The Grey Movie Review (2011)
Do your best not to crash over Alaska when you’re flying or you may find yourself in the grey and dangerous territory. If only Belle’s Beast had shown up to help them fight off the wolves…
I am a fan of survival films. I enjoy the intricate building of a life in ways that most of us feel would be unfathomable. But when you find yourself in dire circumstances, you have to learn to build a hut out of branches and go from there. (I’d probably die quickly, so I appreciate those that wouldn’t.)
The Grey is a film about a huntsman whose plane crashes in Alaska, where he and other survivors (all from the same workstation) are suddenly stranded. They fight the cold, collect the belongings of survivors, and figure out how to make it through each day. When they realize that they are in the middle of wolf territory, things get a little stickier.
This film felt very cliché. Something bad happens, thank goodness the master of this random domain is here (Liam Neeson’s character, Ottway, is a trained wolf hunter), and not everyone survives, but let’s keep moving. There is even the one guy who doesn’t like being told what to do, so he acts like a douche with no other plan whatsoever.
The plane crash is very well filmed. You watch as the pieces of the plane blow apart and Ottway makes moves to keep himself as safe as possible in the remnants of the fuselage. Not everyone makes it, and when Ottway wakes up, he runs to help the other survivors (very reminiscent of the first episode of LOST).
But they are in Alaska, so everything is frozen. Which is something that I took issue with because, later in the film, clothing is wet, outer layers get removed, and there seems to be no awareness of the cold other than the snow in their beards and brows. It’s a little odd.
I believe that this was meant to be a thriller, but I found it light on the thrill and kind of silly. I know that I was amused at parts that were meant to be serious. I laughed when the cacophony of wolf barking grew and suddenly stopped entirely when a fire was lit. I could be wrong, but I’m not sure it works like that.
There is also a mention of how wolves are the only animals that seek revenge, which added a new layer in that I half expected Jacob from Twilight to show up. That made the movie even more entertaining for me, actually.
What started as a solid film with what could have been an interesting narrative dissolved into something much more boring and kind of funny. I am giving this a tiny lift in rating because there is one scene and realization towards the end that gave me the smallest bit of emotion, and the 3 second post-credits scene was interesting. Other than that, though, I’d pass.
Runtime: 117 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: R
Languages Spoken In The Film: English
Should You Watch It? No, skip it
Did I Cry? Nope
My Rating: 2/5 Stars
Available: Free on Tubi, to rent on Prime Video, or may be available for free on other streaming platforms
