The Grey

Liam Neeson fends off  vicious territorial wolves in the remote icy Alaskan wilderness.

**** out of ****

The Grey is a 'cut-the-crap' survival movie. What I mean is that it is about the act of survival. It's filled with characters in a terrible situation where they are bound to die and chooses to be about their will to stay alive as long as they can while they stare death in the face. There is no false hope. There is simply endurance. This is a very strong movie.

Listen to the director discuss the film.

Having a story about a group of men who have survived a plane crash in a place where they shouldn't last long could go in a very banal B-movie direction... Though I am a big fan of The Edge. This explores all the subject matter I would hope to be addressed in a fight-for-your life story. It's about human beings staying human and knowing how to support each other which is given strength through dialogue and narration exquisitely delivered by the film's star, Liam Neeson, it's about being a man in a deep existential way. 


The film is directed by Joe Carnahan, and given his resume of dumb-fun action, this is a surprise project of passion and realism.