The Grey [Blu-ray]

Great movie..thriller!

Movie is great. Action packed

Very good movie

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Liam Neeson's new film "The Grey". Not because of Liam Neeson; he has developed into quite an action star over the last few years, bringing an undeniable, believable intensity to silly, over-the-top genre films. I was surprised because the film was co-written and directed by Joe Carnahan, the writer and director of "Smokin' Aces" and "The A-Team", two of my least favorite films ever.Neeson has transformed himself from respected independent film actor and dramatic leading man to a viable action star, appearing in the improbably silly Luc Besson film "Taken", made more palatable and interesting by his completely serious and believable performance. It was also a hit, so he followed that with "Unknown", another film made so much better by his commanding persona. Another hit. Now, we have "The Grey", proving he can "open" an action film, making him more bankable in Hollywood power circles.Ottway (Neeson) is a guard at an oil drilling facility in the farthest reaches of the Alaskan tundra. The men who work here do dangerous work for high pay and seem to spend their off-time drinking to help them forget where they are. Ottway accompanies the men when they leave the base and uses his high power rifle to keep them safe from hunting wolves. The men seem to live for their R & R back in civilization and rowdily crowd onto the plane eager for the trip to Anchorage. Shortly after the plane takes off, it runs into turbulence and crashes. Ottway and a handful of survivors band together and attempt to get back to civilization. But they soon realize they have to deal with more than just the elements; the plane crash landed in the middle of a pack of wolves. And they're hungry.The survivors include Talget (Dermot Mulroney), Hendrick (Dallas Roberts, TV's "The Good Wife", and "3:10 to Yuma"), Diaz (Frank Grillo, "Warrior", TV's "The Gates"), Burke (Nonso Anozie, "Conan the Barbarian"), Flannery (Joe Anderson, TV's "The River"), Hernandez (Ben Bray) and Lewenden (James Badge Dale, "Shame", "The Departed"). Each of these men has different backgrounds, strengths and problems all of which will lead to complications for the group and provide challenges to one and all.Carnahan spends a significant amount of time establishing Ottway's character, allowing us to watch him in the strange environment of this oil drilling station. We watch as he does his job, scanning the horizon for wolves near the workers, protecting the humans from the wild beasts. Later we watch as he deals with the loneliness, the isolation of this outpost. We spend some time listening to his thoughts. We watch some brief snippets of dreams and remembrances back to time he spent with his wife. This helps to establish why it is so important for him to make it back to civilization, why it is so important for him to survive. These moments are very effective and help us get into Ottway's mind and become a part of his journey.But as great as these are, the other characters are not established as well. Throughout the journey, as the men make their way across the snow and ice, they share remembrances, stories and dreams, giving us a brief insight into their lives. We learn a little about them, enough I guess, given the significance of these characters, but the level of detail pales in comparison to Neeson. I can't help but wonder what someone like Michael Mann might have done. Every character in "Heat" has some back-story.As the rowdy men crowd onto the plane, anxious for some R & R, we watch the technicians trying to deice the wings and get the aircraft moving. During the flight, we get our first individual glimpses of most of the characters and start to learn about them. But because there are so many of them, it is difficult to set them apart.As soon as the plane begins to experience trouble, you know you are in for something different. It just looks and feels different, more authentic, and more intense. And the moment of the plane crash is particularly harrowing. You really feel as though you are in the plane with the men. I doubt this is a selling point for most, but it helps to make the film feel authentic. It also happens fast. In most films, plane crashes seem to happen in slow motion, allowing us to revel in every special effect and filmmaking trick the director has in his arsenal.Because of this early moment, the intensity of it, Carnahan has a lot to live up to and thankfully, there are other moments which will in all likelihood bring you to the edge of your seat.The journey is punctuated by harrowing moments when the men have to overcome an obstacle; traversing a gorge on a single rope, fighting off wolves, dealing with the elements. Naturally, as soon as someone comes up with the idea of traversing a gorge on a single rope, someone will have a fear of heights. This fear leads to problems. The real journey comes in how these disparate men overcome these obstacles. And because each of the men is different, they will react differently to these tests.Carnahan doesn't shy away from depicting the harshness of the conditions or the environment. It's a bleak place and I can't imagine I would survive for 10 minutes. It looks uncomfortable and I can't imagine the actors were in the lap of luxury during the shoot."The Grey" is a surprisingly effective action film. Neeson's intensity adds a lot to the film, but Carnahan's attention to detail also help to paint a picture of survival you really feel you are a part of until the bitter end.I'm not sure if I am helping generate any business for the film or not.

This movie is one of the best action thrillers I have ever seen. In fact, I could hardly stand the suspense in parts and I am a big-time action movie enthusiast. FIVE STARS and then some.I love wolves, especially in the frozen north. They have a primitive nobility that we have lost and yearn to regain. Theirs is an eerie beauty, an uncompromising savagery... yet they adhere to a social order that we would do well to emulate. Wolves mate for life, take good care of their young, kill only for food and wolves never lie.In this movie, their being portrayed as these larger-than-life, blood-thirsty, jaw-snapping, menacing shadows, operating on a strange tribal code understood only by Neeson, made it all the more delicious.The scenes where they appear at the edge of the darkness, one by one, surrounding the men, one set of glowing eyes emerging, then another and another, was the stuff of nightmares.Other times, it was the very sight of a grey, ghostly sillhouette, silently loping thru the trees. Or it was simply that single branch, breaking off camera, that signaled armegeddon about to rain down.I have read criticisms indicating that the wolves looked too annimatronic and fake, but I totally disagree. If they would have used shots of, say, a regular wolf from Yellowstone, for example,that wolf would have lacked the hellish monster vibe that these wolves gave you. And the way they filmed them, flickering in and out of the snow, trees, campfires, with only the occasional full-on show-down, gave them a satanic poetry that they would not have had otherwise.Liam Neeson is the only man who could have done this role, if I only had the current crop of stars to pick from. And he did an Oscar-winning job, although these kinds of movies, sadly, hardly ever make it to the red carpet. I think, that in history, the only other star I could see doing this would be Tommy Lee Jones, who would have been, I think, equally as good.Other movies promise to have you on the edge of your seat--this one actually accomplishes that !The only weird glitch and I hope that they correct this if they publish any more DVD's of this, is that the REAL ending doesn't play until after all the credits have played ( who hangs around for end-credits???? ) Initially, you are left with a cryptic, albeit profoundly stunning ending that leaves you puzzled.THEN, today, after reading some critical reviews, I realized that I had to FAST FOWARD to the END of the CREDITS to get that last 20 second shot, that tells you what actually happens. I have no idea why they did it this way, and I feel that it was an epic mis-step...after going back and seeing the REAL ending today, I am left with more of a sense of resolution on the movie.

I love this movie

Although this was not bad, I thought it was too drawn out. Also, I did NOT like the ending...

The premise is what most guys (like myself) find "awesome". A band of discordant humans lost in the Alaskan wilderness hounded by Nature itself, as personified by wolves who could care less about the goings-on of man, just so long as they keep their distance. A plane crash forces the men into the mah of Mother Nature, and in the end, disconnected from the protection of society, as individuals, we don't fare so well. It's also an allegory for teamwork. The wolves work together as a pack only once revealing some of their own tribal turmoil, while the humans, ostensibly all working for the same corporation, have constant strife and so are picked off one by one.