Cool News
Nordling Says THE GREY Is The First Great Movie Of 2012!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Nordling here.
Yeah, yeah. It's easy to say in January about the first great movie of 2012, but there it is. If January is any indication of what kind of movie year we're going to have, I think 2012 may go down as being exceptional in the quality of films we'll get this year, and the fact that it will be a full, consistent year, instead of spots of good movie releases, makes me happy. We got HAYWIRE, Steven Soderbergh's foray into action filmmaking, and it's really good. And then we get Joe Carnahan's THE GREY, which on its surface seems to be a man-against-nature movie, but is so deeply resonant, and full of great characters and acting, and a towering performance by Liam Neeson, who gives us something as iconic as Clint Eastwood or Sean Connery. No, I'm not being hyperbolic. This, along with Oskar Schindler, may just be the role he's most remembered for.
I may have to dive into a bit of spoiler territory in writing this review. See, the trailers are doing a bit of disservice when showing some of the moments of the movie. Sure, THE GREY is absolutely an adventure film, and Liam Neeson going glass-knuckled against a pack of wolves is in there - but without the context of the scene it's practically meaningless. In the trailer, it just looks like a moment of Neeson badassery. But as it plays out in the film, it's so much more significant in what it represents. And yet, I'm certain that audience members may feel cheated when they finally do come across that scene, but emotionally, it's a moment of pure triumph and a raging against the dying of the light. Or, as Ottway's (Neeson) father so eloquently puts it in a poem that he wrote in Ottway's youth:
Once more into the fray
Into the last good fight I'll ever know
Live and die on this day
Live and die on this day
Ottway is a haunted man - haunted by his past and full of regret. Much of the narration of the film is through Ottway's letter to his wife, and he is a man that seeks solitude. You get the idea that something terrible has happened in Ottway recently, and now he is past trying to make amends for it. Ottway spends his days as a sharpshooter for the oil companies that are drilling in the area; keeping the wolves at bay while the men work. Ottway and the other men board a flight to Anchorage for some rest and relaxation, but fate plays its hand, and in one of the film's more intense sequences, the plane crashes violently.
The other survivors - Diaz (Frank Grillo), the resident tough guy; Heinrick (Dallas Roberts), a man of faith; Talget (Dermot Mulroney) who misses his daughter and is desperate to get back to her; and Burke (Nonso Alozie) who catches ill and tries to endure the bitter cold - team together to try to make it to some kind of civilization. But all around them, they hear the howls and see the movement. They have wandered into the wolves' territory, and they are not welcome. The wolves, done with CGI as well as modelwork, are truly terrifying, and Carnahan plays the tension and unease like a conductor doing a symphony. You never know what will happen next, and there are moments of pure fright in THE GREY that will make many audience members jump. THE GREY delivers on its thrills. Ottway must lead this ragtag group of men into safety, even as he must overcome his own personal demons to do so.
But it's the deeper emotional truths of THE GREY that boost the film into something more than a routine man-vs.-nature movie. THE GREY is about something - it's about man's willingness to live despite the odds, it's about how a person can relate to a God that is seemingly absent, and the struggle to make sense of it all when everything you've seen and felt simply doesn't. Joe Carnahan and Ian Mackenzie Jeffers' script (based on Jeffers' short story "Ghost Walker") goes much more in depth into the characters and their feelings than is normal in a movie like this, and that gives it a power that makes THE GREY a more fulfilling experience. All the characters feel genuine and real, and not simple caricatures. So when death strikes, you feel it. There is one scene in particular, as Ottway tries to talk a man through his own death, that is shocking and powerful and true. Seeing that scene, and a few others in the film, it's hard not to reflect on Neeson's own recent losses in his life, and watching him channel that emotion into his performance is at times difficult to watch.
THE GREY is Joe Carnahan's best film, flat out. His work here is terrific - not only does he get great performances from his actors, but the sheer difficulty of the shoot comes through in the film. The weather you see in THE GREY is real, and you can feel that wind cut through you as you see it. It would be awesome if theaters played THE GREY with the air conditioner going full blast, just to get a taste of it. The wolves, a mixture of CGI and puppetry, are scary and well done - they make logical sense in the film, even if your preconceived notions of how wolves behave conflict with the movie. The wolves can be taken as metaphor or as reality - it's all in how you want to perceive it. Regardless, they work.
