"The Grey" takes place in Alaska, where a devastating plane crash leaves seven men alive to face the wilderness. They are pursued and attacked by a vicious pack of wolves seeking to protect their territory. Ottway (Liam Neeson) quickly emerges as the leader of the survivors and uses his expertise as a hunter to fight back against the wolves and protect the dwindling group. Faced with death, the men also reflect on their own lives, values and pasts through revealing conversations and flashbacks, and they gain clarity as the movie progresses. Marina Shkuratov
Directed by: Joe Carnahan With: Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo,Dallas Roberts 117 minutesRated R
Although "The Grey" finds some moments of incredible success in Neeson's raw performance, it is overall a highly predictable film that fosters no connection between the audience and the characters. The film's format, reminiscent of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" in its formulaic structure of deaths, eliminates all possibility of the suspense that is so necessary in an action-thriller. The film attempts to give the survivors personalities and histories, but only Neeson's character refrains from being a caricature. Marina Shkuratov
As a huge Liam Neeson fan, I obviously wanted to love "The Grey." When watching the film, however, I found myself loving Neeson and not the movie. It wasn't quite an all-out action movie, and the direction of the film confused me at times. Despite its adrenaline-inducing plot, the movie definitely underwhelmed me, which for a Neeson film was a hard fact to come to terms with. Julian Danzinger
Despite bucking some cliches, "The Grey" ultimately fails due to its extremely depressing plot, unlikable characters and ridiculous choice of having wolves as the main villains. Trying to capitalize on his new-found status as an action hero and seemingly trying to rekindle his past glory as a serious actor, Liam Neeson does neither and instead reduces his performance to a man punching wolves in the face.
Varun Bhuchar
