The Grey

The Grey
Promotional poster
Directed by	Joe Carnahan
Produced by	Joe Carnahan Jules Daly Mickey Liddell Ridley Scott
Screenplay by	Joe Carnahan Ian MacKenzie Jeffers
Based on	Ghost Walker by Ian MacKenzie Jeffers
Starring	Liam Neeson Frank Grillo Dermot Mulroney Dallas Roberts Joe Anderson Nonso Anozie James Badge Dale
Music by	Marc Streitenfeld
Cinematography	Masanobu Takayanagi
Editing by	Roger Barton Jason Hellmann
Studio	Liddell Entertainment Scott Free Productions 1984 Private Defense Contractors
Distributed by	Open Road Films
Release date(s)	January 27, 2012 (2012-01-27)
Running time	117 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$25 million
Box office	$22,741,284

The Grey is a 2012 American thriller drama film directed by Joe Carnahan and starring Liam Neeson. It follows a number of men stranded in Alaska after a plane crash, who are forced to survive using little more than their wits as a pack of wolves stalk them. The film is based on the short story "Ghost Walker" by Ian MacKenzie Jeffers.

Plot

John Ottway (Liam Neeson) works in Alaska hunting the wolves that threaten an oil drilling team. On his last day on the job, Ottway pens a letter to his wife Ana (Anne Openshaw) and plans to commit suicide. While holding his gun to his mouth, however, Ottway hears the howl of a wolf, which stops him.

Upon the completion of the job, the team and Ottway embark on a plane home in a blizzard. The plane cannot withstand the weather and it crashes in the middle of nowhere. Ottway awakens and finds Todd Flannery (Joe Anderson) along with Talget (Dermot Mulroney), Diaz (Frank Grillo), Hendrick (Dallas Roberts), Burke (Nonso Anozie), Hernandez (Ben Bray) and a dying Lewenden (James Badge Dale). Lewenden is mortally injured and Ottway knows he is going to die. He calms Lewenden, who eventually accepts his situation and dies peacefully.

Ottway assumes leadership of the group and sets the survivors to task collecting material for a fire. While Ottway is searching for wood, he sees a woman in need of help, but soon finds her being eaten by a gray wolf who also attacks Ottway. He is quickly rescued by the others and explains that they are most likely standing in the wolves' territory and are unwelcome. After getting a fire started, the survivors take turns keeping watch. While urinating during watch, Hernandez is killed by a wolf. The remaining survivors find his body in the morning and Ottway suggests they leave the crash site because they are wide open to attack. Diaz questions Ottway's leadership and begins defying his orders. Before they leave, Ottway and the others remove the wallets from many of the bodies with the intent of eventually returning them to surviving family members.

While hiking across the snow, Flannery falls behind and is killed by three wolves. The rest continue on and make camp in the woods, where tension between Ottway and Diaz comes to a head as the survivors create makeshift weaponry. Diaz threatens Ottway with his knife and elbows Talget in the face, but is ultimately disarmed and overtaken by Ottway. The wolves are close by and the survivors meet the alpha male wolf who sends an omega male to test Diaz. However, the survivors are able to kill the wolf and eat it. Diaz severs its head and throws it back to the wolves as a symbol of defiance. The group bonds over personal stories while Burke begins to suffer and hallucinate from the high elevation. A blizzard approaches the camp and Burke eventually falls unconscious and freezes to death.

Further in their travels, the dwindling survivors come across a high canyon wall within which, screened by trees, they identify a river and a possible route of escape. Ottway suggests having one person jump to the trees on the opposite side to secure a line as a means of traverse. Hendrick leaps to the trees and secures the finish end of the traverse. Diaz and Ottway make it across the line to join Hendrick, but Talget, who is afraid of heights, loses his glasses on the way and freezes out of fear. He reluctantly continues across, but soon finds himself caught in the makeshift rope by an accessorizing ring attached to his boot. Talget struggles to untangle himself, but the strained line breaks and he crashes through the trees to the ground. Badly wounded, Talget is attacked and dragged away by wolves. While attempting to save Talget, Diaz falls from the tree and severely injures his knee.

The three remaining continue their trek and make it to the river, but an exhausted Diaz can make it no further, preferring to stay and die than go on when he has nothing waiting for him at home. Hendrick tries to convince Diaz to carry on, but Ottway tells him it is futile. They give each other final goodbyes and Diaz is left on the riverside as crackling of branches caused by wolves are heard in the distance.

Ottway and Hendrick continue, but are soon chased by the pack again. Fleeing, they both fall in the river and Hendrick gets his foot stuck between underwater rocks and drowns despite Ottway's attempts to save him. Ottway then curses God and asks for his help, but receives no response. Ottway continues on, but seems to despair, dropping to his knees. He pulls out each wallet collected from the dead, examines the personal photographs inside them and places them in a pile against the snow, adding his own wallet and letter to the pile. While he is going through the wallets, the pack of wolves surround him, leading Ottway to discover that he has walked right into their den. He is soon spotted by the Alpha male and the other members of the pack back off. Ottway has a vision of his wife, wherein she is dying on a hospital bed.