And then there is Liam Neeson, who is tremendous here. There is so much raw power and emotion in his work that sometimes you want to look away, especially in a scene where he rages against God for everything that's happened. You can imagine that he thought similar thoughts as the tragic events of his recent loss happened to him. But he puts it all in his performance, and the result is something iconic and one that I feel that he'll be remembered for. I'm not kidding when I compare Neeson's work here to Eastwood or Connery - he delivers at exactly that level and I'm so happy that he's become, in his later years, a surrogate for those icons.
I hope people embrace the film for what it is and not for what they expected in the trailers. THE GREY is very much a poem, a character study, and in its quiet moments finds true grace. It's also a riveting adventure, a scary thriller, and a powerful drama. It is a terrific film, and I have the feeling that when we look back on it later in the year it will only grow in stature and importance. Ernest Hemingway would have approved of THE GREY.
-
+ Expand All
-
Jan 26, 2012 9:36:17 PM CST
Why does this same reviewer keep posting multiple articles for The Grey?
by el_choppah
-
TOTAL
FUCKING
DESTRUCTION.
-
Jan 26, 2012 9:53:19 PM CST
I am pretty sure if there even exists such a thing as sharpshooters
by tritium
hired to protect Arctic drill teams...it would be to guard against Polar bears, NOT wolves.
-
...count me in. A comic on the subject: http://www.cinemabums.com/?p=210
-
I live in Yellowknife NWT, where we had 3 planes crash over this past summer.
Seeing the trailer to this film struck really close to home for me as flying in and out of mining camps is a big part of the industry here.
The community is very close knit, and practically everyone knew someone who died in each crash.
I'm very glad to hear that this isn't just some adventure movie, but deals with mature issues in a serious way. -
because he got to see it early.
-
Yes, Neeson lost his wife, Natasha Richardson, to a ski accident in 2009, but this movie is no meditation on life imitating art imitating mourning; His character's grief is there for the same reason it is in a vintage Mel Gibson action flick: to establish our antihero's state of desperate cunning.
THE GREY is just another mashup of monster movie, psycho-drama, and mawkish bromance.
Here's the jest (spoilers): Neeson plays Ottway, a sharpshooting wolf exterminator for a drilling operation somewhere above the Arctic Circle. In voiceover, he tells us that the remote outpost attracts "outcasts, rejects, convicts, assholes - men unfit for mankind". Strap in for a subzero DIRTY DOZEN! Their plane crashes and these hard-luck bastards have to make it back to their outpost through a pack of pissed off wolves (because wolves, we're advised, are the only animals "that will seek revenge" ...I shit you not).
From here the action takes a turn for the preposterous. We're not just talking standard moviemaking concessions like hoods down and coats blowing open in minus-50-degree gale. We're talking hand-to-hand combat with animatronic wolves that behave less like canines than like frenzied barracuda. We're talking uncalled-for stunts like a running leap off a cliff when a simple rappel would suffice.
This sort of thing - demonized wildlife, VERTICAL LIMIT-style acrobatics - can be entertaining, of course, as long as no one takes himself too seriously. Yet, Carnahan is determined to prove he's deep, and he's anxious that you not miss any of that depth. He has one guy actually scream to the wolves "You're not the animals, WE'RE the animals!" This same dude, as he dies, is revealed to have NO MAS tattooed on his neck. No, really. And his demise follows an exchange in which the men, tearing up, share their first names for the first time - a scene, you think, that must have been workshopped at America's last Iron John retreat.
Yeah, the cinematography is stellar. But, it actually works AGAINST the movie because it hints at a version that could have been a fraction as violent and twice as frightening.
And Neeson's performance is very good as well, if only for the fact that he's actually convincing as he recites, for the third or fourth time, a poem attributed to Ottway's dad, the one Nordling posted up there - an eighth-grader's parody of Shakespeare's Henry V. -
Don't forget Liam has already got a place in the heart of every Action Film fan, if only for his telephone chat with the bad gut...I will ind you - and I WILL kill you!
-
Because your comment makes more sense if I picture a drunk guy saying it.
-
Several reports of one, wondering if it's worth sticking around for
-
Better than what, Smokin Aces and The A Team?
Does Anthony Hopkins get the bear in the end? -
Jan 26, 2012 10:52:56 PM CST
I'm jazzed about this movie, don't even know why, wait, yeah I do, it's Neeson.
by notcher
Friday is almost heeeeeeere!!!!!!! BRING IT!!!!
-
Makes me wanna see it even more!!!!
-
Jan 26, 2012 10:59:35 PM CST
I do have to give Carnahan props for 'Narc'. I did like that a lot.
by sailor_ripley
Has anyone out there seen Haywire? Is it worth seeing in the theater?
