|
 How
long before all the internet jokes about the invincible toughness of
action movie veteran Chuck Norris have Liam Neeson’s name attached? The
actor, who has been Oscar and BAFTA nominated for his dramatic roles
seems has taken a whole new lease on his career by starring in
high-grossing boom-crash operas like Taken and Unknown. The unlikely
action hero turns in another testosterone-driven performance as a man
battling a nightmare in the wild in The Grey.
It’s
back to civilisation for a group of oil rig workers in nippy Alaska. An
airplane full of hard-berled fellows makes its way through the falling
snow with a few bumps at first before sparks fly in the cockpit and the
fuselage peels away like a banana and the plane splits apart, hitting
the ground at top speed. Ottway comes to in the midst of gusting,
snow-filled winds and begins a rescue effort to save other survivors;
some men he’ll find mostly intact, others are only torsos still glued to
their seats. There are only very few left alive in varying states of
health and many more deceased. Despite some foolish, macho
chest-beating by others too freaked out by their circumstance to make
sense, Ottway’s clear thinking in the midst of the crisis has him
leading the group. That leadership is essential once their makeshift
shelter in the plane’s hull is discovered by some visitors. The glowing
eyes, dripping jaws and fur standing on edge in attack posture is the
first clue that the wolves don’t appreciate this surprise party dropped
out of the sky. Luckily for the group, Ottway turns out to be an
experienced wolf killer hired by the oil company. Unfortunately, the
predatory behaviour the Lupi exhibit isn’t particularly predictable and
may reflect how near the men are to the wolves’ den, an area they cannot
determine in all the snow. Unfortunate thing number two is the fact
that Ottway’s wolf-blasting rifle didn’t make it through the crash and
he only has a handful of shotgun shells, a thermos full of plane fuel
and a fading Zippo lighter comprising his arsenal. After the wolves
brutally mark the crash site as their territory, Ottway’s team is
running (trudging? schlepping?) blind through the waist-deep snow
with no clue where to go, trying to find shelter and steer clear of the
stalking animals. Their attempted escape doesn’t stop the wolves from
asserting their dominance by strategically picking off the men one by
one with military precision. Between their toothy pursuers and the
horrific blizzard conditions surrounding them, Ottway wonders if he can
keep the survivors and himself alive long enough to find rescue.
There
are few movie stars as effortlessly alpha as Liam Neeson, with his tall,
imposing stature, commanding, manly-man presence and deep, booming
voice. What puts Neeson in a different class than most of the denizens
and dilettantes of the action world are his remarkable acting chops.
Tell me he happens to be a wolf hunter for hire after coincidentally
crashing into the middle of a cranky pack of puppies, I’ll believe it.
Show me his incredible nature-surviving skills so much on par with a
certain resourceful TV hero that another character calls out MacGyver,
I’m with it. Sell me the guy suffering with personal heartache and
questioning every belief he ever had in the midst of this nightmare and
Neeson seals it. All of this occurs during The Grey and part of its
success is that the audience not only believes everything Neeson says
onscreen, but they feel for him and root for the character. If I was
caught in some horrible disaster during a relentless blizzard and being
stalked by some xenophobic wolves, I’d pick Liam Neeson to get me out of
there. The other characters are more one-dimensional, though well
acted: You have the smart-aleck who practically has a neon “Puppy Chow”
sign over his head from the moment he opens his mouth. There is the
earnest youngster whose optimism gives Ottway hope to keep calm and
carry on. There’s the tough guy who challenges Ottway at every turn,
pulling some poorly-timed alpha-male stunts as the wolves are watching,
even though the closest he’s been to nature is watching the National
Geographic channel. The actors invest in their characters enough for
the audience to care what happens to them. The pacing of The Grey is
fantastic: Director Joe Carnahan balances his cast’s performances with
real pulse-pounding action and genuine spooks. When we see the first
set of luminescent wolf’s eyes, shining in the darkness extremely close
to the crash site, it is joined one by one by many more eerily glowing,
seemingly disembodied pairs. Carnahan creates a palpable fear by making
nature itself the real adversary: The animals, a hypnotic mixture of
beauty and terror, are only being what they should be, and the men of
the civilised world have no barometer for this. Even Ottway’s
survivalist efforts aren’t guaranteed. Regardless of how they came to
be there, these men have invaded the wolves’ territory in the freezing
cold of a blizzard, so it’s not like we’re dealing with supernatural
creatures, which is even more frightening. The only time Carnahan puts
a foot on the brake in The Grey is to give you small moments of the men
either fighting or bonding as they try to save themselves. My loathing
of gratuitous shakycam is well-documented, so much so that I give an
“award” for it every year, but Carnahan gets it right; first, by not
abusing it, and second, by employing it to truly put the viewer in the
experience. The plane crash is quick and shocking. The men’s lateral
vault from high mountain cliffs into the safety of the tall trees will
have viewers’ hearts in their throats and an unscheduled trip downriver
will put them on the edge of their seats. I was awfully glad the movie
wasn’t in 3D because I don’t think I could’ve taken it. Good stuff and
a lot of fun The Grey is and definitely worth seeing in a theatre with a
giant tub of popcorn and a packed house all pumped to praise the new
great action star, Liam Neeson.
~ The
Lady Miz Diva
January 27th, 2012
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