The Grey

THE GREY                              B-                     

USA  (117 mi)  2011  ‘Scope  d:  Joe Carnahan           Official site

An interesting mix of wilderness fable and grim psychological drama that tests the mettle of several hard core men working an oil rig in the remote, far north regions of Alaska, narrated by Liam Neeson as Ottway, a man running away from his own personal secrets.  This ragtag group of loners may interest some, described as “ex-cons, fugitives and men unfit for mankind,” but mostly they’re a bunch of drunkards and carousers who think of little other than pleasing themselves.  Hired to shoot wolves or other predators that may attack the men at work, Ottway is a trained marksman and outdoorsman.  Add this to the movies that make great use of snow, as nearly every image of this film shot in ‘Scope by Masanobu Takayanagi beautifully captures the immensity of the snow-filled landscape.  The set up is a plane back to civilization that mysteriously crashes, leaving but a handful of survivors who are immediately overcome by the harsh and brutal elements of the Alaskan wild, also a pack of giant-sized wolves that seem to have them surrounded.  John Carpenter’s ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976) immediately comes to mind, as the men must hunker down into a strategic bunker mentality to save themselves, where big shot heroes on their own are usually the first ones to make themselves easy targets.  One might wish Carpenter had the reins of this film, as he’s a master of suspense films.  Carnahan doesn’t disappoint, but the script does, adapted by the director along with short story writer Ian Mackenzie Jeffers from the latter’s work Ghost Walker.  The dialog never rises above ordinary, even as their circumstances are extraordinary, which is the film’s biggest drawback, as the extravagant landscape always overpowers the bleak interior drama. 

Once out in the frozen tundra, just seven men survive, where Ottway fends off an attack by wolves, helped by the intervention of others and wounded on his knee, but one of the others doesn’t make it through the night.  On Ottway’s recommendation, they make a break for the distant treeline, where his judgment as leader is immediately questioned, as these are not men used to paying other people’s notions any mind, but are outcasts and social misfits who follow their own instincts.  Nonetheless, in the run across the empty plain, the wolves pick off the weakest link, the one with the biggest mouth who lags behind, which leads to a ridiculous display of bravado, useless out there, as the wolves are closing in.  One by one, the men are being picked off, where all they have are primitive weapons of sticks to fend them off.  If truth be told, the over talkative early portion of the film is the least effective, as these men have little of interest to say, sounding very clichéd, but as their ranks grow thinner, the film takes on a more wordless existential quality which is a huge improvement, growing grimmer and bleaker by the minute.  The futility of their efforts begins to resemble André de Toth’s DAY OF THE OUTLAW (1959), where Robert Ryan leads a group of outlaws through a mountain pass impassable by the brutally harsh conditions of snow in winter, where one by one they start to die in the blistering cold where the wind is too ferocious to even light a fire.  These men in the Alaskan wilderness need fire to fend off the wolves and to keep from freezing to death. 

One must suspend belief to accept the premise of this film, as this does not at all represent the accurate size or look of Alaskan wolves, nor their pack behavior, as if they wanted to attack them all in one flurry, there are more than enough wolves to finish them off at any time, but generally wolves do not attack humans unless provoked.  In this film, rather than attack as a pack, which is their nature, they instead send out small scouting parties as the others look on, watching, which is simply a writer’s invention.  However, in this manner, the filmmaker is able to build and sustain tension, especially when only a few men are left, as the fatal consequences loom larger.  Using terror as the threat of the unknown, the attacks are a blur of indistinct shapes and sizes, where the evidence left behind is dismally gruesome.  Flashback sequences and hallucinations help portray the deteriorating state of mind, where the men grow delirious as well as exhausted from trying to walk through the snow to safety, hoping to find a lone hunter’s cabin around the next bend. Always holding out hope, while continually pressed into greater survival mode, the men are fully tested by the ominous void of impending gloom that hangs in the air.  The conditions are never anything but unrelenting and merciless, where God is inevitably challenged to show himself, as otherwise all is lost.  In the end, each man must face his own interior demons as he’s about to be engulfed by the unyielding indifference of the wild, as this barren landscape has withstood eons of insufferable winds and cold without any sign of man’s footprint. Interestingly, there’s a final shot that comes after the end credits roll.      