-
and I would bludgeon your skull into fluid with a crowbar a hundred times over if I could.
I am seeing this on Sunday and as someone that has gone through multiple losses in my life the last several years I know this film and Liam's performance will resonate with me. I can't wait to see it. -
Haywire is a comedic 90 mins of Gina Carano beating up men with her legs and body and it might give u a slight bonelet. The story is silly and absurd but she beats down the cast with her pussy symbolically. Be drunk when you see it like I was and you will love it and cackle.
-
I'm not sure if that's a recommendation or not, but I'll probably check it out. Action movies have just become really boring and uninteresting lately.
-
is you can actually fucking see all the action and fighting clearly when it happens. A lot of it is *GASP* stationary shots on the action and when it's a handheld cam it doesn't shake around like the cameraguy is wanking it to shemale porn. It was very relieving to see an action film shot coherently for once and not like some ADD clusterfuck.
-
It's fucking awesome!!!! Fincher is a great filmmaker, PERIOD!!!
-
Jan 26, 2012 11:45:40 PM CST
That's the vibe I got from seeing the trailer a while ago in the theater.
by sailor_ripley
Fight scenes/choreography that make sense and are shot coherently and patiently. Soderbergh knows what the fuck he's doing, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. That's what I was hoping to hear. It is kind of ironic that the Bourne films are some of my favorite recent action films, considering the action is shot in pretty much the opposite way.
-
Most likely you are watching a commercial right now. IFC has to be the most maddening station, They show some great movies, but I don't get them in HD and they show commercials like every 5 minutes of film.
-
I don't have cable anymore because I just use netflix and hulu+ and amazon prime. But I thought IFC still showed movies without ads to interrupt them. I remember when fucking Bravo which was IFC before there was one would show movies like My Own Private Idaho and Short Cuts and Twenty Bucks and Where The Day Takes You and Kafka and so on and you would see and ad for Ford or Chevy at the start of a movie and then no ads at all until 1 hour into the film with 5 mins of ads and then none until the credits and the films were edited very minimally. Then they had IFC Fridays and didnt fuck with the movie at all.
Bravo is now a gay semen shooting spraying channel of horseshit and a pale shadow of what it was. It's sad that IFC has ads now and interrupt movies. fuckers.
Anyways the Zodiac DVD is great and has a great picture cuz I think it's almost superbit. -
Yup, I remember not too long ago when IFC didn't have commercials. Well, not only do they have them now, but as you said, they have them every 5 minutes. But hey, got nothing better to do at 1:27 in the morning.
-
Jan 27, 2012 12:28:51 AM CST
As excited to see this as i was in anticipation for Drive. Love that film. Hope this is as good.
by lowdevil
-
Jan 27, 2012 12:31:51 AM CST
I used to watch IFC all the time when the movies were uninterrupted.
by sailor_ripley
It can be trying, but I still watch it sometimes. A great movie with commercial breaks is still better than a shitty movie with none.
-
but 30 minutes left to show it. HAHAHAHAHA!!!
-
I’ve seen this movie a few days ago at an advance screening.
I’ve found it a load of schizophrenic crap. Don’t get me wrong it’s not a terrible movie but the director seems to have been unable to make up his mind about what kind of movie he wanted to make.
-
Fucking hell, anyone who buys Nordling's "review" is full of shit. He's been on Carnahan's payroll since day one.
-
Best feeling in the world when you can see a free movie that you aren't sure about (which is surprisingly a lot films). For some reason I am feeling this will be like when I saw Four Brothers. Had no idea what to expect quality-wise and it turned out okay and I enjoyed it enough. Was also free.
-
Better than Narc i think not.
-
Jan 27, 2012 2:41:28 AM CST
Oh look, more crap that takes place in Alaska, but is filmed in fucking BC, Canada.
by cash907
Ya know what? If you're going to film something in Canada, BASE THE STORY IN CANADA! Trading off the mystique and mystery of my home, without sending a single penny our way in compensation, is horse shit. Want to see a movie based on events in Alaska that was actually filmed IN Alaska? Go see Big Miracle. Yes, I know it's going to be stupid as all hell, but the studio was nice enough to actually bring some money our way, and the extras and even a few small parts are played by honest to god Alaskans.
-
Jan 27, 2012 3:47:36 AM CST
DON'T Believe the hype!!!! Overrated is putting it mildly!!!!!
by shiftyeyeddog
Seriously, what movie did these people see? Because the one I saw was passable, but nothing more.
Iconic performance that Neeson will be remembered for? Not a chance. This will be one of his more forgettable ones of his whole career.
