The Grey

The Grey (2012)

77% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 146 reviews)

Runtime: 117 minutes

Directed by: Joe Carnahan

Starring: Liam Neeson, Dallas Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Joe Anderson

From: Open Road Films

Finally, I've seen a quality movie released in 2012. I realize not everyone will agree with this statement but I'll get to that in a bit.

The way this movie has been advertised, you might think it's Taken with wolves, but it's much more than that. To steal a quick plot synopsis from IMDb:

“In Alaska, an oil drilling team struggle to survive after a plane crash strands them in the wild. Hunting the humans are a pack of wolves who see them as intruders.”

It sounds simple but it's more complex than that. You start off by seeing that Liam (I might as well call him that instead of his character name, due to how awesome Mr. Neeson is) is unhappy as the guy who keeps guard and shoots any wolf who tries to attack the people working on the oil drilling team. He clearly misses his old lady. It isn't long before the team boards an airplane and fly back to Anchorage. Suddenly, the plane crashes, and holy crap I haven't seen a plane crash in a fictional movie in such a terrifying fashion.

So, after the crash it's just Liam and six surviving males; those dudes are all rough and tough guys so it's no surprise that there are arguments and disagreements as Liam becomes the alpha male of the group and decides to move the figurative wolf pack and leave the crash site to try and reach civilization as a literal wolf pack decides to track them down as they don't like those men in their space.

Overall, this movie isn't just a badass affair where dudes have to team together to go against nature. Rather, you get to see that these tough guys are human beings and they have families and they have to deal with the fact that it's likely they won't be seeing their loved ones again. I will warn you that the movie is pretty downbeat, if you didn't get that impression already. I don't want to give too much else away but I say that all of it is effective and you have quality acting jobs, especially from Neeson, who has some unforgettable scenes. Also, the scenery of Alaska (actually filmed in rural British Columbia) is quite beautiful.

Now, if you haven't heard there's a segment of the audience that saw this which did not like how things turned out. I won't spoil anything but I did not hear about that backlash until someone I know personally on Facebook mentioned it the night before I saw this, then I look online and a forum has a thread which has people echoing his thoughts. Me, I was fine with how things turned out; I thought it worked for this sort of motion picture and I had little to carp about. Yet, some people out there were so displeased they hated the entire movie, and I say that's unfortunate. This sure as shit isn't The Devil Inside!

Oh, and there is a really short stinger that comes after the end credits but I say it doesn't really add anything so you can just find out what it was AFTER you see the film.

So, I say this film which reunites the star and director of the surprisingly good The A-Team is pretty damn good in a totally different way and it's well-worth seeing. Just don't be misled by what you may infer from the advertising, which I do say can make you think this is something it is not.

I'll be back Saturday afternoon with a new review.