Film Review: The Grey

The Grey. Rated MA 15+ (strong violence, survival themes and coarse language). 117 minutes. Directed by Joe Carnahan. Screenplay by Joe Carnahan and Ian Mackenzie Jeffers.

Verdict: A gripping, psychological thriller about the fear of death. Not recommended for anyone about to fly somewhere on a plane.

Hostile, remote, snow-bound environments have contributed to a number of memorable films about fear. Alive (1993) is the cinematic adaptation of Piers Paul Read’s best-seller about the survivors of a plane crash in the Andes who reluctantly resort to cannibalism in order to survive their ordeal. John Carpenter’s terrific The Thing (1982) pits scientists working in an Antarctic research station against an alien lifeform to thrilling effect.

In The Grey (based on a short story by Mr Mackenzie Jeffers), a group of Alaskan-based oil drilling workers are returning home to Anchorage from their isolated base when their plane crashes in a blizzard. Lead by John Ottway (Liam Neeson), the small number of survivors must conquer not only the perilous conditions, but a ferociously territorial wolf pack into whose hunting territory the plane has crashed.

In what is a gripping tale of conquering fear and surviving against all the odds, Mr Carnahan (The A-Team) and cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi (Warrior) escort us, quite brilliantly, into a world where nature undeniably rules. From the first frame, John Willett’s (Final Destination) production design creates a grand sense of a dangerously unpredictable environment, while Roger Barton (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Speed Racer, Pearl Harbor) and Jason Hellmann’s (G-Force) editing ensures the film’s unrelievedly-tense pace never falters.

Mr Neeson (Schindler’s List, Unknown, Kinsey) is superb as the tortured Ottway. Employed as a sniper whose responsibility is to protect the field workers from wild animal attacks, his high-powered rifle is destroyed in the plane crash and Ottway must use increasingly unorthodox methods to keep himself and his ragtag bunch of workmates alive. The ensemble (which includes Dallas Roberts, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney and Nonso Anozie) provide Mr Neeson with outstanding support as each man faces not only his own demons, but also the marauding wolf pack determinedly hunting down and killing the human intruders.

If the short, post-credits shot adds nothing to the story, it does – finally – provide us with an opportunity to draw breath and consider the finality of the desperate battles we all fight with our fear of the unknown.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.