The movie is monotonous, predictable, and often boring. I dont need all out action, so thats not it. It was just... repetitive.
I beg all of you to ignore the hype. If you go in with LOW expectations, you may enjoy it. But I went in believing it would be a great film, and it disappointed on all levels. -
Jan 27, 2012 3:48:59 AM CST
You never see him punch a wolf - he straps on the bottles/knife and the movie ENDS
by shiftyeyeddog
seriously. just... ends. He straps them on, recites that lame-ass poem in his head, and it goes black. You dont even see the shot of him running at the wolf that is in the trailer.
oh, spoiler alert, by the way. -
Jan 27, 2012 3:52:32 AM CST
@Cash907 - stop your whining. Movies are almost never filmed where they're set
by shiftyeyeddog
I mean most movies about Los Angeles or get filmed in like Toronto or Vancouver.
get over it. -
Jan 27, 2012 3:59:22 AM CST
They've trailed this on UK TV with a short clip DESTROYED by an all-too-obvious CGI wolf. I had no intention of watching it.
by billybatson1000
I think CG is the single-worst development in film history. We've become far too over reliant on it - it ALWAYS draws attention to itself and drags you out of most films that it's used in. Why can't we get back to physical/practical in camera stage craft? A: because the Genie is out of the bottle - and it aint going back.
-
Smokin' Aces
The A-Team
Narc
The Grey -
Jan 27, 2012 4:07:51 AM CST
A sharpshooter keeping the wolves at bay while the oil men work?
by scratchmonkey
The wolves are trying to steal the oil? The fucking bounders! Shoot the lot of them, that's what I say!
-
Yeah, what's up with that? To the people who have seen this movie: Do all the wolves look like that? Are they meant to be regular wolves that have the misfortune of being created via ropey effects, or are they supposed to be some kind of unearthly, supernatural forces of nature and therefore aren't meant to look real? Or maybe that clip is from a nightmare scene that one of the characters is having, then they wake up and fight some real-looking wolves?
-
Nice job scumbag, I hope your whole family is run down by a bus
-
They Grey sounds like some Low Concept thriller as the premise doesn't gather my interest.
-
Really. Fuck you.
-
I hope a pack of wolves eat your legs down to the bone.
-
Fuck you shiftyeyedog, trolling asshole.
-
Jan 27, 2012 7:35:46 AM CST
AICN moderators: give us shiftyeyedog's info so we can track him down
by locke815
-
Jan 27, 2012 7:42:17 AM CST
Article is marked as containing SPOILERS - stop whining about reading... spoilers
by shiftyeyeddog
There's a red box around this article on the main page that says SPOILER. If you didnt want spoilers you shouldnt have come here and started reading.
-
Who put the wolf cub in Liam's sleeping bag.
-
Jan 27, 2012 8:21:04 AM CST
CG wolves hunting people? Unless these are Russian genetic experiment wolves that Sarah Palin can see from her front porch...
by flickapoo
this sounds retarded.
-
There are many reviews of this movie that are 'neutral' and unbiased. Most rate it around 3/5, a good movie when it's moving along but dull because large chucks of dire dialogue around camp fires seem to go on forever.
-
Seriously... I hope they die this year and you cry.
I already saw the movie too!
If you read that, it shouldn't ruin the movie for you. You'll be thinking of other things when it happens, though the surprise of it was a bit of a shock.
I went in expecting to see another "The Edge". What I got was an incredibly powerful film that is both artsy and thrilling. I haven't been this emotionally struck by a film in a very long time. I can't even comprehend that some here who've seen it had a negative experience. -
It's not a BAD movie, it just isn't THAT good. It's a good fit for January. Decent distraction, but quickly forgettable.
-
Jan 27, 2012 8:49:51 AM CST
If you missed it farther up, people. NO WOLF PUNCHING. MOVIE ENDS RIGHT BEFORE NEESON CHARGES
by shiftyeyeddog
-
Jan 27, 2012 9:09:23 AM CST
shiftyeyeddog, so you're saying it ends exactly like ROCKY 3?
by flickapoo
*boy, you really move good for an older wolf...*
[DING!] -
Jan 27, 2012 9:32:37 AM CST
@flickapoo - pretty much, though a freeze frame and a rock song would have made it funnier!
by shiftyeyeddog
-
It's been mentioned above and it's absolutely true, he tapes the bottles to hands, breaks them, says something to the effect of "LEROY JENNNNNKINS!!!" and charges at the camera, then black.
