The Grey
Perent guide: Age-18+
Sex- a couple references, all dialogue.
Violence- Lot's of violence, hard R.
Profanity- 160+ F-words
The gist of the story is Liam Neeson's character is a security guard for an oil company somewhere in Alaska, and his job is to keep the workers safe from wolves, so it's safe to say that he's a wolf expert. But during the flight back to Anchorage their plane crashes in the middle of nowhere; and when I say nowhere, I mean NOWHERE! So the next 90mins is about them trying to stay safe from the wolves, as well as the weather. Does this story sound familier? It might, but it's more of a mix of movies than a single one. Take I Am Legend and switch the zombies for wolves, now shoot the movie in -30 degrees, and give them a 1 in a million chance of survival. Now that's what kind of movie The Grey is. But while watching it you think "they might get out of this alive" and that's why you keep watching. As long as Liam Neeson is in a movie, there is always a chance of survival.
Let's talk about the acting first; Liam Neeson is amazing in this movie (as usual), his presence in the film is almost overpowering. He's become the modern day Clint Eastwood, the actor that no matter which director or writer he's working for, he always delivers his lines perfectly and always gives an Oscar type of performance. The Grey is no exception. Neeson is backed up by actors Frank Grillo (Warrior) and James Badge Dale (the Pacific) who, because of Neeson's presence, got over looked. Their acting, along with others, is fantastic in this movie. I couldn't have picked better actors for the parts.
The second thing is the directing; what a fantastic piece of directing Joe Carnahan (the A-Team, Smoking Aces) put together for this film. To be able to take a story like this, and turn it into an Oscar type of movie takes a tremendous amount of tallent. Think about that for a second; it's a survival movie about a group of guys that are stranded in Alaska somewhere, and it's an Oscar quality film! The cinematography is top notch; it's in the top 3 best filmed movies of the year (Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises). I don't know how much Joe Carnahan had to do with the cinematography, but he sure did a good job making sure the right people were hired for the task. The movie felt very real, and I found out later that the location of the shoot was in British Columbia and that the conditions were that of the film. I always love it when directors stay away from CGI and can still come out with a great film.
The third part is the ending, SPOILERS!!! Skip this paragraph if you don't want the ending ruined. Many people that have watched The Grey hated the ending, and I can see why. After a long time in the wilderness you expect Neeson and company to either escape, or to get killed. Those seem like the only two options right? Wrong! In my opinion the ending is a fantastic piece of directing, and I couldn't have thought of a better way to end it. After all the other members of the cast have been killed, Neeson decides that he's going down with a fight. He constructs a weapon out of broken beer bottles and a knife, and charges at the Alpha male of the wolves. But just as they are about to colide, the screen goes black and the movie is over. Did Neeson kill the wolf? Did the wolf kill Neeson? It's almost an Inception type of ending, except that there is one last scene after the credits that makes this ending so great. All you see is Neeson's head lying on the wolfs body, and the wolf is still breathing. So what does this mean, well I have come to the conclusion that Neeson did kill the wolf, because earlier in the film you see a wolf that Neeson killed still breathing it's last breath. I believe that the wolf was dying and Neeson was lying on his pray, but because of how much exhaustion Neeson would have been feeling, he died right there as well. But Neeson didn't die by the Alpha wolf, he died because of the conditions. Neeson proved that the Alpha Man is stronger and tougher than the Alpha Wolf. That's how I interpreted the ending, and I hope you take in into consideration.
Overall I will give The Grey a 9/10. I really loved this movie, and I don't think any director could have made it better.
Oscars:
Liam Neeson (Nomination, best actor) Joe Carnahan (Nomination, Best Director) Masanobu Takayanagi (Nomination, Best Cinematography) and maybe a couple minor nominations. I don't think any of these should win, but they should be nominated.Thanks for reading,
Caleb Henry (TheCrackedNation)
