2012 Viewing Journal #6

"The Grey"

Liam Neeson can be pretty badass, and while I certainly dig him in this new Joe Carnahan flick, I'd hesitate calling 'The Grey' a particularly good movie. It has moments, plenty of them in fact, and tonally, it's certainly consistent, which is to say, dire. But its narrative push errs on the side of inevitability, which can be tough to pull off.

It's greatest strength is the natural element in which we find our characters. I'm not sure I remember a more damning exterior environment then the bleak wilderness portrayed in the film, however, I'm also not sure I've ever doubted the effect such an environment had on human bodies. While I'm admittedly basing my opinion on other movies (Steven Seagal's 'On Deadly Ground', one of them), I just can't believe these fellows would have survived a night in this Alaskan locale. What do I know, though? I just found myself comparing Liam Neeson's beard-ice to that if Kurt Russell in 'The Thing', and it doesn't come close to competing.