That's it. -
it goes black on a close up of his face before he does. the charging shot is gone.
love the Leroy Jenkins reference, though! -
Since Ol' CHOP has been watching a lot of ALIEN lately, today's subject is going to be ... SIGOURNEY WEAVER!
So, CHOPlings, does our beloved Ripley take it in her *bony ass*?
(P.S., sorry for mixing my Signourney movie metaphors.) -
Jan 27, 2012 10:34:51 AM CST
You DO know there's a short scene after the credits, right?
by drumsinthedeep
-
do tell.......
-
>
>
It shows Neeson lying on the ground, breathing heavily. The wolf is dead. -
Nick Fury recruits Liam Neeson to pimp the AVENGERS this summer
-
INTERIOR. NIGHT.
OTTWAY sits at a plain chrome table in a dimly lit space that appears to be an interrogation room. He is bleeding from his face and hands, breathing heavily and shivering from the dire cold he's just been extracted from. We see the outline of another person in the room. A tall, commanding type wearing what appears to be a leather duster. This is NICK FURY, leader of THE AVENGERS.
FURY
You look like you might need a cup of coffee.
OTTWAY
What gave you that impression, smart guy?
FURY
Good, good. That's exactly the attitude we're looking for.
OTTWAY
(Growing more impatient.) What do you mean "we"?
Fury sits down across the table from Ottway. The light reveals he is a bald African-American man in his 50s, and he wears an eyepatch.
FURY
I lead a group that has use for a man with skills like yours, so to speak. Except, with us, you won't be saving yourself. ...
(Cut to Ottway, who's still impatient, but intrigued)
FURY cont'd
... You'll be saving the world.
OTTWAY
(Still skeptical, but more intrigued) Yeah, what do you mean by that, "savin' the woorld"?
FURY
You won't know till you find out for yourself.
OTTWAY
And how do I go about findin' that out?
FURY
Perhaps we should see about that coffee first.
OTTWAY
(Leans back, eyeing fury with a appraising, yet knowing glance. This is a man he can relate to.) Just don't forget the whiskey, boyo.
Cut to black. -
Jan 27, 2012 12:00:48 PM CST
Any film that perpetuates negative stereotypes of victimized wild animals...
by c3po
...is disgusting. People hunt and kill these beautiful animals still, you know. I'm amazed so many reviewers don't seem to care that they're being depicted as monsters while it's legal to hunt them now. Carnahan is a douche.
-
Seriously, go fuck yourselves.
-
-then a ton of people are going to be royally PISSED off. I know a dozen people who are going to go for THAT scene alone.
-
You probably live in Detroit.
-
Jan 27, 2012 12:55:13 PM CST
@scratchmoney. With that kind of retarded excuse for logic - you could justify anything. Please return to spanking your monkey and running up your mother's phone bills on rent boy sex
by billybatson1000
-
Jan 27, 2012 12:58:22 PM CST
Why would you be an asshole and spoil this movie so thoroughly? Bad form, bad manners, bad karma, take your pick.
by dahveed1972
That said, the descriptions of the movie do suggest a rather absurd take on wolf behavior. Doesnt mean it isnt a fun movie, but methinks a bear (Grizzly or Polar, depending on the location) wouldve been a more plausible antagonist. Animals, of course, can be unpredictable, and it is just a movie, so no point in nitpicking i guess.
-
and i have to say the writing has depth. How the heck Carnahan got some of those camera shots in the snow storm i will never know.
The sheer brutality of the wilderness made me want to retreat beneath a duvet cover. I liked how the story didnt shirk away from the absolute cruelty and ruthlessness of the wild, and the wolves. The wolves.... jesus the wolves. The metaphor of the wolves in the story was deep.
I loved the ending too. Very ambiguous ending, but in another sense made perfect sense with him reciting his late fathers poetry too.
I think Neeson has found a director in Joe Carnahan who brings out a very deep and raw performance in him. Hope they do more stuff together. -
DID YOU STAY AFTER THE CREDITS?!!
-
Was the scene worth sticking around for or what?
-
Jan 27, 2012 2:51:00 PM CST
Really, I gotta say, Shittyeyed... I mean, Shiftyeyeddog...
by captaincosmos
Spoiler warnings at the top or not -- you are a total fucking cunt for that spoiler in the talkbacks.
Many of us skip over the details in the middle of these reviews in order to avoid the spoilers we've been warned of, but like to get the overall thoughts from the reviewer that are most often contained in the very broad, general opening and closing statements of the review.
Easy to do.
