The Grey
| release date | January 27 2012 |
| studio | Open Road |
| director | Joe Carnahan |
| writer | Joe Carnahan, Mackenzie Jeffers |
| starring | Liam Neeson, Dallas Roberts, James Badge Dale, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Nonso Anozie, Joe Anderson |
| rating | R |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
7 Comments
The Grey was a really amazing movie. Extremely tense in some areas. Very dramatic in other areas. Excellent ending. The wolf effects could have been better, but that is only a minor problem. This is definitely one of the best movies of the year so far.
The Grey was truly an unforgettable experience due to that fact that it was extremely depressing. The movie purposely lets the audience get to know & like the characters involved; and just when you get to like them, they’re slaughtered. The somberness doesn’t end there. A reveal towards the conclusion concerning where the journey has eventually led the characters serves as the rancid cherry on top of the maggot-infested cake. Speaking of the conclusion, the audience gets a double-wammy because a significant scene in the film’s theatrical trailer is not shown in the movie! Not to sound contradicting, but I liked the ending. The majority of the audience, booing mercilessly, clearly didn’t; and I can understand why. To the film’s defense, being that it was meant to be a downer, The Grey succeeds. Anyone expecting The Ghost & the Darkness should take this review as fair warning; The Grey is not even close to that film. It emerges as a hellish journey to oblivion. The Grey is a rare movie in that despite it being well acted, shot & directed, its a movie I’ll only see once.
The Grey was indeed very grey. It focused on the characters persevering against unfathomable odds, but frequently succumbing to them. This is an exciting and depressing film at the same time. But the direction and acting are superb and definitely worth praise and viewing.
8.5/10
A plane filled with passengers, headed “home” – wherever that may be – from Alaska. A crash; leaving six survivors total. A wasteland covered in snow and ice; the air riddled with only the cold. The surrounding areas belong to the wolves; and the lives of those unfortunate souls stuck there belong to nature. This situation is scary on its own, and the only thing scarier than this, in my opinion, is a lone man faced with similar struggles. But this is clearly not a movie in which one person hogs the screen; although it may be one where there remains only a single survivor of the ordeal-to-come.
“The Grey” is a good movie about bad – often times terrible – things. I have already described to you the basic premise of the film, and going in, that’s just about all you need to know. If the synopsis implies that this is a film you predict shall entertain and engage you; then have at it. But beware; this is a not the kind of film that dons a happy ending, or happy characters – only happy moments, and even those are relatively short.
The survivors are John Ottoway (Liam Neeson), Todd Flannery (Joe Anderson), Talget (Dermot Mulroney), Diaz (Frank Grillo), Hendrick (Dallas Roberts), Burke (Nonso Anozie), and Lewenden (James Badge Dale). They are all complete strangers to one-another, although it’s implied that perhaps certain members within this party have seen other members before. That doesn’t matter; most are willing to cooperate given the circumstances that they face: death, separation, starvation, cannibalism, and of course, the damn wolves.
In fact, common phobias of the cold such as frostbite are put on the backburner to make room for the four-legged fiends. These nasty dogs taunt the protagonists by lingering in the dark – always somewhere nearby – striking, and leaving a fatal wound after doing so. Some survive the attacks; just as others do not. But you’d better believe that, given this is a film starring Liam Neeson, the characters will all do their part to try and fight back against the forces of nature.
They intend to do the wolves one worse than the animals would do to them; using the resources all around them to create weapons and at one point, even a fire – which is used to embrace the victory of their first wolf kill. For those who might be just a little bit concerned; this is sometimes a brutal and relentless vision of survival. When the wolves come, there will be blood; although the filmmakers spare us the sight of seeing all the gory, graphic details, although the sound effects that accompany each kill will probably be enough for some people. Other than the wolves, these people are surrounded by potential danger; and death comes in all its forms.
The film was directed by Joe Carnahan, who hasn’t made a film this good in a while, although he hasn’t exactly made that many films at all. Nevertheless, this is a pleasant surprise; the kind of taut, impressive mixture of suspense, disturbance, and philosophy that I like to see out of modern cinema, yet seldom do. Carnahan, alas, has found a story that works for him; a story that he can tell not only through the fine print, but also through the visualization of his snow-covered locations. The film makes great use of atmospheric, lingering, haunting, foreboding shots of the mountainous regions belonging to the area in which these six men trudge through day-by-day. It also makes genuinely good use of scenes involving survival tactics. There are scenes that are kind of frightening – just about all the wolf scenes, as well as one involving drowning in an ice-cold river – and there are also scenes that are kind of ridiculous (the one where the remaining survivors decide to jump by rope off a cliff and onto some trees in order to successfully reach the nearby river). This tale of survival isn’t going to appeal to everyone, but for what it is, I thought it was bloody well solid.
Exciting, thrilling, and almost flawlessly intense; “The Grey” is not, indeed, a flawless movie, but it’s still a very entertaining one. It isn’t entertaining, however, in the “popcorn” sense; but it does keep you engaged, whether you like that feeling or not. To me, it’s one of an early 2012 surprise; I wasn’t sure if Carnahan had enough ability to successfully stretch out his concept into a full-blown movie with a respectable plot (with equally as exceptional characters); but he did just fine. His screenplay may not have the emotional core that it aims for – or the complex set of characters that it wants – but it wants to thrill us and perhaps even scare us; and for most people, that’s exactly what it will do. It delivers on its promises; nothing more, nothing less. It is worthy of praise on its own right.
