Review: The Grey (2011)

I’ve been meaning to watch The Grey for far too long. So long in fact, that when I finally got round to sitting down to see it, I completely forgot what it was even about. Liam Neeson and some wolves. That was about all I could recall. At least I could convince my other half to watch this with me!

Here's the thing, I loved Liam Neeson. However, the Taken phenomenon and everything in between has pushed me into being extremely bored of him (and his one character) so although I probably should watch this and give it a chance, for now I'm not going to. So there...

Bare with me now as I don’t fully understand the underlying plot here. That’s my bad though, not the film’s. Ottway (Liam Neeson) is an oil worker in Alaska who is desperately unhappy. I can’t work out if his wife is ill or dead, or whether they are actually still together. Regardless, Ottway and his colleagues take a flight (I’m not sure where or why) and the worst case scenario happens, the plane crashes in the middle of nowhere, leaving the few survivors to fend for themselves.

The film introduces Ottway quite nicely I thought. We certainly get an insight into what’s going on in his head. We also get introduced to his colleagues on the plane, and get a feeling of their characteristics. The plane crash scene itself was incredibly dramatic, and I think I was holding my breath throughout part of it!

I wasn’t expecting the film to be quite as jumpy as it was; I’m certainly glad I didn’t see it at the cinema or I would have embarrassed myself! You know those moment where you’re saying to yourself ‘that person is going to get jumped on, I just know it, you’ll see’ and then it happens and you still jump? I was doing that throughout! It added a big element of suspense that I wasn’t anticipating.

I really did enjoy The Grey, but I thought it was a little too long and the pacing wasn’t very consistent at times. Some of the gruesome moments didn’t look very real in terms of visual effects, and the wolves themselves looked a little off when they were close-up on the screen. That said though, I didn’t know how the film could or even would end, and I have to say that I really enjoyed the ending, as unsettling as it was.

It may be a while before I watch The Grey again, but if you’ve heard of it before and you’re sat on the fence as to whether to watch it or not, give it a go, I’d definitely recommend it.