In the final scene, Ottway decides to fight for his life, emptying the contents of the backpack he's carrying. He smashes miniature alcohol bottles, tapes them to his fist, and a knife to his other fist, and recites his father's poem aloud. The film then ends with a Ottway & the Alpha lunging at each other, followed by a cut to black, and the film's credits. Along with the post-credits scene, the film's ending is open to interpretation and is the subject of much debate and controversy.

Cast

• Liam Neeson as John Ottway
• Frank Grillo as John Diaz
• Dermot Mulroney as Talget
• Dallas Roberts as Pete Hendrick
• Joe Anderson as Todd Flannery
• Nonso Anozie as Burke
• James Badge Dale as Lewenden
• Anne Openshaw as Ottway's Wife
• Jacob Blair as Cimoski
• Ben Bray as Hernandez

Production

The Grey reunites director Joe Carnahan with producers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott as well as actor Liam Neeson, who collaborated on the 2010 action film The A-Team. The film initially imagined a much-younger lead character and Bradley Cooper, who also worked with Carnahan on The A-Team, was cast in the lead role, but he was eventually replaced by Neeson.

Filming began in January 2011 and ended in March. The film was shot in forty days. Though set in Alaska, the film was shot in Smithers, British Columbia, Canada, with several scenes being shot at the Smithers Regional Airport.

Release

The world premiere of The Grey took place on January 11, 2012, at the Regal Cinemas Theater in Los Angeles. The film was released nationwide on January 27, 2012.

Marketing

Promotion for The Grey in part targeted Christian groups by issuing a "film companion," which highlighted the spiritual value of the film. Marketing also partnered with The Weather Network to highlight the hazardous filming conditions. Open Road incorporated comments tweeted by movie critics to promote the film in the third trailer for The Grey. This was the first time tweets from and Twitter handles for professional critics had been used in a film trailer.

The film may return to theatres in October for an Oscar push.

Music

The Grey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Film score by Marc Streitenfeld
Released	February 14, 2012 (2012-02-14)
Length	35:09
Label	Lakeshore
Producer	Marc Streitenfeld

The score for The Grey will be released on CD February 14, 2012, however, a digital version available for download was released on January 24, 2012 in advance of the film.

All songs written and composed by Marc Streitenfeld. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Writing the Letter"	2:00
2.	"Suicide"	1:44
3.	"You are Gonna Die"	3:14
4.	"Walking"	1:45
5.	"Eyes Glowing"	1:25
6.	"The Morning After"	2:57
7.	"Collecting Wallets"	1:53
8.	"Wife Memory"	1:08
9.	"Life and Death"	2:52
10.	"Lagging Behind"	1:53
11.	"Running from Wolves"	1:46
12.	"Daughter Appears"	2:13
13.	"Last Walk"	2:33
14.	"Memorial"	3:41
15.	"Alpha"	2:16
16.	"Into the Fray"	1:49

Reception

The film has earned mostly positive reviews from critics. As of February 2, 2012, The Grey holds a 77 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 146 reviews with the consensus stating: "The Grey is an exciting tale of survival, populated with fleshed-out characters and a surprising philosophical agenda." Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars.

Dissenters' reviews tend to focus on the film's abrupt ending and perceive the emotional and philosophical undertones as unnecessary. Siobhan Synnot of The Scotsman gave the film two stars, commenting that "On the down side, there's a lot of dull pretentious philosophising about the heartlessness of nature and god. On the up side, you get to see a man punch a wolf in the face." Referring to the film's ending, Matty Kelley of Wrentham Patch stated, "Ever see the movie The Edge starring Anthony Hopkins? Think that, but not as good."

Controversy

On January 19, 2012, The Province featured an article about the movie buying four wolf carcasses from a local trapper, two for props for the movie and two wolves for the cast to eat. This angered environmentalists and animal activists, who were already irate that the movie depicts wolves in a negative light, specifically at a time when gray wolves had recently been removed from the Endangered Species Act in many western states.^{[citation needed]}

In response to the portrayal of wolves in the film, groups including PETA and WildEarth Guardians started drives to boycott the film.

Open Road has responded by placing a fact sheet about the gray wolf on the film's official website, with cooperation from the Sierra Club. Carnahan has responded by downplaying the significance of the violent wolves portrayed in the film, instead highlighting the significance of man's interior struggle for survival.

External Links

• Official website
• The Grey at the Internet Movie Database
• The Grey at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Grey at Box Office Mojo
• The Grey at The Numbers
• The Grey - Outside Look at the Film