Over the last few years Liam Neeson has been throwing himself at more physical / action roles and many have been a bit sceptical about him kickin’ ass. Well, let Mr.Neeson smash those scepticisms into pieces, with a few broken bottles.
Set in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow and wolves an oil drilling team board a plane to head home after a long stint of…er..oil drilling and stuff. Protected by Ottway (Neeson), who is employed to shoot anything with paws and teeth, the crew board the plane, settle down and have some peanuts. The flight doesn’t go as planned and crashes into the big, white nowhere. A select few of the crew are still alive and headed up by Ottway, they attempt to survive not only the Hoth style weather but a bunch of seriously bad ass wolves. And we are talking wolves that are so epically bad ass, that they would leave Chuck Norris in a pool of his own blood, without breaking a sweat.
Neeson is fantastic here. He has an incredible amount of “bad ass, seen it all before and bought the t-shirt”vibe about him. He projects a really hardened, don’t fuck with me attitude which just hits you instantly. Beneath the hard-core shell, there’s also a more delicate side as he is constantly getting visions of his wife who keeps telling him not to be afraid. His bunch of frozen co-horts (Dallas Roberts, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Nonso Anozie, Joe Anderson, Ben Bray) are all equally solid as they all have quite different characters and are thoroughly convincing. That said, they really play second fiddle when Neeson is on screen, as his presence is phenomenal.
The movie itself looks superb. The frozen, snowy middle of nowhere land, never leaves you doubting for a minute that this bunch of oil drillers are really in the middle of nowhere and are in serious trouble. The wolves themselves are just epic. They have quite the imposing and intimidating effect on the audience. And besides the flesh ripping that they do on a regular basis, the psychological to and fro that happens between the pack and the crew, will have you on the edge of your seat. At times, The Grey is an incredibly intense experience, in particular with the night scenes, which make fantastic use of the sound mix. Many of the set pieces from campfires to jumping onto trees will have you gripping on tight.
The Grey is a rock solid, gripping action thriller…..until it’s grand finale. The ending to The Grey, and I’m not going to drop even the hint of a spoiler here will tear audiences apart. From the start of the movie, you think it may go one way. Half way through, you might think it’ll go another way, because this thing just keeps building and building, which to his credit, Joe Carnahan has done a fantastic job of bringing this epic crescendo to the screen. It really sucks you in, but in turn, it tries to be a little too clever and the ending just didn’t work for me entirely.
Either way, you’ll have to make up your own mind on the ending. Overall though, The Grey is thoroughly enjoyable with a top notch, intense performance from Neeson. The bad ass wolves are worth the price of admission alone. Go see it!
