The Grey Review

I saw the Grey on February 7, 2012. When I saw the previews for this movie, I really had no interest to be honest. However, I try to give most movies a try and I decided to with this one. I am glad I did, because I honestly thought it was pretty decent. The driving force was Liam Neeson who I believe is a legit badass. People can talk about Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Sylvester Stallone, and people like that all they want. When I hear Neeson talk and watching him in his movies, you just get that vibe. However, he is such a nice person through different interviews I've seen as well and I actually have a ton of respect for him. I also know that he probably takes these movies where he is beating the hell out of people and in this case animals, because he is coping with the loss of his wife Natasha Richardson (the skiing incident a couple of years ago). The plot of the movie deals with an oil drilling team that is being sent on assignment. This a predominantly male cast and each has their own personality. On the way to their assignment, the plane freezes due to the low temperatures and crashes in Alaska. Most of the crew and the pilots are killed on impact. John Ottway (Neeson) and six of the crew members who actually all are very different and do not get along have to find ways to survive from this crash. Some other notable members of the crew were Talget (Dermot Mulroney-who played Dr. Simon Ward in Georgia Rule), Diaz (Frank Grillo-who played Frank Campana in Warrior), and Hendrick ( Dallas Roberts-who played Sam Phillips the recording studio manager in Walk The Line). The other two were Flannigan and Burke. The terrain of the environment they were in was constant snowfall, extreme wind, below below 10 degree weather, and wolfpacks. The nWo Wolfpack theme from WCW came to mind throughout the movie due to the presence of the wolves who were the chief villains of the movie. The Man vs. Nature motif was very well done. I really liked how the men realized that in order to survive, they would have to put their differences aside and team together. Diaz and Ottway butt heads constantly, but the tension between the two is very well done and gets some great lines out of Neeson such as telling Diaz he's going to beat the you know what out of him in exactly five seconds. The wolves were extremely huge. Perhaps tbey were direwolves. That's a shoutout to all my friends who love Game of Thrones like myself. The action is intense and the battle between man and beast gets bloody. I like that they portrayed the wolves as intelligent, because in real life they are hunters and they know how to approach the situation. Neeson knows how wolves operate because he is a sniper that is sent to kill the animals that may interfere with job performance when they are drilling for oil. Throughout the movie, the battle with faith is also prevalent. Religious people are not going to like this movie for the sole reason that they paint the men as ones that believe in luck and not in God. It's very powerful. It's one of those movies with the concept of Last Man Standing. Good acting, great dialogue, good action with the wolves and a fun ending where Ottway finds himself standing across from the Alpha Wolf. I give the movie a 3/5, but highly recommend it for how well they approach the ideas of man vs. nature, man vs. man, man vs. faith, and man vs. himself.