The movie stars Liam Neeson as Ottway, a lonely man fighting depression who works with a group of roughnecks and ex-cons at an oil-drilling facility in Alaska. Ottway's job is as a sharpshooter killing wolves who have come on the property and threaten the workers. At the end of a work stint, all of the men are heading home for a long vacation. During the flight, the plane becomes damaged due to the harsh weather conditions and crash lands in the remote Alaskan wilderness. Only about 8 men survive the crash and Ottway is the only who seems to have any survival training so he immediately proves his worth to the team with the only real resistance of ideas coming from Diaz (Frank Grillo), who learns quickly that his ways are not best. It's one thing to face the harsh, cold weather of Alaska and try to survive, but the guys are about to learn that things are even worse than they initially appear when a group of wolves show up at their camp and threaten them, eventually killing one of the crew members. Ottway knows the wolves well and he fears that they have crashed near the wolves den so he advises the men they should head to a patch of woods nearby where it should be easier to defend themselves. The survivors make it to the woods following more attacks, but their nightmare is only beginning and it will require the men to band together to face the extraordinary circumstances they are confronted with. Along the way, each mans will and faith will be put to the ultimate test.
I think The Grey is a really fantastic film. The movie is billed as an "action-packed adventure", and to a certain extent that is correct. There are some great action sequences here, the plane crash is one of the most frightening I have ever seen on film. It seemed very real for some reason; there's no way this movie will ever be shown as the movie on your next long-distance flight, just saying. Other than the action though, this film has a few surprises up it's sleeve. There are times when it's a borderline horror movie. The wolf attacks often come out of nowhere and there was more than one occasion when the audience jumped at the shock. But outside of the action and the thrills, I was mostly surprised by the dramatic elements of the movie. Some of the best scenes in the movie occur as the guys are sitting around a campfire discussing faith and survival. It becomes very talky at points and that will scare some people off as talky often translates to boring. But that is not the case, at least it wasn't for me. I was happy to see this movie touching on elements like this because I think if we put ourselves in this situation, we would find times where we would question our faith and life. It's the Why Me? syndrome that is just natural for most humans. That is dealt with at length and not just simply glossed over. By the end of the movie, we feel like we are there with the guys and struggling through this with them. We connect to the characters. For that, the kudos go to director and screenwriter Joe Carnahan and co-screenwriter Ian Mackenzie Jeffers, who refuse to follow a specific formula for these types of movies and instead create something that is much more thought-provoking. I would also be at fault here if I didn't mention the cinematography of Masanobu Takayanagi. This is a beautiful film to look at, when it's not scaring you. Some of the shots that are captured are breathtaking with British Columbia, Canada standing in for Alaska.
I would be remiss if I did not talk about Liam Neeson, the glue that holds this film together and really makes it work. I've always been a fan of Neeson's. His role as Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List is a performance that will stay with me forever, and I loved him as Qui-Gon Jinn in the Star Wars saga. Lately he has become a bit of an action star as evidenced by this movie and the terrific thriller Taken, but he pulls it off because he brings an instant credibility to every performance. I was reading on IMDB that Bradley Cooper was originally slated to play this role and I found that interesting because after the movie was over I was thinking about who else could have pulled off this role and I can't really think of anyone honestly. Someone like Cooper, or his like, could have done a decent job with the action in the scene but I don't think they could have pulled off the dramatic elements near as well. And it's those scenes that make this movie rise above the rest. This movie was released in the first month of the year, so come Oscar time next year I'm sure it will be forgotten, but that's unfortunate because Neeson should get serious consideration for Best Actor. He does that well. The rest of the cast including the previously mentioned Grillo, as well as an almost unrecognizable Dermot Mulroney (I had no idea it was him until I saw his name in the closing credits), all do admirable jobs here. We get to know each guy pretty well and while Neeson is clearly the highlight, the other actors deserve a job well-done salute. It's odd that this is just the second movie I have seen this year that was officially released in 2012, I have a feeling it will remain the best film I see this year for a good while.
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