DVD Review: “The Grey”
A group of tough guys led by Liam Neeson plane-crash in the frozen wastes of Alaska and have to try to make their way back to civilization while being harried by a pack of vicious wolves. Let me be honest, there’s virtually no way they could make this movie so I wouldn’t enjoy it. They would have had to do something utterly childish, despicable and self-destructive like, I don’t know, include a shot of George W. Bush’s severed head on a pike, to alienate me from a story that — as a lefty friend said to me, rolling his eyes — “sounds right up your alley!”
But hurrah, they didn’t ruin it. The film is everything it oughta be and more. It’s tough, exciting and full of the sort of macho wisdom about struggle, strength, leadership, life and death that Hollywood seems to have all but forgotten. There’re no women who unrealistically prove themselves to be as tough as the men. There are no speeches about how wolves are really nice and only harm you if you drill for oil. There are no sub-plots about tolerance. In fact, there’s no tolerance at all — these are men, after all! There’s just gritty, exciting, bloody action punctuated by more or less realistic reflections on what matters in life.
Neeson is his usual great self, but kudos especially to director Joe Carnahan who has been going after the testosterone-fueled set with fun but not-quite efforts like Pride and Glory and Smokin’ Aces. This time he hits the target. Makes me look forward to his upcoming adaptation of Mark Bowden’s excellent book Killing Pablo.
Liam Neeson has become Hollywood’s “Man’s Man”. I have enjoyed his movies for awhile now. I am glad to see the rise of the action genre sans the PC nonsense that pervaded the late 80′s and the 90′s. The Grey was intense and dramatic. The only thing it really lacked was a clear cut message based upon a universal truth. What is the big take away from this movie, that nature is unforgiving and that Man’s only saving grace is his wit and determination? That is very Hobbs-esque, maybe its a lesson we have forgotten though.
I think we can chronicle the fall of the manly action movie by taking a look at Sly Stallone’s career arc. In 1976 Stallone starred in and directed Rocky. Where does he go from there? He continues his role as Rocky for the next 6 years and then he takes on the role of John Rambo. Its 1982 and the manly action film genre is still alive and kicking. Then something strange starts to happen. In 1985 Sly has two more movies come out, Rambo II and Rocky IV. The “tone” is noticably different in these movies and the lead role changed. John Rambo and Rocky are hairless, oily, tan, and hard bodied men. These guys looked like they were citizens of Venice Beach, not inner city Philladelphia or some small town in Oregon. These characters have gone from tormented, believable men and have turned into caricatures of men that were dubbed action heroes. Sly does Lock Up in 1989, a campy period piece about a prison fighter that is not very believable, more evidence the decline has already started. After Lock Up we see Sly in Tango and Cash, Rocky V, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man, The Specialist, and then Judge Dredd. That is a bad run of overly commercialized caricatured leads. The last role he does as an everyman is in Cop Land in 1997, otherwise his films have been a sea of flotsam that also includes The Expendables movies, another Rambo movie, and another Rocky movie. In summary, he was a strong lead as a “Man’s Man” from 1976 until about 1982. Though, I think it is more of him being a victim of the period. Not for a lack of talent on his part. The period of the action hero had begun by 1982 and we had plenty of them. What made these movies especially unbearable was the PC message that got intertwined into them during the 80′s and 90′s. They say art imitates life, some say life imitates art. Maybe we got to comfortable in the 80′s and 90′s and forgot about the struggles of life. Maybe, for a brief period of time, we allowed ourselves to cloud our minds with fantasies of utopian asexual societial roles and forgot about how hard life really is.
Should we applaud the return of the “Man’s Man” to Hollywood or should we see it as a harbinger of our struggles to come?
Wow, Mr. Klavan. I had a really different reaction. From my blog:
“Are you a self-absorbed baby boomer? Have things have gone so poorly for you, you’ve decided the universe sucks? Do you roll your eyes when simple-minded religious types talk about things like “faith”? This is the action flick for you.”
