The Grey (2011)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  10 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: As far as I'm concerned, Joe Carnahan's 'The Grey,' is honestly one of modern cinema's true masterpieces as it is a deeply meaningful and spiritual film that first and foremost translates the power of natural course against the strength of human spirit in a way that's incredibly affecting and genuinely meditative. Yes here John and his team are stranded in an extremely hostile wilderness surrounded by one of nature's most terrifying beasts, and what this story does by stripping back these characters to their most basic instinctive animalistic drives to survive or die translates the film perfectly into a meaningful study of the human and animal condition, the all-consuming power of nature, faith, and ultimately the reason we carry on living whilst serving as a reminder of man's insignificance in the grander scheme of things despite whatever we may desperately cling onto. This is only successful though because it's all largely done through the power of visual cinema or sound design where the natural environment is perfectly all-consuming and the largely physical performances (Liam Neeson does a particularly astounding, career-defining job) mean you can relate to and engage with the characters but also crucially imprint your own personal experiences onto the thematic seeds that are planted brilliantly by the script. The perfectly-portrayed characters also hook you in perfectly, and in the end the way the film deals its powerful themes so perfectly and builds an emotional and spiritually reflective narrative from them makes it one of the best in recent years, and one of my personal favourites that has me crying like a baby throughout.
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: There is one moment where the plot takes a pretty jarring and ridiculous miss-step, but the film soon manages to recapture that powerful hold on its audience.
  VERDICT: A deeply powerful, meaningful and spiritual film about the power of natural course and man's part within it, 'The Grey,' is an underrated beast of a film that uses the power of visual cinema to build something truly profound.

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