Thursday, January 26, 2012

The Grey....More like ..."The Letdown"


   If you have seen "Taken" then you know that Liam Neeson plays a great bad a$$. The Grey has all the makings of a "man against the elements, battle for life and death. If you've watched a trailer. The movie, unfortunately, doesn't deliver. The plot is OK. Liam plays an interesting character, but the movie lacks in many ways.
 The plot is a combo of "Alive" and "The Edge." Neeson is on a plane of workers that crashes into an undisclosed frozen wilderness. The men find themselves fighting the elements, wolves, and sometimes each other. One of the greatest lines I've heard in along time is uttered," In about 5 seconds I am going to beat the s@#& out of you and you will swallow a lot of blood." I will carry that one with me for awhile and coming from Liam Neeson it's believable.
The battle wolves hunt them. The men do not get along and I found myself curious, more so than caring, who will survive.

The film does have it's breath taking moments. The crossing of the canyon and the frozen tundra that they traverse. My problem with "The Grey" is the fact that I never became emotionally divested in the characters. The movie does it's best to show glimpses of their past stories, but I never found myself rooting for them to make it. It will make you jump at times and there are a few tense moments, but all in all I spent two hours waiting for a pay off that doesn't come. The only thing the movie did was make me appreciate the warm bed that I sleep in. In my opinion go see "Red Tails" instead or die hard Liam Neeson fans should just rent "Taken" again.

2 comments:

  1. I just saw this one last night. I thought the characters were believable (not overly but at least somewhat) and I did find myself rooting for them, as did my movie partner. Aside from that, I agree that the movie wasn't exceptional in any real way-although it DID include one of my movie faves (Neeson). I truly couldn't believe the endless trials and tribulations they encountered. If the "payoff" you refer to is survival, I'm completely with you there. Not the ending I expected but a reason to eat popcorn nonetheless;) And what about those wolves? Was it just me or were they lacking in the "look real" department???

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