The Grey

The Grey

Rating 4.5 out of 10

This was a movie I was greatly anticipating seeing.  When I watched the trailer I was ready to sit in my theater seat with a bag of popcorn and watch some men trapped in the Alaska wilderness led by bad ass Liam Neeson go Mano vs Wolfo to see who survives.  The problem is that battle never fully develops.
The movie can't decide if it wants to be an all out action film or a sleepy art house movie.  The guys spend more time debating the meaning of life and if there really is a God than they do fighting wolves or anything else.

A group of wild oil-rig workers are on a smaller commuter plane in Alaska going to the city for leave when it crashes in the middle of nowhere.  If you have read my reviews you know I'm a stickler when it comes to really bad decisions.  Liam Neeson plays depressed worker Ottaway.  His job is to stand guard on the Alaska rigs and shoot the wolves when they come flying in to eat the workers.  When the plane crashes and only a few survive this makes him the wolf expert.  When the wolves start attacking them right away he gets the idea they should leave the plane and start walking South in blizzard conditions through wolf central since he didn't think they would come looking for them in that downed jet.  Wolves all around yet they never make any weapons to fight them off or even grab a stick to hit them with.

Ottaway is very depressed about losing what may or may not be his wife.  They don't really say who she is or what happened until the end of the movie.  We do know he misses her greatly due to the flashbacks every ten minutes showing her.

My suggestion would be to rent this if you must.  While the wolf input is not nearly what you are led to believe there are still some very tense moments.  When there is action it's generally pretty good even if it's filmed in my opinion with too much shaky cam.  Then there is that art house ending that had people in my theater booing and throwing popcorn at the screen.

There is generally a reason why movies are released in January.  Most often the studios realize the movie is not worthy of a Christmas or Summer release and hope to drop it in here when people might go see it.  The Grey describes that category just right.