Into the fray

PHOTO BY PHOTO BY KIMBERLY FRENCH; COURTESY OF SCOTT FREE PRODUCTIONS

THE GREY

Where is it playing?: Hi-Way Drive-In, Movies Lompoc, Santa Maria 10

What's it rated?: R

What's it worth?: $$6 (Steve)

What's it worth?: $$8 (Glen)

Director and co-writer Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces, The A-Team) directs Liam Neeson and Dermot Mulroney as two members of an Alaskan oil drilling crew that struggles to survive a plane crash in the wild, where they soon find themselves being hunted by a pack of wolves. (117 min.)

Glen What does it mean to die a good death? What does it mean to die poorly? We get to contemplate both as we watch the surviving members of a plane-crash-stranded Alaskan oil drilling crew slowly succumb to wild Alaska. Before that, however, we get a brief introduction to these unruly men who find themselves at the ass end of civilization, especially Ottway (Neeson), a brooding sniper for the oil company who’s supposed to kill the wolves that endanger his fellow oil workers’ lives. We watch him take out a charging wolf, then kneel paternally over its dying body as it breathes its final breath. Ottway is a man adrift. In flashback, we see his memories of the love of his life he “can’t get back.” He’s a discarded human being, one debating if he’s of any more use in this world. Then there’s the plane crash, and human survival instinct kicks in, and Ottway, who was ready to die yesterday, will fight tooth and nail to live. While it’d be easy enough to enjoy this film on its primal action flick level, there’s a lot more going on in this parable of man versus nature.

Steve I definitely have mixed feelings about this film, because on one hand I love all of the Liam Neeson movies that I’ve seen in the last couple of years, but I have a hard time with how the story makes out wolves to be these vicious man-hunters. It’s not like wolves have an easy time with their reputation as it is, and this film essentially makes them out to be horror movie monsters. What’s particularly compelling is the Moby Dick sort of role the Alpha wolf takes on, and with this in mind it’s a little easier to ignore the improbability of the wolves’ actions and be more involved in the internal struggles of all the men who survived the plane crash. I’d be willing to bet that a few survival experts would find the movie to be laughable, though, because the conditions are shown to be so horrible, yet only one of the men succumbs to cold and altitude. I’d imagine that the survival rate in reality would be much lower because of the weather, but then again we’re back to the point that the movie really isn’t about the wolves or the cold but rather how these men cope in a life-threatening situation. I do have to mention that the movie would’ve been a whole lot more enjoyable if it wasn’t for the rude threesome who sat right behind Glen and me. Isn’t there some sort of unspoken rule that when you’re in a near-empty theater, you don’t sit immediately in front of or behind other people?

Glen The wolves can be read as a metaphor for these men’s inner demons, the story itself more an allegory about our internal conflicts and how they can tear us apart. It’s certainly true that what these men endure is humanly impossible. You can’t survive a plunge into an icy river and live for long in sub-zero without a heat source and some dry clothes. There are also scenes with howling, frigid winds that suddenly die down when the script calls for a moment of intimacy. So it’s easy to dismiss the film as just another unbelievable action flick from a director whose last two films—Smokin’ Aces and The A-Team—were both a ton of fun but completely separated from reality. Here, I think Joe Carnahan, who co-wrote the script with Ian Mackenzie Jeffers based on the latter’s short story “Ghost Walker,” is going for something more philosophical. Is it entirely successful? No, but as Ottway runs from his wolf demons, it’s interesting to see where he runs to. I won’t ruin the ending for you, readers, but if you see the film, I think you’ll have something interesting to puzzle over. When we let our minds go to dark places, we shouldn’t be surprised to find dark ideas.

Steve I totally agree with what Glen has said above, but the problem is when one tries to showcase something as intimate as a man’s struggle with depression and suicide, the surrounding story shouldn’t distract as much as this one did. However, if we are to look at the film as being primarily philosophical, then the unrealistic bits can be more or less ignored. The Grey was previewed as being more of an action-adventure film, though, so this is probably why I’m having difficulty making the leap from adventure to philosophy. If you haven’t seen it yet, bear in mind that last sentence and perhaps you’ll leave the theater a little more satisfied than I did. Would I see this movie again? Probably, just to look at it in the light of the internal struggles rather than the external nonsense. It’s definitely worth seeing at a matinee, though, especially if you happen to like Neeson’s screen presence.

Glen Starkey is a New Times staff writer and Steve Miller is New Times’ staff photographer. Comment at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com and semiller@newtimesslo.com.