The Grey

[sharkgirl]

I wasn't sure what to expect from this film, it scared the life out of me, those evil yellow eyes appearing from nowhere, wish I had gone with my husband who was working away and wished I hadn't been so jumpy, on the way out a lady remarked to me it was really a horror film and she was quite right. Good adventure and an unexpected ending. Way better than Carnage on Sunday.

[kevinknapman]

When I first saw the trailer for this I wasn't exactly impressed. It did just look like a film in which Liam Neeson punches a wolf and frankly looked like it might just be as daft and objectionable as Taken.
Then tweets from Butt-numb-a-thon in the US started to appear and the general consensus seemed to be that this was so much more than that and I actually started to get excited at the prospect of seeing it.

And boy were they right. It was clear from the first 15 minutes that this wasn't going to be a film that went for the easy option of making a straightforward thriller with Liam Neeson vs the wolves. Liam Neeson is a man with deep emotional scars who has got a job in a remote Alaskan oil pipeline, shooting wolves that get too close to his fellow employees, in order to escape from something. No longer with the woman he loves for reasons that aren't immediately clear, he writes her a letter that spells out his feelings and decides to end his life. Interrupted by the howling of a wolf he decides against it.

Cut to a plane journey with fellow employees that briefly sets up some of the men that will be the other characters for the remainder of a film. One incredibly visceral and shocking plane crash later and the main story begins. Surprisingly though Joe Carnahan uses this as an opportunity to spend a long time on a scene that most filmmakers would probably rush through. We watch as one of the plane passengers dies and Neeson comforts him. It's a bold scene, emotionally direct and quite moving despite the fact we no nothing about the man he's comforting (it also links back to a scene earlier where Neeson had shot and then sat with a wolf as it died and also to another scene at the end which I won't spoil). This approach to the usual thriller moments that would be rushed through to get to the exciting stuff in most films is what sets The Grey apart from them. Later we see more scenes of the men sitting around a fire talking about themselves. Not in great detail but enough that they give the film added emotional depth later on. These men aren't just food for the wolves waiting to picked off and it benefits the film immensely. A scene that involves a character sitting down, too exhausted and injured to carry on is particularly impressive as Carnahan just lets the camera slowly zoom in as the character waits for his inevitable death.

Not that there isn't some action to keep people interested. Some effective and often quite unsettling scenes of wolves approaching them are very impressive as are the sudden wolf attacks that punctuate the film. So much so that I spent most of the second half the film all tensed up, expecting them at any moment. The wolves themselves are an effective mix of real wolves, CGI and practical effects. As I mentioned the plane crash itself is also incredibly well-realised. There's also a great deal of humour throughout to stop it from being too bleak. I particularly enjoyed one character accusing Neeson of coming up with some 'MacGyver shit' in order to protect themselves from the wolves.

The acting is excellent from all involved. Liam Neeson has rarely been better. A scene in which he shouts into the sky at a god he clearly has some belief in but has been tested by in the past is an outstanding scene. Neeson shouting 'f**k faith, earn it' sent shivers up my spine. The supporting cast are equally strong. Dermot Mulroney is excellent and tells an emotional fireside story that brought tears to my eyes when it is revisted later (they were manly tears of course). Joe Anderson (as the token joker who I found out after had played Peter Hook in Control), Dallas Roberts from The Good Wife, Frank Grillo and Nonso Anozie are also good.

Oh and of course the ending. One that is bound to disappoint many due to it being quite sudden and inconclusive but I loved it. I would also recommend people to stick around after the end credits for a scene that, though it doesn't exactly tell you what happens, does tease you with a possible outcome.

The Grey totally took me by surprise. The trailers initially seemed to suggest a dumb Neeson action-fest but thankfully there's a lot more going on beneath the surface. A study of life, death, faith and what it means to be a man are just some of the themes it covers. It also hit me in a powerful emotional way that I really wasn't expecting. It's really is hard to believe that this is from the same director as Smoking Aces and The A-Team. Maybe from the director of Narc but that was so long ago now. This is really quite an impressive piece of work though and well worth seeing.

On a separate note, after leaving the screening I went to listen to my MP3 player which I had on shuffle. The first song to play (no kidding) - Hungry Like a Wolf by Duran Duran. I love weird random coincidences like that.

[Beate]

Dallas Roberts from The Good Wife

Now I know where I'd seen him before, he plays Alicia's brother Owen, right?

I also laughed hard at the MacGyver quip, I thought I was the only one though. I used to love that show to bits.

[kevinknapman]

For those of you who didnt stay to the end (practically most of you, I reckon) and were not happy at the end for some reason and want to know what the end credit sequence was, here you go:

[spoiler]The camera pans to the dead body of the wolf but no sign of Liam :)[/spoiler]
(

I stayed to the end myself but I'm not sure I saw what you saw. [spoiler]What I saw seemed just as ambiguous. I'm pretty sure what you're seeing at the end is Neeson's head on the wolf. I'm pretty sure I saw a bit of human skin which I assumed was Neeson's forehead with hair on top. There's also definitely sound of ragged breathing, whether it's Neeson's or the wolf wasn't clear. I just assumed that Carnahan chose to tease the viewer and still not give a definitive ending.[/spoiler]

[kevinknapman]

Dallas Roberts from The Good Wife

Now I know where I'd seen him before, he plays Alicia's brother Owen, right?

Yes. He also played a similar 'gay brother' role in The L-Word. He was also in Rubicon with James Badge Dale who was apparently also in this but I still have no idea who he played.

[June]

When I first saw the trailer for this I wasn't exactly impressed. It did just look like a film in which Liam Neeson punches a wolf and frankly looked like it might just be as daft and objectionable as Taken.
Then tweets from Butt-numb-a-thon in the US started to appear and it the general consensus seemed to be that this was so much more than that and I actually started to get excited at the prospect of seeing it.

