The Grey (2012)

When it’s over, humans are no match for the power of mother nature.  Liam Neeson plays Ottway, a huntsman and one of seven survivors whose plane crashes into the Alaskan mountains.  The typical story of man vs. nature and survival of the fittest unfolds as the survivors are killed off one by one by vicious territorial wolves.  The film was quite good, up until the ending.  ** If you haven’t seen the film and don’t want me ruining it for you, stop reading now, because I am going to include some spoilers. **  This is one of those films that truly requires a visual ending.  What I mean by this, is that I need to see how the story ends.  I don’t want to assume or guess the outcome as I was forced to do in this film when the credits began to roll at what I considered the climax of the film.  The screen faded to black, and I was left feeling cut off.  I knew the path of the story would eventually lead to the final showdown between Ottway and the alpha wolf, and to not show the battle between hunter and prey made the whole journey of the film pointless.  After the film, I asked myself what are the chances of Ottway surviving the fight, then finding civilization?  Probably not great, but maybe.  After all, this was Neeson and this was Hollywood filmmaking, so there was that slight chance that Ottway’s endurance would pay off.  Or, the story could go the opposite way with Ottway going down fighting and taking out as many wolves as he could.  I think the later ending was more what Director Joe Carnahan had in mind.  Still, I think Carnahan should have shown it, not implied it.


My rating:  3 out of 5