John Ottway (Liam Nesson) is a hunter in Alaska who protects people
working at an oil rig from wolves. Ottway writes a final letter to his wife Ana before planning to commit suicide. For
whatever reason, he doesn't go through with the act. He gets on a plane with other people from the oil rig.
On their way back, their plane crashes. Ottway and six survivors from the crash start a journey across the snow in the
middle of the Alaskan wilderness as they must protect themselves from a wolf pack that wants to pick them off one by one.
If they don't make it out, it will be either the weather or the wolves that will get them.
THE
GREY is a suspenseful tale of survival with a philosophical bent. The wilderness is beautiful and
yet deadly. The group has the weather and wolves to protect themselves from. Liam Nesson digs into the character
of Ottway who has given up on life and no hope of a future. He is a tired man who sees nothing ahead of him.
This latest struggle gives him new life as he wants the other survivors to make it. We get to know each survivor in
what could be their last moments. Each attack by the weather or the wolves is brief and mainly director Joe Carnahan
shows the beginning of an attack to leave the rest to our imaginations. A poem that Ottway's father
wrote reinforces the themes of survival and living life like it is the first and last day.
The
score is beautiful and connects with the quiet moments that Ottway experiences during the film and lets us focus on Ottway.
The film moves back and forth between the memories of his wife and what may be his last moments. The memory
he keeps seeing in his head while awake or dreaming reveals more as the film goes on. You find out why he can't go back
to he rand why they're apart. THE GREY also raises the question on whether memories of a loved one means you are about
to die as they grow more vivid. THE GREY is a haunting meditation on survival and life and death. I'm still
split on how the movie just stops (and even teases further with a brief scene at the end of the credits). The
trailers even give more of a glimpse into part of the ending not in the final film. The ending may not satisfy everyone
while others say it perfectly reflects the meaning of the poem Ottway recite sin the film. Regardless of your feelings
for the ending, THE GREY is near perfect.
this review is (c)1-29-2012 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.
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