The Grey took a survival story that could of been typical and run of the mill and went to the tip of the peak on delivering a memorable, rough and tough, thrilling, suspenseful, emotional hitting one to date, it sure brings its wrath and havoc which is a triumph compared to ones that came before it. Liam Neeson is a goliath of an actor here and is not one to reckond with, he gave an emotional powerhouse of a performance and as well transformed into one badass action star and I can tell you right now that he deserves an oscar for the role and the academy better not snub him or this film because the cast and crew gave it their all for this movie and deserves to be awarded for that and for how effective and fresh they made the survival sub-genre again and with a vengeance. The supporting actors were perfectly cast and they are a great support against Neeson and brought intensity and emotional depth to their roles and speaking of intensity they plane crash scene was horrifyingly realistic yet dreamlike and nightmarish and guarantee to give you chills down your spine. From their on it’s man against nature, man against man, man against wolves and man against his inner demons in an electrifying battle for survival. The filmaker is a very talented man delivering the most haunting atmosphere I’ve seen in years for the genre and the ways he rattles with your mind and the characters minds was tense and almost unbearable and rushes fear in every inch of your soul with the delivery of several graphic but mostly of screen wolf attacks which brings a little horror elements to the game as the body count rises as well as some death defying acts for survival that will keep you on the edge of your seat with your eyes wide open. The harrowing finale might not be what you expected to see or waanted to happen but it just adds to the emotional punch the film has flowing in it throughout the duration time and even at 2 hours I still wanted more but I’m very happy and shaken with the final result that raises the bar so high for action/survival and adventure films this year that it’s going to be very hard to beat this solid as a rock effort. Overall I can’t recommend it enough as it has powerful acting, intense and suspenseful action, excellent filming of a harsher than hell atmosphere and did I say wolf attacks, the movie is a near flawless survival flick that’s unforgettable and definitely going to be at the top of my top ten best movie list of 2012! Highly recommended!! By the way and I know alot of movie goers is going to make the mistake of leaving too soon when the movie is over but STAY UNTIL AFTER THE END CREDITS FOR A BONUS AND IMPORTANT SCENE!!!! SEE IT ASAP!
A very intense movie. The first half was very strong, but the second half could have been a bit better. Great creature feature/ survival film. I wish it would have had a different ending. If the ending had been better I would have rated it 4 possibly 4.5 skulls. Over all a good movie.
This was a good movie. If you’re looking for an action packed thriller with wolves, this is not the movie for you. This movie is about surviving. Although the ending left me a little disappointed I did enjoy the movie. They rely on jump scares too much, but they are effective. There’s some humor thrown in there too. All in all, not a bad way to spend a Sunday.
This movie is relentless and pretty intense. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
Survival. All man versus nature, in the most realistic manner Ive seen in a while. Touched the male heart and soul in you. No Hollywood endings. Beautiful. I want to go and see it again, and thats rare.
I was very disappointed in this movie after reading some of the reviews here. Maybe my expectations were too high. This movie was ok, not great. If you do go see this movie, keep your expectations low so you will not be disappointed like I was. My advice, its a rental at best, save your money!
Solid thriller, with great sustained suspense. Much more philosophical and emotional than I expected. The first great movie of 2012.
not bad but not great either.. kind of bland.. yeah it had good acting and the film was well made but it became tiresome with the wolves.. wanted more variety. i did enjoy the ending though and the music was excellent
This movie surprised me in many ways. I went in expecting another typical action packed wolves against humans thriller which would of been fine with me but i got way more than I asked for. The Grey is a movie that is definitely a character study. This film is philosophical and very emotional which definitely added a lot of depth. This film was actually extremely original and I had a great time watching it. I cared for each and every character and connected with each of them on a different level. I would definitely consider this film more of a thriller/drama. The Grey truly deserves the title of the first great movie of 2012.
This movie was depressing as hell but worked on so many levels. I think the most important and admirable thing about thus film is how true it stayed to itself and true to the art of telling its story. The ending was such a punch to the gut it brought a smile to my face. Bravo!
A masterpiece on a small scale. The Grey would have been like any other survival thriller, but due to gritty, realistic cinematography, raw emotion, and complete bad-assery it was a knock out. It was shot in a way that put me right there with the characters, it did not have the big budget glossy feel that tends to kill these types of films. The acting was spot on and Neeson did not overdo the whole bad ass persona. And without saying much more, the ending was fantastic, first time I’ve heard an audience reaction of cheering in a long time. Amazing.
**Spoiler Alert**
Great movie. I loved the scene where John cuts off the head, very realistic and genuine. My only complaint is the ending. It did have a nice little twist but was I the only one that felt a little ripped off when we didn’t get to see Liam take on the wolves with the glass knucks??
Spoiler
Ok The Grey is not for everyone and dont watch it for the sole reason of seeing Liam Neeson fighting a wolf with his broken bottle knuckles, cause guess what your not going to get to see it. The movie just ends with him running towards the wolf. Sure The Grey has a good survival story to it and all, but boy is it depressing as hell. Im sorry if I just ruined it for someone, but I had to speak my anger!!.