The Grey

Of late, Liam Neeson has seemed more interested in taking a paycheck for pulp action flicks such as "Taken" and "Unknown" and upcoming unpromising titles such as "Wrath of the Titans" and "Battleship," a film based on a board game. But "The Grey," while falling into the action genre, at least gives him an intriguing character to play, and he easily rises to the challenges posed by this rugged, heavy-testosterone adventure. On paper it doesn't sound promising, especially with director Joe Carnahan attached; Carnahan is a helmer whose early promise with "Narc" fell short in such studio flicks as "Smokin' Aces" and the Neeson-led "The A-Team." But this reunion with Neeson seems to have gotten both their respective cinematic juices flowing.

Neeson plays an ace hunter brought in to kill wolves that are threatening a group of fellow oil company employees working in remote Alaska. His John Ottway isn't your typical Chuck Norris–style action hero. He has a mysterious past and a current will not to live. When the group's plane crashes in an isolated area, his survival skills come to the fore, and he becomes the de facto leader of the eight men who didn't die on impact. The core of their problem is the scary pack of wolves whose cries carry with them the threat of an impending attack, keeping the motley crew, along with the audience, on edge. Aside from Neeson, the supporting cast is able but full of stereotypical characters, including the hot-tempered, violent ex-con (Frank Grillo) and a serving of stock figures played by Dallas Roberts, Joe Anderson, James Badge Dale, and a nearly unrecognizable Dermot Mulroney. Their sole purpose is to act as potential dinner for the wolves, and their fates are mostly predictable.

The script is based on Ian Mackenzie Jeffers' short story "Ghost Walker" and co-written by Jeffers with Carnahan. It leans heavily to poetic man-versus-nature passages and levels of pretension broken up by the director's penchant for excruciatingly violent scenes that might turn off a squeamish audience drawn to the less obvious elements of the story. Where it goes very right, besides in Neeson's performance, is in the portrayal of the wolves, which come off more sympathetic than many of the human characters on display. Also highly impressive is the plane crash, which stands as one of the most realistic and frightening ever put on film. Don't expect to catch this one on an airplane.

All in all, "The Grey" is watchable and entertaining, if sometimes too slow and full of itself. Neeson really sells it, and for that, fans of this fine actor have much to be thankful.

Genre: Action
Written by Joe Carnahan and Ian Mackenzie Jeffers
Directed by Joe Carnahan
Starring Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, Joe Anderson, Frank Grillo