This movie already is one of the biggest surprises of 2012. Seriously, who expected much good from a movie that involved Liam Neeson and a couple of wolves. The movie sounded so unlikely and it was hard to imaging how they could turn it into a good one. But "The Grey" as it turns out is a highly entertaining one, that besides managed to be original as well.
It basically is a man, or in this case men, versus nature movie, in which a couple of plane crash survivors have to survive in the cold wilderness of Alaska. So the wolves are actually just a part of their problems and the movie involves a whole lot more of dangers. It's what gives the movie a sort of adventurous sense to it, when the characters try to reach safety. Its concept also makes this a really manly movie to watch, which is also not in the least thanks to Liam Neeson, who plays a great lead role and is a real tough guy in this movie. Age doesn't seem to hold him back. This guy is almost 60 now but he's actually being more awesome than ever before in movies.
But saying that this movie is a men versus nature movie really isn't covering what this movie is all about. It's a movie with an actual surprising amount of depth and good buildup to it. Director Joe Carnahan is mostly known as an action movie expert but with this movie he really takes his time to set up certain things. It's really a surprisingly well directed movie.
The depth mostly come from the movie its character, who basically all are some solid ones. Normally in these type of movies some character's only serve the purpose of ending up getting killed but this movie puts lots of time and effort into making all the character three-dimensional ones, which each their own distinctive personalities.
So the depth, the buildup and just its overall approach are quite surprising and certainly unique for a movie of this sort. If you take that all away, you would have had a very average movie, that would had gone straight to DVD, most likely. For the story itself is being quite simple and very straightforward.
But another thing the movie obviously has going for it is its high budget (well, for its genre at least). It's really a great looking movie, with also some convincing special effects in it at times and the great settings add to the movie its overall atmosphere and sense of desolation and almost constant danger.
This movie is some real good entertainment and it works out way better, more convincing and more original than you could imagine.
7/10
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