And boy were they right. It was clear from the first 15 minutes that this wasn't going to be a film that went for the easy option of making a straightforward thriller with Liam Neeson vs the wolves. Liam Neeson is a man with deep emotional scars who has got a job in a remote Alaskan oil pipeline, shooting wolves that come to close to his fellow employees, in order to escape from something. No longer with the woman he loves for reasons that aren't immediately clear, he writes her a letter that spells out his feelings and decides to end his life. Interrupted by the howling of a wolf he decides against it.

Cut to a plane journey with fellow employees that briefly sets up some of the men that will be the other characters for the remainder of a film. One incredibly visceral and shocking plane crash later and the main story begins. Surprisingly though Joe Carnahan uses this as an opportunity to spend a long time on a scene that most filmmakers would probably rush through. We watch as one of the plane passengers dies and Neeson comforts him. It's a bold scene, emotionally direct and quite moving despite the fact we no nothing about the man he's comforting (it also links back to a scene earlier where Neeson had shot and then sat with a wolf as it died and also to another scene at the end which I won't spoil). This approach to the usual thriller moments that would be rushed through to get to the exciting stuff in most films is what sets The Grey apart from them. Later we see more scenes of the men sitting around a fire talking about themselves. Not in great detail but enough that they give the film added emotional depth later on. These men aren't just food for the wolves waiting to picked off and it benefits the film immensely. A scene that involves a character sitting down, too exhausted and injured to carry on is particularly impressive as Carnahan just lets the camera slowly zoom in as the character waits for his inevitable death.

Not that there isn't some action to keep people interested. Some effective and often quite unsettling scenes of wolves approaching them are very impressive as are the sudden wolf attacks that punctuate the film. So much so that I spent most of the second half the film all tensed up, expecting them at any moment. The wolves themselves are an effective mix of real wolves, CGI and practical effects. As I mentioned the plane crash itself is also incredibly well-realised. There's also a great deal of humour throughout to stop it from being too bleak. I particularly enjoyed one character accusing Neeson of coming up with some 'MacGyver shit' in order to protect themselves from the wolves.

The acting is excellent from all involved. Liam Neeson has rarely been better. A scene in which he shouts into the sky at a god he clearly has some belief in but has been tested by in the past is an outstanding scene. Neeson shouting 'f**k faith, earn it' sent shivers up my spine. The supporting cast are equally strong. Dermot Mulroney is excellent and tells an emotional fireside story that b*ght tears to my eyes when it is revisted later (they were manly tears of course). Joe Anderson (as the token joker who I found out after had played Peter Hook in Control), Dallas Roberts from The Good Wife, Frank Grillo and Nonso Anozie are also good.

Oh and of course the ending. One that is bound to disappoint many due to it being quite sudden and inconclusive but I loved it. I would also recommend people to stick around after the end credits for a scene that, though it doesn't exactly tell you what happens, does tease you with a possible outcome.

The Grey totally took me by surprise. The trailers initially seemed to suggest a dumb Neeson action-fest but thankfully there's a lot more going on beneath the surface. A study of life, death, faith and what it means to be a man are just some of the themes it covers. It also hit me in a powerful emotional way that I really wasn't expecting. It's really is hard to believe that this is from the same director as Smoking Aces and The A-Team. Maybe from the director of Narc but that was so long ago now. This is really quite an impressive piece of work though and well worth seeing.

On a separate note, after leaving the screening I went to listen to my MP3 player which I had on shuffle. The first song to play (no kidding) - Hungry Like a Wolf by Duran Duran. I love weird random coincidences like that.

Thanks KK, I always enjoy reading your reviews I could not make it to tonight's screening so I feel quite disappointed, but at least I know that it was a good film and I will add this to my "To watch list".

[TheyCallMeMrGlass]

For those of you who didnt stay to the end (practically most of you, I reckon) and were not happy at the end for some reason and want to know what the end credit sequence was, here you go:

[spoiler]The camera pans to the dead body of the wolf but no sign of Liam :)[/spoiler]
(

I stayed to the end myself but I'm not sure I saw what you saw. [spoiler]What I saw seemed just as ambiguous. I'm pretty sure what you're seeing at the end is Neeson's head on the wolf. I'm pretty sure I saw a bit of human skin which I assumed was Neeson's forehead with hair on top. There's also definitely sound of ragged breathing, whether it's Neeson's or the wolf wasn't clear. I just assumed that Carnahan chose to tease the viewer and still not give a definitive ending.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Really!? Crikey, maybe I just saw what I wanted see!! I totally missed bits of Liam lying around (perhaps subconsciously, I have surpressed that horrifying image) but I was totally fine with open ending anyway, its not about who wins but about "to live today and die today"[/spoiler]

[kevinknapman]

[spoiler]Well I'm not saying you see bits of Liam Neeson, just that it looked like his head was resting on the body of the wolf. Then again I saw it at a slight angle as I was just leaving at the time, so I'm not entirely sure what I saw. I like to think that they wouldn't give a definite hint of the outcome but still keep it ambigious. I could be completely wrong and you might be right though[/spoiler]

Did anyone else see the post-credits sequence and want to chip in?

[spuddyer]

This film had me jumping with fear out of my seat. I'm a very anxious person and I didn't know what was going to happen next in the film.
This film had action scenes, a high body count, an extreme sense of fear, and also twists in the story line to follow.
A film well worth seeing. ( well by my standards)

[Locky_football]

I saw this earlier and really enjoyed it - better than I expected. The plane crash was frightening and I kept jumping in my seat every time the wolves attacked!

Unfortunately I didn't stay right till the end so missed the closing credits! Will have to get it on DVD to check!