The Grey

Quick, spoiler-free review

The Grey is both an emotionally moving and horrifying thriller depicting the fight for survival isolated somewhere in Alaska. While flawed, the movie is still quite good and probably worth your time. I'd recommend it. But please, note, it's the sort of movie that must be watched in one sitting from beginning to end. Don't try to space it out, because it'll ruin it.

Now that we have that out of the way...

The film starts by introducing our protagonist, Liam Neeson playing the, rough-around-the-edges, Ottway, who works at a petroleum plant in Alaska, killing wolves so that they can't get into the plant and kill people.

The workers all get on a plane to go home and it crashes. The crash is an awesome scene and is probably the best I've seen in a movie. It's shot frantically and it really captures the hell of such a situation. Once the plane lands, the movie begins. The few survivors suddenly realize that they're being hunted by wolves when Ottway is attacked that night. People speculate the realism of the wolves in this movie... I'm not an expert but I'm not a fan of mercilessly nitpicking movies to death, so I'll just keep my mouth shut.

Besides, the movie is about the characters and the trials they have to overcome. It's a poignant film. It's not a movie with a high body count, but every time it's painful to watch and it's tragic. The movie forces the audience to feel for the characters. It's effective at making you feel like you're in that position and that the deaths are real people rather than just characters on a screen.

Of course it goes without saying that Liam Neeson does a phenomenal job. There are some very emotional moments which he delivers amazingly. The rest of the cast is decent but it would be better if the characters were fleshed out more rather than just being supporting roles.

One thing that's rather unfortunate is the CG. It's not that I'm going to say this movie overdid it, it really didn't. But the CG that was in it looked pretty bad. In one scene the characters are looking over on a cliffside and it looks horrible. It's too bad, it really brought down the scene.

Sort of spoiler time

I think that many people are divided over the way the movie ends. I personally like it. It's intensely dramatic. The score perfectly coincides with the moment and when Ottway quoted the poem Into the Fray, I got chills.

End sort of spoiler time

All in all, The Grey is an gritty and intense thriller that boasts some very riveting scenes. Give it a watch some time.

8/10 Recommended.