The Grey (2012)

*In Theaters Now.

What's it About?- The story of The Grey revolves around Liam Neesons' character who shoots wolves for a living in Alaska, and seems to be fairly depressed about it. So depressed is he, that he puts a gun in his mouth and decides to remove his head from his own body, until he hears some wolves howling... I guess he took that a challenge from the wolves, and figured he'd better go on living to kill more of them. Or, it could have to do with something deeper, but we like the wolf idea better.

Aww, Liam has a sad.

When Neeson and his crew of oil drilling roughnecks board a plane to head home, a blizzard sets in mid-flight and rips the plane apart, and they crash in the vast Alaskan wilderness. Did the wolves send that blizzard to get revenge on the wolf killer? Possibly. It does seem likely, because once the survivors of the crash band together and start trying to survive, a pack of wolves sets their sights on them, determined to kill all of the humans who are intruding on their turf.

Keep going, you'll make it! LOL!

The Grey is packed with scene after scene of tense, sometimes nail biting, action, most of which involves unarmed, half frozen men trying to fend off bloodthirsty wolves with sticks. You can just imagine how that goes for most of them.

Yeah, it ends like that.

The Good- The idea of Liam Neeson fighting wolves sold us on this movie from the get go. Let's be honest here; Liam Neeson is the kind of actor that instantly makes any movie better, just for him starring in it. Add to that the fact that Joe Carnahan was directing, and it was pretty much a no-brainer for us. For those of you that don't know Joe Carnahan, go check out Smokin' Aces, and the vastly underrated Narc; they guy knows action and can navigate dark territory really well.

What you might not be able to imagine is how deep the story actually goes. Carnahan crafted himself a harrowing story of survival with The Grey, but amidst the action is an equally compelling story about the frailty of the human condition, and the demons that haunt us all. At times, The Grey gets downright sentimental, causing manly tears to be shed... though not ours of course. We're far too manly to cry at movies, even if you were in the same theater as we were and heard us. That was some other guys.

Liam didn't cry though, Nope. Not once. Alright, maybe once, but that was from the cold.

The Bad- Why not just stay with the plane? I get why they left, and I may have done exactly the same, but what if they had stayed with the plane? Wouldn't the black box had been located in a few days time, and they could have been rescued? Most likely they would have frozen to death before being found, but the thought of them living had they hunkered down in the plane until help arrived. still stuck with us throughout the movie.

The Downright Horrendous- The fact that there's a protest over The Grey's portrayal of wolves as savage animals is pathetic. They can be savage when threatened, especially in the wild where they are not used to human contact. In the movie, they felt threatened and we're protecting their territory. It just sucks that every little thing these days has to be an excuse for everyone to jump on a soap box to bring attention to their agenda.

Respect his rights and let him maul you. That's nature's way.

The Gory- There's plenty of wolf vs. man carnage in this one. A lot of it may be CGI, but it works despite the fakery of it all. You wont like it if you're sensitive to animal violence though.

The Naked- None. Given the cast of this movie, we think that's a good thing.

Best Scene- The Alpha Male showdown; without a doubt. Sure, the plane crash sequence was crazy intense and really good, but Liam Neeson taping broken bottles to his hands and making like Wolverine to fist fight an angry, massive wolf is just... bad ass.

I am so doing this the next time my dog gets unruly...

What did we learn?- Alaska does not fuck around. Also, neither do wolves.Also, neither does Liam Neeson; There's nothing that man can't kill.

The Master Says- A The Grey is a tension filled action thriller that operates on a deeper level; almost like it's a philosophical action flick. There's sentimentality to spare amongst the carnage and tension of the wolf vs. man battle for dominance, and that's a good thing. It's nice to see a genre flick that doesn't feel so empty for a change. Go see it while it's still in theaters, but be sure to stay after the credits, as there's a brief scene that was nice to see. Go see it is the lesson here; it's a truly great flick.


Final Thoughts- PETA is an asshole, and can suck it. No wolves were harmed in the making of this movie, in fact most of the scenes involving wolves were done with CGI. Still, PETA gets on their soapbox and rants and raves about how The Grey portrays wolves as monsters, and how it was rumored that the cast ate wolf meat obtained by a third party trapper... No one wants to hurt animals for entertainment, and portraying wolves as territorial predators is accurate. It was a movie, folks. It didn't make me wish harm on wolves, nor change my perspective about them. Wolves are gorgeous creatures that can absolutely be ferocious. I hope they all live great, Wolfy lives out in the woods that they inhabit. If they come after me, I hope I kill them to ensure my survival. My survival comes first, along with the survival of my fellow man. That's pack mentality. The wolves are thinking the same thing about us. That's called nature.

I had some ham today, and I would never be inhumane to animals. Tomorrow I'll have some chicken for dinner, and I like birds just fine. Preach all you want, PETA, I am carnivore, and you can suck it.

We love bunnies, so we should probaby protest Monty Python and Night of the Leupus next, eh?

 

Silly PETA, why would we eat humans when we have so many animals to eat?