If you avoided the movie The Grey (2012) because you thought it was just another Liam Neeson action film, you should reconsider and give it a chance. From the previews, the movie appears to be just an angry Neeson fighting with wolves. But the film is much more than that.
Yes, in The Grey, Neeson and some other men are alone in the Alaskan wilderness being stalked by wolves. But the movie is really about life and death, and how one chooses to live (and die).
The film begins with Neeson working with oil workers in the barren cold landscape. He works hunting and shooting wolves to protect the workers, but he also is haunted by demons from his past.
After boarding an airplane with other workers, Neeson falls asleep and wakes to turbulence that results in a crash that leaves many of the men stranded. Other actors do a great job, including Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, and Nonso Anozie. But Neeson’s character John Ottway remains the focus.
The CGI wolves do not look completely real, but that may be part of the point. The wolves represent something more than a canine. I do not want to spoil the movie, but the survival struggle raises existential themes about life and death.
Joe Carnahan produced and directed The Grey, and he co-wrote the screenplay with Ian MacKenzie Jeffers. The film is based on a short story by Jeffers called “The Ghost Walker.” The wonderful subtle soundtrack is by Marc Streitenfeld.
So, if you are looking for a dark action movie with deep themes and do not mind some ambiguity in your films, check out The Grey. The movie may not be a light popcorn yarn, but it will stay with you after you watch it.
Various theories about the movie reflect on whether all of the men are parts of Neeson’s character, that they are all in Purgatory, and that the movie encapsulates common fears of flying, heights, dying alone, and drowning. And what does the movie say about the existential struggle to give meaning to one’s life? If you have already seen the movie and want to read more analysis of the film, one might start with some of the analysis from Mother Jones, Ryan Pratt’s blog, The Cinephile Fix, this video on “A Philosophy of Heroic Suffering,” and a ScreenRant interview with the director.
What did you think of The Grey? Leave your two cents in the comments.
While recently re-watching the movie Primary Colors (1998) for the umpteenth time, I noticed a song I had never really noticed before. It occurs after John Travolta’s character Gov. Jack Stanton meets with Larry Hagman’s Gov. Fred Picker. In a key scene near the end of the movie that was directed by Mike Nichols, Stanton walks away from Picker’s southern mansion singing a song.
, by Robert Penn Warren.