At this point, I'm considering that TYCP project a wash. They have a big old stack of reviews from me and haven't posted one since Haywire came out. Since I'm overwhelmed with music work on this, the week where the show I've been working on has its entire run, I'm posting some of those reviews. Survival horror is a tricky genre to get right. Play the danger too big and the whole thing turns into a joke. Go to small and the film collapses under its own logic. Worst of all, no two survival horror films will ever need the same exact balance of elements to feel real. It's a trial and error genre in a field that doesn’t allow for second chances.
The Grey gets so much right for such a wide-reaching survival horror film. The large crew of an oil refinery cannot catch a break. After their plane back home crashes into the vast wilderness of Alaska, only seven members survive to wait for rescue. They are stalked by wolves, trapped in a blizzard, and subjected to the will of a harsh mountainous forest. Their leader, a professional wolf hunter named Ottway, cannot even guarantee that they can all survive.
Writer/director Joe Carnahan does an impressive job adapting co-writer Ian Mackenzie Jeffers' short story "Ghost Walker" for the big screen. The Grey never cheats its audience out of a realistic experience of frozen horror. Once the central conceit is announced--a dying man will see visions of his loved ones before falling into the warm embrace of death, the film does not deviate from its own internal logic. There are clichéd elements, such as flashbacks and inspiring dreams, that feel fresh and honest because of that consistent logic and tone.
The Grey wisely centers on Ottway, played with great restraint by Liam Neeson. This lonely and depressed hired killer could easily have gone over the top in any of his lines. He is the one who helps the dying men come to peace with their fates. He is the one who teaches the survivors to stand up to the hulking gray wolves. Liam Neeson refuses to let his character break down emotionally in order to center the more unhinged personas of his fellow survivors. It is a nuanced and measured portrayal of a strong horror hero that will go down as one of the best performances in the history of the genre.
All of the great writing and acting in the world mean nothing if a horror film looks fake. The Grey's makeup and effects team did amazing work bringing the dangers of nature to life. From the increasing spread of frostbite and infected wounds on the survivors' faces to the glowing eyes and menacing presence of the wolves, the film's effects look real.
The wolf attacks are all the more impressive for their restraint. Yes, there is blood, but it's believable and consistent. A scratch isn't going to become a more effective attack an hour into the film the same way a body ripped apart isn't suddenly going to be able to fill a swimming pool just to ratchet up the tension in the final moments.
The Grey is a powerful, thoughtful, and terrifying survival horror film. It refuses to let the audience breathe because the characters on screen do not get a break. The effect is as cold as the frost on their beards and as uncomforting as the vision of your own demise. Only at the tail end of the closing credits (stay through to the end for the actual conclusion of the story) do you get a chance to come back to life.
Rating: 10/10
And yes, I know another post has a rating on it. LAMB traffic is good traffic.
