliant theme for Peter Weir. Carnahan's attempt to go for meat and blood is lost - not because it is less effective, but rather because it exaggerates the effects unnecessarily. I don't deny him partial things. The introduction and conclusion are as strong as a bear's neck. But the effort to keep dialogues above the level of pathos and empty proclamations are not as successful. The Grey is a film that tries to get moving with the handbrake on. At the same time, it's a pretty ironic image that our wildlife imagery is bounded by Hollywood movies, the Discovery Chanel and CGI effects. But Carnahan wanted to show us exactly what is missing in these images (the spiritual transcendence of existence betrayed at the mercy of the wilderness). And it didn't work out for him. When one of the characters shouts, "You are not animals, we are animals," he is wrong. There are no animals in this movie. It therefore lacks even a hint of fascination with anything other than campfire metaphysics.
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