And if you've seen the movie and want to say something specific about it in the talkback, fine... say what you want, but LEAVE THE FUCKING DETAILS IN THE COMMENT SECTION, NOT THE GODAMN SUBJECT LINE WHERE IT CAN'T BE AVOIDED.
YOU.
FUCKING.
LITTLE.
ASSHOLE. -
I see humour is lost on you. As are most things, presumably.
Note to the fucking terminally retarded: I do not condone the shooting of wolves, you fucking drooling, illiterate muppet. -
Ruined the end for me. What the fuck is wrong with you?
-
Jan 27, 2012 3:49:27 PM CST
I saw it, the previews/trailers are better than this long boring trash/cgi-fest
by millermeusa
what a waste of my afternoon
-
Is it anything like it?
-
They were NOT all CGI, guys. Look at the credits: "wolf trainer" and "wolf handler" were both listed. Which means that you cannot tell the difference between FX and real wolves. That is hysterical--the effects really have gotten that good, but your prejudices blind you to the truth.
-
Jan 27, 2012 4:38:06 PM CST
So what kind of person are you? One that 'let's go' or one that fights to the end?
by lakewater
-
if you're FUCKING RETARDED.
-
Just came back, and found the film good, but too pretentious at times and had at least one "bullshit" moment for me. But the biggest problem is that the trailers and commercials not only sell this film as something that it is not, but it sets up something that never actually happens in the movie. There are many people who will walk away from this film with blue balls, because they didn't get what the marketing department promised. THat's not the fault of the film or filmmakers, but I guarantee they will get the bulk of the blame from the customers.
-
I said the film could be pretentious, and it is that way with the wolves. The wolves are not natural animals in this film. They are a symbol of death, their look, they deep resonannce of their howls and growls, they just ain't supposed to be all natural. As such the weird phoniness (which is pretty consistent, so even the real wolves look off) kinda worked for me.
-
Jan 27, 2012 7:01:12 PM CST
CGI WOLVES = BOOTLEG IT - Send a message to these film makers.
by mentaldominance
-
Jan 27, 2012 7:08:35 PM CST
And don't give us bullshit about how the wolves can be CGI because they're symbolic...
by mentaldominance
What a crock of shit! (As Childs would say.)
JUST DO IT FUCKIN' REAL!
And there are supposedly animatronic wolves - Well...
Remember last time we were excited for decent animatronic effects??!?!
We got THE THING 2011!
So sick of this CONSTANT EXCUSING AND DEFENDING OF CGI!
If it doesn't look real - DON'T DO IT. How difficult is that?
Don't be like "well we could never show this with practical so we NEED to do it CGI!"
First off - Most of the time this conceit is just fucking lazy and wrong because it usually CAN be done practical...
They just don't have the brains to figure out how.
Secondly - If it is actually one of those rare cases where ONLY CGI could do it- The question begs asked -
SHOULD IT BE DONE AT ALL?
NO. FUCK NO it shouldn't.
Go back to the story board and figure it out. Don't just throw it to the computer nerds.
The fact that something can't be done practical is a missile hitting you in the head, telling you NOT TO DO IT then!
Because if you do it CGI, it won't look real. So why would you want to insert ANYTHING thta doesn't work into your film???
I just don't get it. It's like, as I heard someone else mention before, the audience is so stupid anymore that they need to
know they are seeing special effects or eles they don't think the movie is big budget and they got their money's worth...
These people need to fucking die seriously. They are ruining film. People who will put up with mediocre crap and support it.
And the thing I don't get is this - It isn't like Sci-Fi channel hasn't made thousands of movies in this vein..
Why can't people who like this garbage just stick to watching bad Sci-Fi channel movies if that's what they want?
Why force the mediocrity into feature films?
I JUST DON'T FUCKING GET IT.
Boycott all obvious CGI! -
Those were supernatural wolves and GUESS WHAT - THEY WERN'T CGI!!!
Of all the fucking retarded excuses I've heard for CGI!!!
JUST DO IT REAL! -
...I hate to think of the day when the first oil tanker from China crashes on the Queen Charlotte Islands.:(
-
Jan 27, 2012 7:38:08 PM CST
shiftyeyeddog - I can't hate you. Now that I know, I'm more pissed about this advertising scam than the fact that you spoiled it.
by no_more_comic_movies
I, for one, say thanks. You saved me $15.
Wolf-punching is the main thing that hooked me on seeing it to begin with.
-
Jan 27, 2012 7:40:51 PM CST
Also: This reminds me of The Phantom Menace 3D ad campaign
by no_more_comic_movies
All posters, all commercials: Darth Maul everywhere.
