Movie Review #4 The Grey (2012)

-Taken with Wolves

I really don't know exactly when Liam Neeson turned into a sellable action star but I'm really glad he did. There is just something about his voice and demeanour that demands respect. He's hitting 60 years old now and has a bunch of action-oriented movies that I have really enjoyed.

It's quite possible that growing up in school, your English teacher taught you about conflict and the various ways that it can be portrayed to the reader or (in this case) the viewer. The Grey has three of the seven basic match-ups against Man (I should specify right now that the movie contains almost no women) if there had been some cyborg ghosts who controlled free will in a totalitarian world (awesome movie?) we would have all seven but we'll stick with vs Man, Nature and Self. If it weren't for the fifteen-year gap, this would have easily taught me 1/8^th of my grade 10 English course. Then again, no school would allow a viewing with that much gore and bad language - consider this my warning to those who are faint of heart.

The movie has a bit of character development throughout but nothing you'll remember after a good night's sleep. The acting, however, is something I found almost a treat in what I thought going in would be a dumb action flick in which Liam Neeson kills wolves for 2 hours. A few times, mostly during the character development sequences, I found myself imagining some of the things they were saying. This was a good script brought to life by a small cast of unknowns and Liam Neeson. I also found myself noting some of the camera work during the movie. One sequence in particular shed an entirely new light, all because of a camera pan left. An entire story unfolds and it really did wonders to tie the story together.

and to your right you can see a pack of hungry wolves.

However the main reason I argue that it's a “good script” and not a “great script” is that some of the characters show traits that are seemingly uncharacteristic. If you're going to be the level-headed character, then there is no reason that long after that is cemented you make a bone-headed mistake that I would think everyone should pick up on. Finally, I know very little about wolf habits in Alaska, and even less about their patterns when closer to their den, but to me the wolves seemed especially vindictive against our troubled heroes.

The Grey grabbed a 7/10.

PS: The Grey is a lot like Taken (2008), if we replace the daughter with freedom and an Albanian gang with wolves.