Review: The Grey

supermarcey.com‘s marcey papandrea returns with a review of the No. 1 movie in America …

Who doesn’t love a good man vs. nature survival flick? I know I enjoy the sub-genre, and Joe Carnahan brings it to its knees with possibly one of the best — The Grey.

That’s right, the film known as ‘Liam Neeson vs. the wolves’ is actually a good film. No, it is absolutely fantastic and I am positive by the end of the year this will definitely be on my Top 10. This film is not exactly what you might expect. It goes so much deeper than what you find on the surface with the trailers, and don’t let that turn you off from seeing it.

The Grey blew me away. This is a raw and powerful film that is really about survival. What does it take to survive through an impossible situation? This is what is posed in the film, as we find a group of men who work in Alaska, in isolation and our main character played by Neeson is on the edge of giving up on life. This changes when he is in a plane crash with co-workers and they are left out in the middle of nowhere. It’s harsh, it’s snowing, and the wolves are out in numbers.

It is one of those films that grabs you and pulls you in right away. It doesn’t let you go. It has been more than a week since I have seen it, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. It is engaging, with its very strange opening narrative, which will make sense towards the end, with the intense and shocking plane crash, it does not let up. The fact that this was shot on location and the cast and crew went through what the characters went through just adds to the realism and insane intensity.

The acting here is superb. Liam Neeson gives one of the best performances of his career without question. We’re with him through the film, we basically experience this through him, and naturally he is a badass. It is a layered performance. He is an interesting character, and his motivations are quite interesting as are revealed all through out the film. The other standouts were Dallas Roberts, Frank Grillo and Dermot Mulroney. Each actor really gives it his all, and we feel everything that they do. Each had a different role to play, and each had their own sympathy that we felt.

The film is extremely well directed, written, acted, shot — it is stunning on every level. I was deeply moved by the film. I reacted to it, and I can’t get it out of my head. This is one of those films that needs to be seen on the big screen. It is an experience and one that will stay with you. No matter if you think you’ll like it or not, it is worth giving a go. You wont regret it.