The plot basically centres around a group of roughneck miners who survive an airplane crash, but are subsequently stranded in the wild, in the kill zone of a large pack of ravening wolves. That`s basically it: no evil villain, insidious alien or crazed psychopaths. The wolves don`t even have laser beams shooting from their eyes they`re just the regular sort, albeit bigger, toothier and a hell lot more anti-social.
Despite its horizontal premise, The Grey is a film that works remarkably well. The characters, while unequally fleshed out, are all believably crafted, with distinctive personalities, backgrounds and vulnerabilities. Neeson plays the memory-haunted wolf hunter Ottway with both style and conviction, and manages to emotionally anchor the film without overshadowing any of his co-stars.
The reason the movie works though, is due to its applaudable pacing: the overall mood is remarkably tense throughout, and while the film never resorts to cheap scares, it still manages to go for the emotional jugular with impeccable timing, particularly when lulls in the action have deceived audience members into a false sense of reprieve.
Ultimately, a happy ending for a film like The Grey would be little better than a copout. As such, kudos goes to director Joe Carnahan for crafting a dark conclusion that resolves the film, while still retaining its sense of artistic ambiguity.
(Ed: Stay till after the credits for a nice `finishing`.)
Summary: Who`s afraid of the big, bad wolf? Everyone in this film, apparently.
Rating: 3.5/5
The Grey opens 16 Feb.