Grade: B
The snow-swept survival story “The Grey” is easily Joe Carnahan’s best picture. That might seem like faint praise considering the quality of his earlier work. But in fact the tale of a group of stragglers from an Alaskan plane crash who must make their way through forbidding territory in search of safety—while fighting off attacks from a pack of ferocious timber wolves—is a solid piece of work, thanks primarily to Liam Neeson’s strong central performance and some stunningly, and stunningly photographed, locations (courtesy of cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi).
The plane in question is one carrying a crew of oil workers from wells in the frigid Alaskan tundra back to the lower forty-eight. It freezes up and—in a well-staged sequence—explodes on impact, leaving only seven men alive. The natural leader of the group is John Ottway (Neeson), who’s served as the company’s predator-killing marksman. His knowledge of survival techniques is made all the more invaluable when the group is threatened by wolves whose hunting grounds they’ve invaded.
This is rather familiar macho territory for Carnahan, who adapted the script from Ian Mackenzie Jeffers story “Ghost Walker” with Jeffers. And he stages the action sequences very well. The plane crash scene is harrowing, and though the wolf attacks are sometimes rather murky—presumably made more difficult by the need to shuffle real, animatronic and CGI-created versions of the animals), they’re mostly quite effective (the exception being the beasts’ first appearance, in which their eyes glowing in the dark look vaguely comical). Best of all is an episode in which the four remaining men (three having perished gruesomely along the way) must try to cross a steep gorge on an impromptu rope they’ve managed to string across it.
Unfortunately, the film can’t be all action, and the dialogue scenes, in which the men argue, or engage in frat-boy banter, or—worst of all—reflect on their pasts or hopes for the future, aren’t of equal quality. Neeson, whose character broods over his wife and father (sometimes in flashback) to near-suicidal extremes, overcomes the cliches—which in his case extend to gauzy flashbacks and meditations on the martial poem his dad kept over his desk with a performance of real depth. He’s starred in some junk recently, but he here reminds us of how rich and powerful a performance he’s capable of.
The other members of the small ensemble aren’t quite so fortunate. The one who comes off best in Delmot Mulroney, who, even though camouflaged beneath a beard and glasses, builds a real character. By contrast, Frank Grillo, as the group’s most vocal critic of Ottway—until he comes to terms with the situation and opts for a quiet exit—comes on too strong, while Dallas Roberts seems too feeble and retiring, even though he’s the milquetoast of the bunch. The others are all adequate but not outstanding.
As a technical exercise “The Grey” is impressive. It must have been a trial not only for the actors but for the crew to shoot in such a forbidding locale, but the film looks great, with some breathtaking widescreen images, and while the editing by Roger Barton and Jason Hellman is rather lax in some of the dialogue sequences, it manages to sustain the somber tone reasonably well. And Marc Streitenfeld’s score complements the action skillfully (though the sound, by Michael Williamson, with editing by Mark Gingras and David G. Evans and re-recording mix by Keith Elliot and Mark Zeifkovits, also deserves mention).
“The Grey” is a grim tale, brooding and slowly paced, with an ending that may disappoint those looking for a cut-and-dried finish (though they may be more satisfied if they take the time to stay through the final credits). Despite some cliches, it’s a mostly gripping survival story, expertly shot and anchored by Neeson’s powerful performance.