Review of The Grey (2012) by Pranav S — 09 Feb 2013

Neither the "Grace Under Pressure" attitude of Ernest Hemingway's novels nor the "Man is, when in nature, a glorious beast" sentiment of Jack London's have ever truly made it through in their cinematic adaptations.

Finally, though, the perfect fusion of Hemingway and London occurred on the silver screen, and astoundingly it came from the guy who made The A-Team. The film is, admittedly, utterly masculine. But for once, that isn't an insult.

It's a pre-Stallone masculine. It's masculine from a time when masculine and intelligent weren't antonyms. It's not enough to say they don't make movies like this anymore, they don't even make stories like this anymore, and believe me, I've been searching for years.

Liam Neeson leads a group of Alaskan oil mean stranded in the frozen wood, being hunted by wolves with nothing but bits of the plane and their wits to survive. Neeson haunts the screen bringing an honesty to the role of a man tortured by the death of his wife as only a man in his position can, and upon first viewing the film could simply be seen as a tale of survival, not just against the elements but against sorrow.

But much like the best works of Papa, there's much more to it than that. Every movie can be boiled down to one of five conflicts: Man against Man, Man Against Nature, Man Against Machine, Man Against God, or Man Against Himself.

Rarely does a film tackle all five, and never has one done so with such passion and grace as The Grey. Brilliant from start to finish.