What does it mean, on a spiritual and moral level, to be a man? What is our place in nature? When all the chips are down, what do we cling to as the measure of our character and worth as we leave the final mark of our very existence? These are the lofty questions posed by The Grey, the new film by director and co-writer Joe Carnahan, based on a short story called “Ghost Walker” by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers (who also co-wrote the screenplay).
It should be noted that one of the questions not answered by the movie is, “How awesome would it be to have grizzled badasses punch wolves in the face?”, as some of the marketing for the film seems to suggest. This is a (purportedly) realistic survival adventure with action elements, devoid of Hollywood sheen and swashbuckle.
Liam Neeson (working with Carnahan again after The A-Team) stars as John Ottway, a melancholy security guard of sorts at an oil rig in Alaska. It’s his job to protect the workers from the nasty wolves that periodically get too close to the installation. The film opens with Ottway narrating what is essentially a suicide note to his wife, glimpsed in flashbacks. We don’t know what happened to her, or them, but we know it can’t be good. He hates his job, and his co-workers—a bunch of rowdy ex-cons and depressives like him. After he somewhat inexplicably aborts the suicide attempt, he and a team from the rig are on a flight back to Anchorage when the plane crashes, stranding him and a handful of survivors in the harsh, wolf-infested wilderness.
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