THE GREY

US, 2012, 117 minutes, Colour.
Liam Neeson, Dallas Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Nonso Anozie, Joe Anderson, James Badge Dale.
Directed by Joe Carnahan.

What could be worse than sitting through a horror film feeling scared?

The answer is sitting through a very well made film that has a group in a desperate situation that we can identify with and hope never to be in. But, just imagining it and seeing the terrifying experience on the screen means real horror, not make-believe ghosts and vampires. This is what watching The Grey is like. Praise to the skills of the film-makers and the performances. But, you may not want to stay.

Many decades ago, this reviewer read a book that has stayed in the imagination all these years. It was My Antonia by Willa Cather. The part that was terrifying in the book is where a married couple, travelling through a forest in the dark and the snow, is set upon by a pack of ravenous wolves and ravaged to death. Wolves are not to be danced with. They can be terrifying and their claw and teeth cruelty can be horrifying.

A group of rugged men on an Alaskan oil site crash land in the ice and snow. How can those not killed survive? Will they survive? They have landed in a wolf-infested area, huge wolves who are flesh eaters and pursue humans.

Ordinarily one would comment on the beauty of the Alaskan snowscapes, but we are too busy watching the men, on the lookout for the wolves and feeling the dread of their presence, their howling and the viciousness of their attacks on the men.

On board is Ottway (Liam Neeson), a hunter, a sniper for the company. However, initially we see him in despair because of his ill wife, writing her a letter and then contemplating shooting himself. However, after the crash, he assumes the leadership role and generally the men follow him – the man who doesn’t fights when taunted that he is afraid, and he finally admits that he is.

This is one of those ‘lost patrol’ stories where individuals are picked off one by one. During the attempt to reach an outpost, we get to know the men, some quite well. They also do a fair amount of reflecting on the meaning of what has happened to them and on questions of God. This reaches a climax when Ottway looks at the sky and challenges God to do something now – but the sky does not change and Ottway lets out a desperately angry and abusive outburst against God.

This means that there is some reflection during the film, moving it to a deeper level than just outwitting (or not) the wolves.

Co-written by director Joe Carnahan with the author of the original short story. Carnahan’s previous film (also with Liam Neeson) was the explosion-filled big screen version of The A Team. This film has more substance and requires more fortitude to watch it.

1. The impact? A film of endurance? Extreme? The existential philosophical dimensions? Human interest? Survival? Issues of God?

2. The location photography, Alaska, the mountains, cliffs, the open areas, the forest, the river? Snow and ice? Real?

3. The insertion of the flashbacks? The brevity? Father and son? Wife and husband? The respite from the endurance? Revelation of character? Warm light compared with the icy light? Relationships, sadness, Ottway, his wife’s illness? The presentation of the photos and the families of each of the men? Musical score?

4. The title, wolves, the leader of the pack, the pack itself? Attacking humans? Cruel, vicious? Claw and teeth? Mangling the humans? The realism of the attacks and the deaths? The title and its symbolic meaning? The grey, pursuing the men, the confrontation, the fight – and the finale, Ottway winning or not?

5. Ottway, his comments about life, his work on the oil site, the types of men, in prison, free? His writing the letter to his wife, heartfelt? Losing her? The nature of the illness? His tenderness in the letter, his sense of despair, sitting in the bar, drinking, the fights, his leaving, the memories of his shooting, the dead wolf, the grey? His hunting skills? His decision to die, the rifle in his mouth? The wolf breathing? His not killing himself?

6. The plane, the various men, their types, raucous, talks and jokes, Ottway wanting to sleep, Flannery and his youthfulness, talking, moving seat? The staff?

7. The trouble with the engine, the wings, the fire, Ottway and his waking from a dream? The panic, the crash, the darkness?

8. Ottway and his waking in the snow, alone? Audience identifying with him, the isolation, the experience of the crash, the implications of being alone, the vast terrain, having to cope?

9. The plane, the destruction, Ottway and his discovering the men, lifting the weight to free the man, the pain, survival, counting the men? His assuming the leadership? The men and the deaths at the plane?

10. The plan, to find an outpost, the reality of the wolves, Ottway supplying the information, the fear of the wolves, the endurance that would be needed?

11. Flannery’s death, the reactions? The need to build a fire? Talking amongst themselves, their reflections on what was happening, the reasons? The decision not to stay near the plane?

12. The walk across the snow, the hovering wolves, the beginning of the pursuit, the attacks, deaths? The man going out to urinate in the snow – and his being attacked?

13. Ottway as leader, his dealing with the situations, the information, the fire, gathering the sticks, hiding in the forest? The reaction of Diaz? His fears?

14. The character of Diaz, his background, the attack on Ottway, his masking his fear, the attack, surviving? His admitting the truth? His collaboration with the group? The climbing, the injury? His being unable to walk any further, sitting down to die, telling people his name was John, shaking their hands, the pathos of his death?

15. Burke, the black man, big, affected by the altitude, his collaboration with the group, his beginning to hallucinate, his death? Ottway and his wallet?

16. The wolf hanging, its destroying the men, the decision that the men should eat the food, the ironic comments about it, gristle? Diaz and his chopping the head, throwing it defiantly to the wolves? Their hostile reaction, baying?

17. Talget, his glasses, his hand and the attack, his reflections on the situations, his mediation? The collaboration for the heights(**??) , wanting to go last, his fears, his glasses falling, his own fall, the injuries, memories of his daughter? The wolves?

18. Hendricks, his being helpful, collaborating with the group, his diving with the rope, tying it to the tree, wanting to save everyone? Surviving with Ottway and Diaz, watching Diaz die, his name, the wolves, his diving into the river, his foot being caught? Ottway trying to save him, drowning?

19. The effect on Ottway, his being the lone survivor, his talk about death, God, Heaven? His reflections, his shouting abuse against God, challenging him?

20. Ottway’s father, the scenes of childhood, the flashbacks, the poem, going into the fray, living and dying? The best fight? His leadership, his help for the men, the final confrontation of the wolf – and the film ending? The post-credits of the glimpse of the wolf?

21. Audiences having to cope with the reality, the realistic horror, pain and death in such situations and terrains?