The Grey

Joe Carnahan’s best film since Narc, The Grey follows several rough-and-tumble men, including Liam Neeson’s Ottway, Dallas Roberts’ Hendrick, and Dermot Mulroney’s Talget, as they’re forced to fend for themselves after their plane crashes in the desolate Alaskan wilderness – with the film primarily detailing the dwindling survivors’ ongoing efforts at evading the encroaching advances of several bloodthirsty wolves. There’s little doubt that Carnahan, working from a screenplay co-written with Ian Mackenzie Jeffers, does a superb job of immediately luring the viewer into the deliberately-paced narrative, as the filmmaker offers up an opening half hour that’s rife with unexpectedly stirring moments – with the best and most engrossing example of this Ottway’s hypnotic speech to a dying man. From there, The Grey effectively morphs into a solid survivalism drama that does, from time to time, feel just a little too languid and overlong for its own good – with the inclusion of some needless elements (eg the in-fighting that ensues among the men) compounding the movie’s atmosphere of pervasive unevenness. It’s clear, however, that the film benefits substantially from the efforts of its uniformly strong cast, with, of course, Neeson’s rock-solid work as the depressive, grizzled protagonist standing as an obvious highlight within the proceedings. (It doesn’t hurt either that Carnahan has peppered the storyline with a number of standout interludes, including a quietly riveting scene in which the guys discuss their families and their religious beliefs.) By the time the absolutely spellbinding climax rolls around, The Grey has established itself as a perfectly watchable endeavor that admittedly would’ve benefited from a few more passes through the editing bay.

*** out of ****