Unknown

UNKNOWN                          C+

USA  Great Britain  Germany  France  Canada  Japan  (113 mi)  2011  ‘Scope  d:  Jaume Collet-Serra

The film opens with a rush of energy that surprisingly gets you into the thick of the action right away, where Liam Neeson gets separated from his wife at a posh Berlin hotel once he realizes he left an important briefcase behind at the airport, heading back in a taxi without even letting her know.  Out of cell phone range and in a traffic jam, an impatient Neeson urges the driver to take alternative methods, sending a jolt of energy through the audience when the taxi spins out of control and heads over a bridge into the icy waters of the River Spree, where the driver (Diane Kruger) ingeniously manages to free herself and rescue her unconscious passenger before disappearing anonymously into the crowded city streets.  4 days later, Neeson awakes from a coma in a hospital, still forgetful of details but desperately needing to find his wife (January Jones), though she’s left no word that she’s looking for him.  When he bolts from the hospital to attend an international pharmaceutical convention at the upscale hotel where he was expected to deliver a speech, his wife doesn’t recognize him and another man (Aidan Quinn) has assumed his identity as her husband.  Leaving him the odd man out, none of this makes sense, yet he has no way of explaining who he is with little money and no identification, and even Google searches for his name and position have been replaced by photos of Quinn.  Who is this guy, and why all of a sudden does he suspect men are following him? 

This relatively young Spanish director does have an energetic flourish with speed and pace, accentuating the desperate straits of a man who has had his identity stolen from him, yet still has the smarts to pursue all the missing angles he can find, where a nurse at the hospital slips him the name of an underground former East German Stasi figure (Bruno Ganz) who has a way of finding people.  Ganz is terrific in the role and is easily the man of interest in this movie, as his home is lined with old Army photos and a wall filled with commendations.  He adds a well needed coherent literacy to the script about a man who is living in a muddled state of confusion.  When Neeson tracks down the taxi driver, who reluctantly agrees to help despite being an illegal Serbian worker who relentlessly avoids the cops, the paranoid mood escalates when two contract killers arrive unexpectedly at her doorstep which leads to a thrilling sequence where Neeson and the girl have to fight their way out of certain death.  At this point, the two are linked, where despite not knowing why they’ve been targeted, they are in the thick of it, followed immediately by a hair-raising car chase sequence right through the middle of Berlin’s crowded downtown streets, past historical relics such as the Victory Column and the Brandenberg Gate that leaves nothing but panic and destruction in their wake. 

Like Jason Bourne from THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002 – 2007) trilogy, Neeson continually has flashbacks, which are the only clues to his previous existence, reminders of a life he once knew, and the film is thrilling while Neeson attempts to make sense out of who he is, as Ganz pushes unorthodox secret buttons behind the scenes, but becomes all too predictable once he figures it out, where it’s literally handed to him on a platter of belated clues and explanations that really undermine the whole fun of the picture.  When it eventually comes down to just good guys against bad guys, that’s a whole lot less interesting than a throwback to the Cold War era style film presented in shattered pieces with fragmented images and delusional thoughts about a missing identity, where Neeson is constantly besieged by threats against his life while also trying to put together the missing mosaic of his apparently stolen life.  By the time Frank Langella arrives on the scene, the ending is deflated and all too contrived, like letting the air out of a balloon, but there’s plenty of fun while Neeson’s life is in turmoil, also excellent use of shots in the snow as well as ice flowing in the river.  Perhaps the thrill factor for the audience might never have diminished had the character been left “unknown” and in the dark, which also leaves open the possibility of a sequel, a concept the director has already embraced.