*** out of (****)
Back in the summer of '10, I remember promptly awaiting for my ticket stub, unwillingly actually, for Carnahan's "The A-Team". To this day, I still find it a trashy, long, and overblown action extravaganza. I put it in my worsts of '10 list. Yes, I despised it THAT much. Fast- forward to '12 and I'm ready to put Carnahan's "The Grey" in my bests of '12 list thus far. "The Grey" is everything that "The A-Team" wished it could've been, and still leagues and miles better. It's action-packed, minus the gratuitous nature, it's impressively acted without giving off any pretentious undertones whatsoever, and it's consistently involving.
In Alaska, an oil drilling team struggle to survive after a plane crash strands them in the wild. Hunting the humans are a pack of wolves who see them as intruders.
Now onto the performers. With the six survivors, each and every one of them is fully developed to their greatest potential. It's quite remarkable to see that a film with such a heavy amount of characters still goes into fullest of depths to sustain each person. All did a fantastic job. As for the premise? Very intense, but well-written. The use of symbolism was truly something astonishing and coincided with the film beautifully. And how the script was executed? In such a taut and mesmerizing way. It was interesting to see the film progress and what moment would happen next.
The one element that really separates this film apart is how unpredictable it is. Most survival films tend to miss the mark on trying NOT to be given away, within the first fifteen minutes. Carnahan does a great job of misleading the viewer into what they initially thought what was going to occur on-screen.
With such solid film features, why the imperfect rating? For once, that ending. With such a bold project, that resolution is not only an uncompromising one, it's just a plain cop-out altogether. It's almost as if there was twenty more minutes added to "The Grey" and the director just cut it short and said "See you back next year for the sequel". That was insulting. Second, the pacing at points can be a downer. The film works as a whole, no doubt about it, but you had your scenes where you could dose off a bit or look at your watch. Fortunately enough, those moments are few and far between. And lastly, I thought the language was at times too vulgar. I understand the predicament and the cruel nature, but dropping an F-bomb five minutes or mentioning getting a piece of a woman's assets quite a few times was a bit redundant.
All in all, despite its flaws, "The Grey" is the first film of the new year that's not only been good, but has reached the impeccable heights of surpassing expectations. It might not end up on the best of year lists because this year is quite strong ("The Dark Knight Rises", "The Hobbit", "The Avengers", "The Amazing Spider Man", etc.), but if it does, I wouldn't be taken by surprise. Well done Carnahan.
Back in the summer of '10, I remember promptly awaiting for my ticket stub, unwillingly actually, for Carnahan's "The A-Team". To this day, I still find it a trashy, long, and overblown action extravaganza. I put it in my worsts of '10 list. Yes, I despised it THAT much. Fast- forward to '12 and I'm ready to put Carnahan's "The Grey" in my bests of '12 list thus far. "The Grey" is everything that "The A-Team" wished it could've been, and still leagues and miles better. It's action-packed, minus the gratuitous nature, it's impressively acted without giving off any pretentious undertones whatsoever, and it's consistently involving.
In Alaska, an oil drilling team struggle to survive after a plane crash strands them in the wild. Hunting the humans are a pack of wolves who see them as intruders.
Now onto the performers. With the six survivors, each and every one of them is fully developed to their greatest potential. It's quite remarkable to see that a film with such a heavy amount of characters still goes into fullest of depths to sustain each person. All did a fantastic job. As for the premise? Very intense, but well-written. The use of symbolism was truly something astonishing and coincided with the film beautifully. And how the script was executed? In such a taut and mesmerizing way. It was interesting to see the film progress and what moment would happen next.
The one element that really separates this film apart is how unpredictable it is. Most survival films tend to miss the mark on trying NOT to be given away, within the first fifteen minutes. Carnahan does a great job of misleading the viewer into what they initially thought what was going to occur on-screen.
With such solid film features, why the imperfect rating? For once, that ending. With such a bold project, that resolution is not only an uncompromising one, it's just a plain cop-out altogether. It's almost as if there was twenty more minutes added to "The Grey" and the director just cut it short and said "See you back next year for the sequel". That was insulting. Second, the pacing at points can be a downer. The film works as a whole, no doubt about it, but you had your scenes where you could dose off a bit or look at your watch. Fortunately enough, those moments are few and far between. And lastly, I thought the language was at times too vulgar. I understand the predicament and the cruel nature, but dropping an F-bomb five minutes or mentioning getting a piece of a woman's assets quite a few times was a bit redundant.
All in all, despite its flaws, "The Grey" is the first film of the new year that's not only been good, but has reached the impeccable heights of surpassing expectations. It might not end up on the best of year lists because this year is quite strong ("The Dark Knight Rises", "The Hobbit", "The Avengers", "The Amazing Spider Man", etc.), but if it does, I wouldn't be taken by surprise. Well done Carnahan.