Review of The Grey (2012) by Quincytheodore — 02 Mar 2012

Slightly different than his usual role of delivering much pain to random dudes, Liam Neeson's portrayal of Bear Grllys on Winter Man vs Wild is awkwardly commendable. Creating improvised armaments and battling harsh terrain without resorting to consume his own bodily fluid prove to be quite a challenge even for the seasoned veteran. Yes, this is a joke, I just need something to keep you interested. The Grey is actually a story about plane crash survivor trying to escape cruel whip of mother nature.

Graphic-wise it looks exceptional, much that is thank to clarity of the shots. When you think of a movie in the cold wilderness, it's not hard to imagine falling snow or tall trees obscuring the view, but The Grey has a sense of focus to it. Its vistas, despite almost all set in Alaska, still differentiate themselves after each scene, making a clear progress as the characters trudge through the bitterness. The shots are clean and neat without much exaggeration, unlike the directors' previous work, A-Team.

Liam Neeson (Ottway) provides a deep role as a resilient man, albeit slightly plagued with self-pity. With the cast of all men, this might be off putting for some of you. Yes, there are no "Hug for body warm" scenes with girls, tough break, moving on. Most of the movie, Ottway will be narrating in cynically depressed fashion. After all, the plane is full of gruff men and manual laborers with dubious backgrounds. With his occupation as sniper-for-hire, he has the necessary knowledge to survive in Alaska and is unwillingly unspokenly appointed to be the leader.

Some of the scenes are adequately brutal and disturbing, but without being overly ridiculous. The director cleverly used abrupt transitions to surprise the audience, it works well in most parts. Surprisingly it focuses on more psychological damage rather than gory and bloody kills. The characters benefit from more fleshed-out personalities, each responds uniquely to their forced participation of survival. On few occasions, it even goes to more philosophical banters between the survivors. Some long for their loved ones, some just accept it apathetically.

However it also riddled with literal "Oh god, why?" moments which made me believe this also serves a hidden propaganda, just a warning for religious people (at least those who are more than me). It's a good survival movie with more depth than most. The actors give solid performance, sequences are suspenseful and it does more than killing them in the most absurd way. Its heavy philosophical approach, while cleverly done, might be boring for some though.