“The Grey” is a tedious, poorly written, survival film, about a group of oil drillers whose plane goes down somewhere in Alaska. They are faced with trying to survive with barely any food, no shelter, and no way to contact anyone and horrible weather conditions.
The film stars Liam Neeson (“Schindler’s List,” “Taken”) as Ottway, the leader of the group. Through a few flashbacks, and some voice over we see that Ottway is depressed, maudlin and is planning to take his life.
His suicide attempt is thwarted one night when he hears a wolf howling in the distance. This delays his attempt, which is too bad. Had he accomplished his task, the film would have been over, but that’s not what happens.
He and his group board a plane and soon after takeoff, crash, leaving only 8 survivors.
They are stranded somewhere in the wilds of Alaska during a blizzard and soon realize that no food, the storm and keeping warm are the least of their problems. A ravenous pack of poorly crafted CGI wolves is closing in on them and killing Ottway’s men.
They decide to start their journey to safety, by leaving the crash site, and also hopefully leaving the wolves behind, but the wolves continue to follow them, taunting them and eliminating them one by one.
The Grey, based on a short story “Ghost Story” by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers, should have stayed a short story. The screenplay, written by Jeffers and director Joe Carnahan, is flat and goes nowhere.
The talented cast is completely wasted.
Neeson grunts and groans his way through the film, and it’s not until the end of the film that we find out why he was attempting suicide in the first place.
His supporting cast, Dermot Mulroney (“J. Edgar,” “The Family Stone”), Dallas Roberts (“Walk The Line,” “The Good Wife”), Frank Grillo, Joe Anderson, Ben Bray and James Badge Dale, wear frostbitten makeup well, but that’s about it. If they had a better script maybe we’d get to see why they were hired, but instead we see a bunch of actors in search of a script.
“The Grey” comes at a time when most people will be scrambling to see the films that have been nominated for Oscars, which is a good thing. That way most people will forget about this film, at least until it comes out on DVD.