Whole review is here: http://two-masters.blogspot.com/2012/01/grey-nasty-brutish-and-shoulda-been.html
” There’re no women who unrealistically prove themselves to be as tough as the men. There are no speeches about how wolves are really nice and only harm you if you drill for oil. There are no sub-plots about tolerance. In fact, there’s no tolerance at all — these are men, after all! There’s just gritty, exciting, bloody action punctuated by more or less realistic reflections on what matters in life”.
Dear Klavan on the Culture:
You have a way with words. I won’t try to compete with your eloquence, but I will state that adding Liam Neeson makes anything better. So Batman Begins and Taken are incredibly entertaining. And Neeson should get the lion’s share of the credit for the entertainment value of the latter and a nice chunk for the former. Of course with Star Wars 1, I guess I’m claiming that it would have been even less bearable without him (that one’s harder to prove or even claim). And you’ve reminded me to add this movie to my Netflix queue.
Regards,
John
Give me a break. This was an utterly silly movie (albeit well-acted and tightly plotted; it was diverting). I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you were in a really credulous mood. Macho wisdom? Liam muttered every silly bromide short of “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” I was really rooting for that one.
To anyone who knows anything about North American wildlife or wilderness survival, this film is beyond stupid.
One of my favorite movies is Rob Roy.
“Honor is a man’s gift to himself.”
That, and cutting your foe from the shoulder to the navel with a heavy, mostly sharp weapon.
Agree … ROB ROY was/is one of my all time favorite movies … and Liam was perfect for the star role.
My wife hated this movie. I loved it. To Mr. Walsh, remember that it was a movie, not a documentary. Check reality at the door and let the entertainment ensue.
I did grant that the acting and plotting made it at least nominally diverting. But it was still stupid. Maybe your credulity is more flexible than mine, as I found there were just too many howlers –and I don’t mean wolves– for me to really enjoy this film.
“Liam Neeson has become Hollywood’s “Man’s Man”.”
Generally, yes. When he’s not saying Aslan is Muhammad. I’m STILL trying to figure that one out.
Mike Walsh, my joy, right on , right on. Far too many dumb things to list them all. Biggest: A. You NEVER leave the plane if it’s out in the open. Especially if it is a source of shelter, fuel and tools. B. If you’ve got duct tape, a bunch of guys and everyone has a knife, SPEARS!….and form a circle. Then it’s wolf steaks until help arrives. Geez. But as you say, literally every choice our alleged outdoor expert made was preposterously wrong rendering a willing suspension of disbelief impossible. My wife, who is a big fan of spooky films and Liam Neeson, enjoyed this. It was all I could do to keep my mouth shut and not ruin it for her. Disturbing the beloved’s blissful ignorance sometimes requires manly restraint bordering on the heroic.
Sorry Sir, I disagree.
Action ? yes . And no metrosexual preaching ? yes.
But the preaching is not there because the story itself is … metrosexual.
Review the very last scene.
He fell into the wolves’ den, he’s done. The last of many errors.
All of them lose their minds, make colossal mistakes, give up.
The movie says “fighting is useless”.
Somehow, I am not in the mood for that kind of message.
I haven’t seen the movie yet but since Neeson’s movies have always been good, I will watch and decide on my own if this one is also good.
I missed Grey… but your review makes me wish I hadn’t. Now I’ll have to wait for it to b/c available on Netflix and see at home.
I had a slightly different take as well. I hate a movie that insults my intelligence, and the idea of the surviving group roaming away from the plane made no sense to me. The airlines would have missed the plane and gone looking for it, sometime. With the black box as a homing beacon, it wouldn’t have taken long for help to arrive.
The wolves were unrealistically aggressive, given man not being a normal prey for them. I don’t believe they would have attacked a group of people, loners maybe. Wolves attacking people probably happens, but it is a somewhat rare occurrence.
It kinda reminds me of another movie I watched recently, can’t remember the name, but the players were seeking to cut power to a building, and were digging in a phone distribution box. But hey, they were wires!