Movie Review: ‘The Grey’

I did not enjoy this movie nearly as much as I had hoped. The plot proved to be absolutely absurd.  Ottway (Liam Neeson) is a worker for an oil company in Alaska whose job is to hunt and control the wolf population.  Consequently, this makes Ottway a wolf expert. He joins a plane full of ex-convict oil workers on a journey to Anchorage, only to end up stranded in the middle of the harsh Alaskan wilderness after their plane crashes. With only seven survivors left after the crash, Ottway takes the role as alpha-male to help lead his colleagues away from wolf-infested territory.  

I have just described to you the entire 117-minute atrocity that is "The Grey." The trailer portrays an action movie with intense sequences and a great struggle for man's survival. What it really turned out to be is 117 minutes of close up shots of wolf teeth, men wandering in the snow, then more wolf teeth. The wolves tend to surround the men and make loud, obnoxious noises until one finally reveals itself from the darkness. There is an awkward stare down between the two species, and then the wolf slowly disappears back into the darkness. When the beasts do decide to actually attack, the camera angles are so close that you can hardly distinguish what is happening. Only when the attack is over do you see the result.  

 As the movie progresses, the action slows down and the men begin to have deep philosophical conversations about various things in their lives.  This part of the movie was the only part that was remotely entertaining. There are plenty of action sequences in the first half of the movie, but after you have seen one you have seen them all.  The ending is by far the most infuriating and abrupt ending I have ever seen in a movie, and quite frankly, it's just silly.  I could tell within the first half hour that I was not going to be able to take this movie seriously and this ending was just the icing on the cake. One could call it a valiant effort as a philosophical thriller, but it was very poorly executed. I suggest saving your money on this one.

2.5 out of 5 stars