THE GREY - Man vs Beast in snow covered battleground.

Once again we ignored the latest release of the weekend and stumped for a film released the week before. This week we decided to see The Grey, starring Liam Neeson and Frank Grillo. I was quite impressed with this film. Maybe it was because so far this year I have seen some rubbish, so  anything was going to seem good this week but The Grey I think would have been a good movie anyway. It is a lot darker than first expected and has some really good character development that I didn't think it would have.





I may have thought this but my girlfriend on the other hand did not. She found it a little too predictable. I will give her that and say yes it is a little. Yes you do know which character is going to die next considering the director has focused the camera on him for the past minute, but I think there is more to it than that. It doesn't matter if it is predictable because I think there is more to it than that. It is Man Vs Beast, Nature Vs Nuture. I'm sure you are all aware that it is about a group of oil driller surviving a plane crash somewhere over Alaska, and find themselves in the snowy wilderness. As they venture to civilization they are picked off by a pack of wolves defending their territory. What is good about it is that they use the metaphor of the wolves as the group of the survivors and as Mr Neeson explains how the wolves attack we see the similarities within the group. Essentially they are a pack of wolves.


Of course the film does have issues and it won't be the best film of the year. For starters we get the typical cliched characters of each one having a specific role within the group. Neeson the alpha male and the courageous one. Frank Grillo the brash 'I will fight anyone' rough neck and Dermot Mulroney the smart one with all the common sense. Despite this though we do have back ground for each character and we learn a lot about them as they traipse through the wild. You don't always see that.


Back to the issues though, there is too much walking through the wilderness and talking. So much at times that it borders on a little boring, but then out of nowhere we get an action scene which does bring us back into the film. There are also a few plot holes of why and how they survived the crash, especially since Neeson straps himself in the tightest and ends up furthest away from the plane. I didn't really get that one. Then later on one of the characters just seems to completely change and his morals are different within a five minute walk, it was so out of character.


Despite some of its faults I did still really enjoy it. It is deep at times but you do watch it as a survivor story and as that it does work. The acting is good especially from Frank Grillo. Neeson is always good but is slowly becoming his Taken character in each movie. The dialogue is written well and it is a film you will have a lot of fun watching. Oh and don't worry you won't be the only one disappointed with the ending.



Pros: The acting and dialogue is very good and the backdrop of the snowy background works very well in giving you a chill.

Cons: A little predictable and a disappointing ending.

7 / 10


Films of 2012 so far:


1. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol     7 / 10
2. The Grey     7 / 10
3. J. Edgar     4.5 / 10
4. The Iron lady     4.5 / 10
5. Shame     4 / 10