The Grey Movie Review

The Grey Movie Review

Cast: Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney

Director: Joe Carnahan

Forget Bear Grylls, here comes Wolf Neeson.

In this film adaptation of short story, Ghost Walker, Liam Neeson stars as John Ottway, who's hired by a corporation in Alaska to take out the wolves preying on the men as they work.

Along with a group of other workers, he's sent on a plane to another job - but in a truly terrifying scene, the plane goes down, stranding only seven survivors in Alaska. With nothing but their wits, the men try to survive and get to some form of civilisation and escape.

But standing between them and safety is a pack of wolves, which gradually begin to pick them off one by one.

The Grey is a stunningly good film - and it's entirely unexpected.

Through opening shots of white mountains to the sudden fade to black at the end, it's a constant surprise - and not what you would expect from the director of action packed films like The A Team and Smokin' Aces.

Carnahan's crafted together a subtly philosophical action film which explores spirituality as it forces the characters to confront their own mortality in horrifically extreme conditions. There are a couple of jolts and shocks here and there too - with moments that really catch you off guard.

Neeson is outstanding as the weary Ottway, a man who's weary of life and who starts the film with the desire to commit suicide after admitting "I've stopped doing this world any real good."

Thanks to Neeson's dialled down and restrained performance amid the piercingly arctic conditions of white out, he's mesmerising as the leader from the get go - and unfortunately, the rest of the plane survivors don't get as much characterisation as he does.

That's a real shame though because you really just focus on Ottway's character but it doesn't fully give you the pull for the rest of the group to make it through.

Via flashes back to Ottway's past, we see a woman, but gradually Carnahan drips out the pieces of their backstory all the way until the end - it's a clever directing tactic which continually reminds you Ottway is an enigma as well as an expert on wolves. Neeson delivers a pitch perfect performance as the leader of this ragtag bunch of ex-cons trying to survive.

But it's the film which is the star really - it's a nicely put together piece which you can read more into if you want to. There's certainly a fair amount of philosophising on hand as the wolves close in on the gang and you can maybe read into the potential allegories which are hinted at but at the end of the day, The Grey is one heck of an adventure pinned by a great central performance from Neeson.

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