The Grey – review

The Grey

If you are trapped in a situation where you are more likely to die? Would you fight for that chance, no matter how small it is? Or, you would simply passively succumb to what “fate” has in store for you? When we are faced with such dilemma, most of us would rather act passively and leave everything to fate. We often find ourselves disheartened with the tiny hope that we have to survive. But this is not the case for John Ottway (Liam Neeson) in the movie titled, The Grey.

Overview

Released in 2012, this American thriller and drama film is directed by Joe Carnahan. It tells the story of a group of men who are stranded in Alaska after a plane crash. They are forced to survive along with a pack of wolves that are not too happy with their presence in the area. In the movie, we would see the different strategies that the men did just so they can escape from the territorial beasts. The Grey is based on the short story titled, “Ghost Walker” by Ian MacJenzie Jeffers.

Features

The movie started with John quitting his job as a wolf hunter in Alaska. He wrote a letter to his wife and plans to commit suicide. This was averted when he heard a howl of a wolf around the vicinity. With that, John just decided to go home with the other wolf hunters. Despite the strong blizzard, they still pushed through with their flight. But sadly, the plane cannot stand the weather anymore and crashes in the middle of nowhere.

Seven men, including John, survived the plane crash. In order to survive in a deserted place, John took the initiative to lead the group. They were looking for some material that can help them build a fire when John saw a woman who was being eaten by a grey wolf. It was then when he realized that they are standing on the wolves’ territory and they are not welcomed. John tells this to the other survivors and suggested that they leave the crash site because they are vulnerable to any attack.

As they leave the site, the survivors one by one died. Wolves killed some of them while others freeze to death. It came to a point when John was the only one who survived. The movie ended with a pack of wolves surrounding John and he decided to fight for his life. With the vision of his wife and his father’s poem in his head, he fought with the Alpha male wolf.

Performance

It was not shown whether John survived or not. The ending of the film is open to interpretation and is now the subject of much debate and controversy. For many, the Grey tells an exciting story of survival. The characters are good in portraying their respective roles and the plot has some surprising philosophical aspects. The abrupt ending of the film exemplified emotional and philosophical undertones. Indeed, no words can describe the vivid portrayal of the actors and production team in The Grey. You should see the movie, to appreciate it.

Verdict

Although there were some issues with animal cruelty because of the use of the wolf carcasses in the movie, The Grey as all in all a true thriller that evokes some kind of emotion in unexpected places. I can give it a 3 for its beautiful portrayal of man’s interior struggle for survival.