The Grey (2012):

Starring:

Liam Neeson - John Ottway

Frank Grillo - John Diaz

Dermot Mulroney - Talget

Dallas Roberts - Pete Hendrick

Joe Anderson - Todd Flannery

Nonso Anozie - Burke

James Badge Dale - Lewenden

Ben Bray - Hernandez

Director:

Joe Carnahan (The A-Team; Smokin' Aces)

Rotten Tomatoes: 79%

Flixster: 66%

Synopsis:

An unruly group of oil-rig roughneck's plane crashes into the remote Alaskan wilderness. Battling mortal injuries and merciless weather, the survivors have only a few days to escape the icy elements - and a vicious pack of rogue wolves on the hunt - before their time runs out.

Review:

Another film staring another of my all time favourite actors, Liam Neeson. Now this was the 2nd time I had seen this, the first since I saw it in theaters opening night. I'm fairly confident that if I had reviewed it immediately following seeing it the first time I would have given it an A+/50. It had incredible first time presence but the allure might have been a simple high from the action & intensity. After watching it the second time, I did in fact still love it & think it was the best film I had seen so far this year but once you step away from the initial shock & awe & are able to view things that maybe you didn't see the first time or have less of an excited view of it you get a different outlook. The acting was still intense, full of dramatic performances with the very rare comedic relief thrown in. The backdrop of the Alaskan wilderness is perfectly formed to fit the movie, everything from the snow storms to the mountains, it was just all the perfect setting. Now after that this is where my opinion of the film changed slightly. The wolves themselves were not quite as well created as I had originally thought. Maybe it was the fact that we were in a theater so your not as close so you can't quite see the details as much as you would on the Blu-ray. Some of the shots are filmed using real life wolves & dogs but that it mostly the far away shots of them running or close ups of their faces. When they are interacting with the human actors or doing something that maybe you can't train a dog or wolf to do is where it gets a little dicey. Obviously you can't just stick wolves in there with people & get them to do what you want, but for being 2012 & a movie who's budget was pretty decent, the CGI of the wolves wasn't actually very well done nor nearly as well done as you would expect from a film made in 2011/2012. Other than the lower production on the CGI everything else in the film was still just as good the second time around, other than the obvious lack of suspense because I knew what was coming. There is one scene where they kill a wolf while they are being scouted out by the Alpha & they decide to roast & eat it to keep them alive & to attempt to establish dominance. We'll as it turns out they (I'm not sure if it was the director or the actors or who) decided to get a tracker to hunt down a wild wolf, kill it & then they would roast & eat it for real. NOW I have only speculative Internet rumours but from what I have read, it is true. Kind of Fucked Up when you think about it. Anyways, if your looking for an incredibly intense, dramatic & kick ass movie involving Liam Neeson VS Wolves. SEE THIS FILM!

93%

Lead Acting: 15/15
Supporting Cast: 13/15

Plot: 10/10
Compared To The Genre: 10/10

Cinematography: 18/20

Intrigue: 18/20

                                                       Extra: 9/10