The Grey Review
By Karen Dahlstrom
Alpha Dog
In the doldrums before awards season, January is generally designated as the dumping ground for lackluster, low-budget or less-than-promising studio efforts. Even with a marquee name like Liam Neeson as its star, releasing "The Grey" in the midst of this cinematic wasteland doesn't bode well. However, this tale of man vs. beast is surprisingly gripping and tense, thanks to some clever direction from Joe Carnahan and a compelling performance from Mr. Neeson.
Neeson plays Ottway, one of a crew of oil drillers in the Alaskan wilderness -what he describes as the dregs of humanity stuck at the end of the world. Like the other men in the camp, he's a lost man, haunted by his past and unable to look to the future. Ottway's job is that of camp sniper - defending the crew from marauding wolves. While he's good at his job, it's not one he relishes. He has a sense of reverence for the beasts, even when he takes one down in the line of duty.
Ottway is, naturally, a loner, so when he takes a flight to Anchorage on the company plane, he's not excited to be sharing the small space with this boisterous compatriots. But the rowdy crewmen are quickly cowed as the weather tosses the small plane around, sickeningly shuddering before culminating in an horrific, ear-splitting crash.
When Ottway comes to, he finds the plane - and several members of the crew - in pieces. He and a few others have miraculously survived, only to find they've been stranded on a vast, snowy plain in sub-freezing temperatures. Not only that, but they've landed in the middle of grey wolf territory, with no weapons (save fire) to fend them off. The group has no choice but to band together to survive. Ottway, knowing what he does about wolves, becomes the de facto leader, much to the chagrin of Diaz (Frank Grillo), a loudmouth ex-con who doesn't like taking orders. Others, like Hendrick (Dallas Roberts) and Talget (Dermot Mulroney), don't care who leads, just as long as they can survive.
As the crew tries to work together to get to safety, they find that the wolves don't pose the only threat to their survival. Petty arguments, resentments and strife rear their ugly heads in the group. Faced with the possibility of death, some fare better than others. Things get more tense as the wolves and the wilderness conspire to systematically pick off the team one by one in increasingly unpleasant ways.
The interactions between the crew give "The Grey" a philosophical bent, as we see how each man deals with his own mortality. However, the characters are somewhat one-dimensional, giving us an exercise in pop psychology rather than deep existentialism. Neeson's character is given more to chew on, and he takes the challenge and runs with it. World-weary and questioning his own need for survival, he plods on, waiting for a sign to either lay down or turn and fight. It's a surprisingly nuanced, heartbreaking performance from Neeson, and one that seems rather too powerful for the material.
Director Carnahan tries his best to keep up with Neeson, sustaining the film's tension with a clever use of sound effects and handheld camera work, keeping the wolves just outside the audience's periphery. The camera is kept close on faces, and wide shots are few, adding to the mystery of what lies beyond the group. In the dark around the campfire, the team can hear the panting of the wolves as they surround them, while the moon illuminates puffs of vapor from their breath. As in "Jaws", the unseen threat is more terrifying than the actual creature. And like that film's mechanical shark, the CGI and animatronic wolves of "The Grey" are poor substitutes for the monsters of our imagination. As movies like "Paranormal Activity" have proven, you don't need a big budget to keep audiences on edge.
As a whole, "The Grey" isn't a cinematic masterpiece, but it's beyond what we usually can expect this time of year. Not content to be merely a man vs. nature survival flick, it's a dark and moody reflection on man's will. Though it stumbles and falls occasionally, the power of Neeson's performance keeps "The Grey" going to the last gripping frame.
