Directed by:
Joe CarnahanCinematography:
Masanobu TakayanagiComposer:
Marc StreitenfeldCast:
Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, James Badge Dale, Joe Anderson, Dallas Roberts, Frank Grillo, Nonso Anozie, Anne Openshaw, Jacob Blair, Ben Hernandez Bray (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
Following a grueling five-week shift at an Alaskan oil refinery, workers led by sharpshooter John Ottway (Liam Neeson) are flying home for a much-needed vacation. A brutal storm causes their plane to crash in the frozen wilderness, and only eight men (Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney), including Ottway, survive. As they trek southward toward civilization and safety, Ottway and his companions must battle mortal injuries, the icy elements, and a pack of hungry wolves. (Icon Home Entertainment)
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Reviews (9)
"They pay me to kill these animals so they don't kill you. Trust me, they're carnivores and they don't give a shit about berries and shrubs!" A great film that I'm in no way afraid to compare to the best in this genre. That is, with The Ghost and the Darkness or The Edge. It hasn't been this cold (without blaming the excessive air conditioning) and frightening in a movie theatre for a long time, and I'm thrilled. I certainly didn't expect that The Grey would be such a thoughtful film, that it would move me to emotion a few times in the end, or that it would be so full of thrilling action... And I couldn't even guess how great a compromise between these two positions the writers and director manage to create. Liam Neeson is flawless, the band of surviving miners are a very well written mix of characters (each of whom I cared about), scenes like the plane crash, waking up from dreams, night and day wolf attacks, individual deaths and the stunning finale (including the potluck scene) impressed me as much as the hero's non-awkward inner monologues, flashbacks and ubiquitous, here and there very funny bon mots laced with reflections on life, death and everything else. The only thing I could fault the film for, if I wanted to, would probably be the cliff scene. However, I don't want to.
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Demonized CGI wolves in a movie that can’t decide if it wants to be a snowy, melancholic existential affair about coming to terms with loss or an uncompromising movie about survival with rather over-the-top scenes saying something like “Liam Neeson is the new MacGyver/Bear Grylls/Chuck Norris". Both approaches work well alone, but they clash with each other too much in this picture. And that’s a shame.
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Such a relaxed boyish outdoor film - they flew in, camped, they opened a bottle of Jack, talked about God, whores, children, and sometimes someone was eaten by a wolf. In my opinion, Carnahan's attempt at a harsh survival drama has nothing to do with horror, and rather it is much more of the director's attempt at a serious existential theme that is overwhelmed by the strange artificial taste of digital "evil" and digital epic. The decor suits the film very well, Liam Neeson suits it, Streitenfeld's lyrical music also suits it (I would rather expect such music in a Nordic film)... but it hurts the film a lot that Carnahan has a tendency to tighten the cruelty and ruthlessness of nature ad absurdum: I can imagine that as a raw drama without a single digital touch, this could be a brilliant theme for Peter Weir. Carnahan's attempt to go for meat and blood is lost - not because it is less effective, but rather because it exaggerates the effects unnecessarily. I don't deny him partial things. The introduction and conclusion are as strong as a bear's neck. But the effort to keep dialogues above the level of pathos and empty proclamations are not as successful. The Grey is a film that tries to get moving with the handbrake on. At the same time, it's a pretty ironic image that our wildlife imagery is bounded by Hollywood movies, the Discovery Chanel and CGI effects. But Carnahan wanted to show us exactly what is missing in these images (the spiritual transcendence of existence betrayed at the mercy of the wilderness). And it didn't work out for him. When one of the characters shouts, "You are not animals, we are animals," he is wrong. There are no animals in this movie. It therefore lacks even a hint of fascination with anything other than campfire metaphysics.
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When a film from this environment and with this theme holds together thanks only to the charisma of the lead actor,
something is wrong. We cannot admire Alaska here because it is always either dark or snowed out (less cost for the
filmmakers due to studio shooting this way). Nor can we enjoy Joe Carnahan’s camerawork. This did not necessarily have to
be a reproach if the film worked as the riveting, dark survival drama that it was supposed to be, but which it is not
because of its screenplay. The characters are uninteresting (if the plane crash was survived only by Liam Neeson, the movie
would’ve only benefited from it), the dialogue scenes are no good, and there are zero innovative ideas that would
contribute to the subgenre. You will not be bored, because sometimes horrifying (digital) wolves appear, but I give it a
weak three stars only thanks to Neeson.
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I went to see the new Carnahan film in anticipation of an action survival thriller where wolves will spectacularly feast on poor miners, with Liam Neeson as their unwilling waiter. To my genuine surprise, I got a functional horror film in all respects, in which the long-drawn-out howls send chills down my spine and the wolves are fed without any napkins or decent dining rules. In the second half, when one side starts losing strength and appetite grows on the other, it's no wonder that every step begins to physically ache. This is thanks not only to Carnahan's artistry but also to Streitenfeld's music, which definitely drives the concentrated depression out of it. And the end! The most interesting and most unpleasant surprise was about a year and a half ago.
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