The Grey - (January 27, 2012): R
Distributor: Open Road Films
Opening Weekend Box Office: #1 with $19,665,101
Domestic Box Office Gross to-date: $25,256,533
Gross Revenue: $22,256,533
Production Budget: $25 million
Director: Joe Carnahan
With as many successful projects as he has under his belt, one would think that Liam Neeson would kick back and take it easy, but in 2012 the talented actor is going to be a surprisingly prevalent presence with Wrath of the Titans, Battleship, and The Dark Knight Rises, and Taken 2. As awesome as these future projects are guaranteed to be, the first exposure audiences would have to Neeson this year would be The Grey, which had a number of factors working in its favor in addition to the actor’s massive fan base. If the reunion of director Joe Carnahan and Neeson (who worked together on the unquestionably entertaining The A-Team) wasn’t enough to catch your attention, the film trailer had people raving in anticipation. Based on story premise alone, a group of plane-crash survivors trying to fight-off wolves in an arctic environment may have had a few believing that the project could be hit-or-miss, but one shot of Neeson taping broken bottles to his wrists in order to take on a mammoth wolf was enough to shut everyone up. Needless to say, Open Road Films had more than earned my ticket purchase, and I was thrilled to sit and watch one of my favorite actors engage in the type of film and character that he was sure to dominate.
Illustrating the tremendous lengths that the human spirit is willing to go for survival, The Grey introduces audiences to John Ottway (Liam Neeson), a security expert who protects Alaskan oil drillers from the wolves that roam the area. Upon completion of the job, Ottway boards a plane home with fellow workers, but a raging blizzard crashes the plane in the middle of nowhere. Ottway awakens and finds six other survivors, Todd Flannery (Jon Anderson), Talget (Dermot Mulroney), Diaz (Frank Grillo), Hendrick (Dallas Roberts), Burke (Nonso Anozie), and Hernandez (Ben Bray), and together, the seven struggle to collect supplies and build a fire in order to survive the freezing temperatures. The perilous situation goes from bad to worse when Ottway realizes that they are within the radius of a massive gray wolf den, meaning that the men are seen as threats and will therefore be hunted and attacked without provocation, especially by the alpha male. Collecting the wallets of the survivors so that they can be returned to the victims’ families, the group resolves to head south and survive not only the elements and wolves, but also each other and the psychological ramifications of hopelessness.
Well, it should come as no surprise, given that above plot description, that the best part of The Grey is Liam Neeson himself, who demonstrates a surprisingly wide range of acting, transitioning flawlessly from humor to anger, frustration, and despair. Given the variety of characters that I have seen him portray over the years, it is something to say that I believe John Ottway to be Neeson’s most hardcore character; whether he is settling arguments or staring down wolves, this is definitely a guy you want in your corner were you in a life-threatening situation. As for the directing, Joe Carnahan does a remarkably strong job of immersing the audience in the perilousness and fear of the events occurring…you feel uneasy when the plane hits turbulence, you get a chill as you watch the men plow through the arctic, and the hairs on the back of your neck will stand up the second you hear a wolf howl. And despite the relatively simplistic plot, each of the characters receives adequate attention and development, thereby increasing the shared predicament and the intensity of the desire for survival; not to mention paving the way for remarkably deep philosophical musings. Given how much I enjoyed The Grey, it would be very easy to call the film flawless, but there are a few elements that deserve qualification and I feel would be best if future audiences saw coming.
I mentioned earlier that The Grey is surprisingly philosophical, and for the most part this approach to disaster works quite well, but there are times where this deeper agenda is overplayed. When you consider the continuous series of misfortunes that befall these men, it is not all that hard to swallow that they begin to question faith, hope, and acceptable forms of behavior…late in the film, Neeson angrily berates God and demands help in a scene so powerful that it should catch the attention of some ballot voters during next year’s Award’s Season. However, after a while, some of the deeper themes become tiring, and watching the men plow through snow loses its appeal; luckily, a hungry wolf is never too far behind to send the energy level through the roof. And it turns out that my biggest gripe concerning the film is the abrupt and altogether disappointing ending; I don’t want to give away anything, but suffice it so say that there was a collective groan from the audience when the screen cut to black. At the very least, I did discover later that there is a post-credit scene that adds a little more to the story…so don’t make my rookie mistake and leave the theater too soon.
Well, the box office performance of The Grey proves that Liam Neeson still has more than enough draw to fill a theater, as a $19 million debut so late in January, when moviegoer attendance traditionally drops, is impressive. I had to laugh when I heard that animal rights groups were protesting the treatment of wolves within the film, but it looks like most demographics agreed with the logic that those protesters wouldn’t be so liberal if they were being chased by a massive killing machine. Word of mouth is undoubtedly going to remain very positive despite the disappointing ending, so The Grey will likely still make a strong impact against Chronicle, The Woman in Black, and Big Miracle. Within one week, this intense thriller has already recovered its $25 million production budget, so there is little reason for anyone at Open Road Films to lose sleep. You will probably walk out of the theater with the chill and the conviction to cancel all future camping trips, but you cannot afford to miss The Grey…sit back and enjoy.
Overall Recommendation: High