Reality?
The opposite. Jar Jar Binks, the kid, and poo-doo "jokes" are onscreen 20 times as much as Maul. Maul is there for maybe 5-8 full minutes of screentime out of 2+ hours. -
Jan 27, 2012 9:03:08 PM CST
Moby Dick? oh and you fuckers are cursed now, dont cry
by dioxholsters_ghost
The cunts who ruined the ending shall be cursed. I dont practice magic but my friend's aunt does shes a gypsy and i will tell her to do the curse.
-
nordlings review described it perfectly. just fucking amazing. and the ending is great and better watching it then having it described by that trolling asshole shittyeyedog or whatever the fuck his name is.
also is there actually an aftercredits scene? cuz i didnt stick around -
oh man I cant believe a movie about wolf hunting can get people excited. I dont want to go see it only to find it "just okay"
-
I'm not just some asshole, I'm trying to lower expectations and save people giant disappointment by telling them how the trailers for this were BS.
-
Should have been released in Dec.
-
This movie is one of the best studies of death I've ever seen in any art form. It seems difficult for a film to say anything profound about death because it's such a familiar topic, and most films about death (i.e. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) get very maudlin and sappy.
Not this film. This is about as honest a look as you can get at how human beings can face mortality. It poses genuinely disturbing questions, such as (spoiler) when one of the last three survivors just realizes it would be better to die, and sits down next to the river with a smile on his face, waiting to freeze, starve, or be mauled by wolves.
This leaves just two survivors, Ottway (Neeson) and Henrik, who is a religious, decent family man, who was in many ways the warmest and most human of the group. He soon dies a senseless, maddening death, where his head is a few inches beneath the river and he can't go up for air because his foot is stuck. Ottway tries everything to get him out but he can't make him budge and he dies right there in his arms.
This leads to the end of the film, where Neeson slumps onto the bank of the river and faces the meaningless of human existence head on. "Fuck faith!" he yells at the sky, pleading with God to show some sign that life has meaning. He says that God has to earn faith by doing something, he feels God owes it to him after the endless tragedy he's endured. Of course there's no sign from God, and Ottway shortly ends up right in the wolves' den, surrounded by them.
He chooses to duct tape shards of glass to his fists, and meet his fate head on. It's a beautifully triumphant ending, showing how the human spirit should engage in whatever absurd, horrifying activity that presents itself. If they had shown the fight, it would have completely ruined the power of that final choice and moment.
It's a genuinely profound work of art. Everyone should see it. -
Don't see it.
-
saw this today, and I was completely taken aback' by how poetic the film is. It's not Taken, it's no vehicle for him to fuck shit up. It's a bloody good drama that happens to have a few action scenes in it.
I think it was dumped by pussy execs into Jan. when it shouldve been a Dec. film. Yes, it's that good. Ignore any hipster jackoffs that tell you different. -
if you don't want to see an action film, fine go see it, even though it was always advertised as one and the film is a fucking trick
-
Jan 28, 2012 4:09:10 AM CST
I think it works much better for those who are informed on...
by gqtaste26
...the lead actors personal life. With what he's had to endure in real life mirrors w/ the character faces. That really makes the pay off much sweeter for those in the know I think.
It reminds of of Sawshank Redemption in that regard. Get busy living? Goddamn right. -
Without trying to be the caricature of the dictatorial asshole animal lover, and having not seen the movie, I am surprised that the wolves portrayal issue hasn't more readers concerned. They are great animals, and seem in their territory. I hope the movie doesn't portray them as the big bad ass blood thirsty beasts and shows their natural instincts for protection and retaliation against invading humans..
-
Those railing about it not being a balls-out action movie are perfectly welcome to do so, of course. That's not "the Grey" and I never expected it to be. Enjoyed it very much. My wife is losing her mother right now, and she was sobbing during some of the sequences, but walked out of the movie feeling more centered and aware than when she walked in. That...is a film. "The Grey" is a solid piece of work.
-
Jan 28, 2012 1:53:45 PM CST
Did you stay through the end credits? The film is a mirror of his father's poem.
by pixelsmack
It's not about living or dying. It's about taking the responsibility to fight for either.
The film is a masterpeice.
Also one of the top three plane crash sequences I've ever seen. It's so visceral and ugly, like many of the wolf encounters.
You'll never want to fly again. -
The trailers and TV spots really sold this as a Liam Neeson action film. Not. That being the case, it still could have been a solid film-going experience. It wasn't. I found it to be depressing and pointless. Unless you find nihilism "inspiring" in some way. Never seen such a stunned and annoyed audience reaction and the end.
