David O'ConnellThe Grey
February 13th 2012 22:17
Director Joe Carnahan, in his short career, has veered from the Good (Narc), to the Bad (Smokin' Aces) to the horrendously Ugly (The A-Team). Returning full circle with The Grey he thankfully proves his debut to be no mere fluke after all. The withering presence of a haunted Liam Neeson certainly helps smooth out the shortcomings of this film, an existential action piece that outwardly appears to be a tense Man vs. Nature depiction but is as much an examination of the internal conflicts of its chief protagonist.
Neeson is Ottway, one of a handful of survivors from an oil rigging crew after a rickety aircraft falls from the icy skies into an Alaskan Tundra graveyard. Isolated in a frozen no man’s land, they must contend with brutal conditions to survive though nemeses emerge in the shape of pitiless Timberwolves who take offence at their domain being breached by fleshy outsiders.
From the opening frames, Ottway’s haunted, tortured psyche is established by an effectively sparse voiceover that illustrates a floundering will to live. A separation from his presumably deceased wife - elliptically viewed in flashbacks - has almost drained this man of a reason to live, his psychological wounds cauterised by the oppressive environment.
The Grey is wonderfully tense, the heated interplay between the survivors charging the drama with anticipation of the mercenary foes lingering on their periphery. The set-pieces, in which survivalist decision-making raises individual fears, are dexterously handled by Carnahan, adding to the pervasive dread as the wolves close in for their sustenance.
Based on a short story by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers (who collaborated on the screenplay with Carnahan), The Grey (2012) gives enough snippets of background information to induce empathy with these men, especially the less rugged Talget (Dermot Mulroney). As they’re predictably reduced in numbers, we value their fates but none more so than that of the imposing central figure of Ottway who’s able to summon reserves of stamina to push on, his humanistic instincts still invested in preserving the life of those around him.
Even more compelling is Ottway's view of a corrupted higher power who he implores to expose itself in the face of his own mortality. It makes for riveting drama, proving that despite massive blips on Neeson’s radar (The A-Team, Clash of the Titans), the sheer physical presence of this man is enough to exert influence on the fate of modern action cinema. Adding palpable weight to the atmospherics is the finest score yet from German composer Marc Streitenfeld whose generally uninspiring recent work for Ridley Scott is cancelled out by a understated, haunted main theme and some superbly orchestrated atonal stirrings.
The Grey opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday, February 16.
| 52 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
