Movie Review – The Grey (2012)
Every once in a while we’re treated to a gripping and suspenseful story of survival against Mother Nature.
We’re not talking about chasing tornadoes in Oklahoma, battling against sudden climate change and extreme cooling in New York City, or even being isolated on a tropical island in the South Pacific with only an athletic ball to keep company. What we’re talking about is enduring a plane crash and then facing the brutal elements in an Alaskan tundra. Throw in a blizzard, unforgiving terrain, and just for the fun of it, very hungry wolves.
Released to the theaters this past January, The Grey is not only a thrilling but also chilling tale of survival set in the vast wilderness of Alaska.
The start of The Grey introduces us to John Ottway (played by Liam Neeson), a wolf hunter who works for an oil company in northern Alaska. His job is to protect the workers from menacing wolves throughout the area.
Before I go any further, take note that this is a fictitious movie. Yes, a pack of wolves can be dangerous to a human being, but wolves generally will not attack a person unless the wolves are startled or threatened by the person. The way that the wolves behave in The Grey is mainly for entertainment purposes only, and not how they normally behave towards humans in the wild.
The Grey (2012) – (c) Open Road Films
After shooting a wolf, we then see Ottway and other oil workers boarding a regional airliner for a flight back to Anchorage, Alaska. The men work long hours and spend two weeks in the field. The workers are discussing their plans while boarding and settling into the aircraft. We also see the airport’s ground crew de-icing and preparing the aircraft for a flight into the dangerous winter weather.
The Grey (2012) – (c) Open Road Films
A while into the flight we see the aircraft experience some turbulence. At first the passengers are joking about the bumpy ride, but quickly that changes into a complete nightmare. In a sequence that’ll probably convince some people to stay out of the skies, we see Ottway prepare himself for the plane’s anticipated crash landing. People are panicking, the stewardess is thrown against the ceiling during an intense jolt, and chaos is abound as the passengers do whatever little they can to prepare for the worst.
The screen goes blank.
The Grey (2012) – (c) Open Road Films
The Grey resumes with John Ottway opening his eyes, trying to figure out why he freezing cold and out in the brutal elements. He stumbles over a small hill and see the wreckage of the airliner. Somehow Ottway was ejected upon impact and thrown clear of the wreckage, injury-free and everything.
Upon arriving at the site of the wreckage, Ottway meets up with a few other survivors. Out of the flight crew and passengers, only about eight of them are still alive. One of the crash survivors is mortally wounded. In another gripping scene, Ottway tells the man he’s going to die and then calms him. We watch as the man slowly drifts away and accepts his death.
The Grey (2012) – (c) Open Road Films
Ottway has the survivors use the wreckage to make a campfire for the night. He explains that no matter what, the freezing weather will kill them all unless they build some shelter immediately. Ottway then spots another survivor off in the distance, but after running over there, he sees that the body is being eaten by a few wolves. The wolves attack Ottway, but two men run over and help fight off the wolves.
The Grey (2012) – (c) Open Road Films
That night the men are sitting around the fire when they hear a strange sound in the distance. Ottway takes a torch and the men investigate. They quickly come face-to-face with not only the Alpha male wolf, but the entire wolf pack. The wolves slowly retreat, but that night one of the survivors is brutally attacked and killed by the wolves.
The Grey (2012) – (c) Open Road Films
The next morning Ottway leads the remaining men off to the trees. He figures that they’re well within the territory of the wolf pack, and without any real weapons, they’re best chance for survival is to flee the area. One of the survivors falls back and is killed by a few wolves. The rest of the men run to the trees and defend themselves.
The Grey (2012) – (c) Open Road Films
Once again, the wolves return to the survivors the next night. After being challenged by the Alpha male, an Omega (wolf outcast) is sent to fight the men and test their defense. That wolf is killed and then roasted and eaten by the survivors. One of the survivors decapitates the wolf’s head and throws it back to the wolf pack, taunting them.
The Grey (2012) – (c) Open Road Films
What follows after that is a series of gruelling challenges and horrific wolf attacks. The ending is up to you to decide. There’s a short clip at the end of the credits that still leaves the ending to be questioned.
So is The Grey a good film?
Yes, I’d say that The Grey is a good movie. It’s thrilling, suspenseful, and the men behave realistically in many of the situations. The wolves are just plain awesome, and you get to see them frequently throughout the movie.
My biggest issue with The Grey is that it gets downright sad at several times. A few of the death scenes were too dramatic and realistic for my taste.
Other issues include the ravine crossing sequence and the fact that the wolves also crossed the ravine. I know that wolves can cover a large area of territory, but somehow this one pack was capable of crossing (or taking a lengthy detour around) a fairly tall vertical rock wall.
Liam Neeson does a fantastic job as John Ottway, a wolf hunter and outdoorsman. Perhaps it’s a little too convenient that he knows so much about nature and survival, but without him the rest of the survivors would have probably died the first night and ruined the movie. It would have been awesome if he used the same attitude and strong language when playing the role of Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).
The Grey (2012) – movie trailer
As a whole, The Grey is a good survival and adventure movie. Be cautioned though that this movie is definitely not for the kiddies when you factor in the scary wolves, harsh language and brutal violence.
For a GREAT survival movie in a similar setting, check out The Edge (1997) with Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins.
John Ottway – [after they kill the Omega wolf] “We’re going to get a large branch and sharpen the end of it, and we’re going to shove it up this thing’s ass. Then we’re going to eat it.”