The first thing you have to do if you’re going to go see The Grey is get any advertising for the movie that you may have seen out of your head. Joe Carnahan has made a damn fine film here, but it’s not the one that got advertised on TV. All of the trailers sold this as a movie about Liam Neeson boxing wolves in big, stupid action scenes, and while that would be awesome in another, more ridiculous movie, no such thing ever happens here. The advertising also portrayed Neeson’s character as a loving husband, doing whatever he can to survive his ordeal, and get back to his wife. Nothing could be further from the truth. This movie is way bleaker, way more depressing than that. Actually, Neeson and his wife are no longer together, and there’s no chance whatsoever that she’s coming back to him. The character we really meet is a broken, hopeless man surrounded by people he despises and searching for a reason to live. If you go in at peace with all of that, then you and The Grey should get along just fine.
Still, if you’re coming into this movie as a fan of Neeson’s recent reinvention as a tough as nails action star, don’t think I mean that this isn’t going to be the movie for you. Neeson gets plenty of chances to be both stern and taciturn and also to kick massive amounts of ass. The action might not be as over the top as what was advertised, but what you’re left with is a grueling survival film; and one that’s pretty thrilling to watch. This isn’t even so much a man vs. nature tale as it is a monster movie with nature stepping in as the monster. Neeson and his co-workers are a crew of oil workers whose company plane goes down in the Alaskan wilderness, and in addition to the wolf pack stalking them, they’ve also got to deal with bitter cold, thigh deep snow, rocky cliffs, and raging rivers all conspiring together to make sure that no one gets out alive. The Grey’s plot is structured a lot like a slasher movie. We watch the main character’s friends get taken out one by one, leading up to a big showdown between the shadowy killer and a protagonist who has finally become hip to his tricks. Don’t expect the typical slasher movie ending though, this story isn’t about who wins and who loses, who survives and who dies; in the world of The Grey nobody wins.
Neeson is just as good playing the grizzled hero here as he has been in recent stuff like Taken, and he’s surrounded by a supporting cast of more than capable character actors, but the main thing The Grey has going for it isn’t its performances. It’s in what an intense experience watching it is, it’s in the level of brutality on display in every scene. This isn’t just a movie that shows you a tale of survival, it puts you in the center of it, punishes your senses, and leaves you nauseous. The plane crash is probably more horrifically realized than any other plane crash I’ve seen on screen. It’s enough to give you nightmares and make you have second thoughts the next time you board a plane. The aftermath of the crash, where the survivors need to be patched up and those who aren’t going to survive need to be dealt with, it’s just as harrowing as anything I’ve seen in any war film. Then, suddenly, the elements are upon you. The howling of the wind is deafening, the white out of the snow is blinding; and Carnahan’s camera work and sound design are always doing everything they can to make sure you’re just as uncomfortable as the actors.
And that’s just the initial event that sets these guys off on their journey. After the crash they still have to deal with an endless trek through the uncharted wilderness, a climb across a cliff that is panic and vertigo inducing, and a dive into an icy river that will traumatize anyone with a kayaking trip in their future. Then there are the wolves, who take the Jaws approach of attacking from the shadows the whole movie, only giving us glimpses of themselves. They’re treated as an unknown, unstoppable, almost mythical force, and to great effect. Every step of the way, The Grey takes great pains in making sure that it’s building looming mountains of suspense and squeezing every drop of tension out of the proceedings as it can. I don’t want to say that the movie will keep you at the edge of your seat, because that’s lame, but it’s not my fault that you’ll actually be at the edge of your seat.
Still, while I enjoyed the experience of following Liam Neeson into this frozen hell quite a bit, I couldn’t help but notice a handful of negative reactions happening in the theater around me. The guy sitting directly behind me kept getting more and more audibly upset every time another character would die. He was clearly begging for that triumphant moment where a plan would be hatched and the men would fight back and reign supreme over nature, and as it became more and more clear that he wasn’t watching the movie he wanted to be, frustration set in. And multiple groups of people stuck around after the credits rolled to talk about how upset they were with the ending. They paid their money to see the big battle sequence, the bare knuckle brawl between the big Irish guy and the pack of wolves they were promised, and when it never came they ended up getting let down. If they hadn’t seen those ads, hadn’t been conditioned to expect a big battle, they would have seen that this movie couldn’t have ended any other way than the way it does; and I think they might have really enjoyed the journey taken.
The Grey isn’t an action movie. It’s not a story about good vs. evil, about pushing through your limitations and coming out the other end on top. It’s much more a meditative experience focusing on the suffering inherent in the human condition. It’s a movie wrestling with themes of faith, finding your purpose, and accepting despair. It’s an exploration of how we cope with the reality of being constantly aware of our impending mortality. That might sound a little heady for the latest movie where Liam Neeson growls a lot, but don’t worry, the themes are all in the subtext and never at odds with the really cool survival movie that you get on the surface. Just don’t go in expecting the typical Hollywood experience. Everyone in this movie is doomed. And don’t think that me saying that is in any way spoiling the ending for you. This movie ends on a happier note than you would expect. The only question is whether you pay enough attention to know why. I got the distinct impression that most of the people in my theater did not, and it’s because they were too blinded by what they wanted to see from The Grey, so they didn’t pay any attention to what it was actually showing them.