-
Jan 28, 2012 8:10:49 PM CST
Good solid film that poses some deep questions (spoilers)
by coosawatchie
If you're the sort of person who can't get beyond what you think the wolves look like then I feel sorry for you. You're the same pitiful asshole who can't have a good time at Disney World because you worry about a burnt out light bulb or a wayward hot dog wrapper on the sidewalk.
The Grey uses the wolves as a metaphor for death. The main characters ponder life, and death, and faith. The great part is that there is a lot of solid action and frights sprinkled along the way.
If you're in it for Neeson duking it out with the alpha wolf then save your money, because that's not the point. Having said that, I didn't stay for any scene after the credits and am glad I didn't it because the story needed to end just as it did.
-
Seriously, I want my 2 hours back. This movie was very bad. The wolves in it were a joke, they were closer to aliens than wolves. I hate wolves (I've had the misfortune to run across them in the wild) and I fear them, but I found these wolves laughably over the top. Not afraid of fire, not in any way afraid of people, puhleese!
-
Jan 28, 2012 9:33:36 PM CST
One of the most disappointing movie going experiences I've had in some time.
by juansanchez
It's fine that it's more drama than genre film. They cheat us on something else. I won't spoil it, but I wish I had asked for my money back.
-
I actually just got out of this film and Neeson was the only thing that kept it going at all. The concept was great, and I like what they were going for, but the execution was very lacking.
Spoilers
The things that are getting panned on here are actually the only things I didn't dislike. The way it just cut out fits the movie very well. I for one didn't mind the CGI wolves...it didn't really make much of a difference to me, and I usually hate too much CGI.
The issue to me was the acting really. There are only two characters you really kind of care about...Neeson, and Joe Anderson who was in Across the Universe who dies early on. outside of those two characters, there are six other men or so that you are supposed to care about. The problem is that you don't. There are two death scenes right at the end of the movi that are supposed to be very gripping. You should be sad for these two, and you should feel the pain of their deaths as much as the men they have been surviving alongside do. Absolutely none of that comes through.
The other thing that bugged me was the sheer disregard to the physical limitations of a human being. The whole point of the movie was to see how much human will can, or in some cases cannot, endure. And they go through some grim detail in showing you what is happening to them physically. There were two examples that really irked me. One was toward the end when one character falls from a tree and you clearly hear a sharp snap as he hits the ground. He's writhing in pain, complaining about his now injured knee. You then see him walking with barely a limp.
Now that one I can forgive, but toward the beginning Neeson is attacked and bitten in the leg badly just above his knee. They zoom in with detail to show the arterial bleeding coming out in short spurts, and they quickly put a bandage around, as you should. They actually did a great job with this part, showing very good detail. The problem comes with the rest of the film. If that bandage is supposed to be a tourniquet as it should be, he can't do anything the rest of the film and he loses the leg in about 13 hours or so. Either way he has no feeling and can't walk let alone run. If it's just a ban dage, then he bleeds out in less than an hour and dies. Either way...he doesn't just keep acting normal for 4 days like they do here. The easy fix is just to show a good bite that's bleeding a little bit.
There are other little things like when a pack of wolves is at their heels, they suddenly have the time to stop, gather wood and build a campfire to keep from being attacked. I understand it's a movie, but this one is supposed to be realistic. That's the very basis of it. You feel the human emotions because they're human, and they're in a real situation that could happen to you. This one loses you even when it never really had you to start with.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Two new Avengers photos for you to ogle! -- 250 total posts 228 posts
- It's A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD If You're Jai Courtney! -- 143 total posts 143 posts
- A New Shot Of Hulk From THE AVENGERS Movie!! -- 128 total posts 128 posts
- Edgar Wright And Johnny Depp Summon KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER To The Big Screen! -- 97 total posts 97 posts
- Behold These Lovely HD Reconstructions Of STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE TV Spots!! -- 296 total posts 87 posts
- This International BATTLESHIP Poster Is Kinda Kitschy!! -- 66 total posts 66 posts
- Darabont Casts L.A. NOIR Pilot!! Spoilers For WALKING DEAD!! -- 88 total posts 64 posts
- A Fan-Made Trailer For JOHN CARTER Sells The Movie Better Than Any Other Trailer So Far... -- 191 total posts 63 posts
- Director Sam Mendes Talks New BOND Movie Via Videoblog!! -- 51 total posts 51 posts
- New AMERICAN REUNION Trailer! -- 49 total posts 47 posts