THE GREY is a much different film than the last collaboration effort between director Joe Carnahan and star Liam Neeson, which was THE A-TEAM. While the A-TEAM was a big budget, idiotic, and loud mess of a film, I still found it to be quite fun. THE GREY does have some good tension and another engaging performance from Neeson, but the film failed to keep me interested. It’s an extremely depressing and slow film. The interesting thing is that I feel I will probably be in the minority when it comes to most of the critics’ feelings towards the film. I have heard many praise THE GREY and I can totally understand where they are coming from, but unfortunately I just can’t agree with the majority.
Neeson plays Ottway, an ex-con who works as a sharp-shooter for an oil drilling facility in Alaska. Why is a sharp-shooter needed? When the workers are outside the facility fixing pipes, wolves tend to sneak up from behind and attack the unsuspecting men. Ottway is there to make sure that the workers do not become dinner. When Ottway is not working, he is writing letters to his wife and also contemplating killing himself because he is a man that is obviously in pain.
Does the film sound depressing enough to you yet? No? OK, well how about this? Ottway winds up surviving a plane crash with a handful of other not-so-lucky ones on their way to civilization for a break from work. Why are the survivors the unlucky ones? You see, they know that search parties will not find them and they are not only freezing and low on supplies, but they also have a huge pack of wolves hunting them down and picking them off, one by one.
THE GREY is at its most entertaining when the group of men are confronted by the wolves. There is some serious tension but there are also a few moments that did not work because of the poorly rendered CGI wolves that looked like they belonged in the TWILIGHT movies. Not all the wolves are CGI, but the ones that are not real are so obviously fake and the CGI just feels wrong for a movie this grounded in reality.
Most of the film consists of the men walking through the snow and arguing while trying to find safety, constantly looking over their shoulders for the wolves. Carnahan is trying here and he delivers on a few aspects of the film, plus there are some beautiful shots involving the locations. I just wish THE GREY was able to bring me in and hold my attention, even the great Liam Neeson could not save the film for me.
By: Marc Ferman
