Review #15 - The Grey (2011)

First of all a huge sorry for the delay in the review – other commitments and laziness took over.

 To jump right into the review The Grey is a film for any fan of Liam Neeson. The hype of Neeson kicking some wolf ass was too much to handle and the internet was flooded with Neeson related articles, posts and tweets.
 Neeson’s acting in The Grey left him to be this man who needed help and as an audience the power of his acting grabs you and throws you into feeling sorry for him and hoping he survives the horrendous situation.
 In particular the monologues through the film with Neeson worked really well showing that even the strongest of men, leaders, have the moments they need reassurance and support. As an example *spoiler* there is a scene towards the end of the film where he questions his beliefs and calls for God to help him but it is quickly turned around with Neeson realising this isn’t going to work and so ends the monologue with “fuck  it, I’ll do it myself”. *end spoiler* Even in the most action packed films humour can lighten up the mood and not one person would of ignored that bit of comedy.

 Another key part which stood out to both me and Jess was the transitions between Neeson and his dreams. When he would sleep and rest he had dreams – as people do – however the way he came out of these dream states were fantastic. As an example *spoiler* when the plane crashes Neeson was in a dream state and as the plane crashed so did the dream with his wife, who was laying by him, being pulled away at force which opens the next scene of disaster. *end spoiler*.

However where Neeson was the leading role in the film and the hype revolved around him many of the support roles and other actors did really well at building the tension and situations with Neeson. The actors all fell into their roles perfectly allowing them to really show the madness and questionability in the situation they were in. Credit to them for their roles – check imdb for who played the characters.

A note for the cinema experience that combined with the film itself is the fact that the sheer volume and feel to the room was perfect. During the plane crash scene the sound was LOUD it felt as it you were part of the crash and that would be a fraction of the sound they would hear. Really pulling you into the story right when the situation turns bad. As an added bonus the film is set in the snowy wastes of Canada the cineworld room was cold, which in a normal film would of been bad but this gave the film that frosted coating that it deserved.

Both myself and Jess could not come to any bad points about this film but if you managed to form a different opinion then comment below and tell us what you thought!

Over all I would rate this a 5* film and would recommended it to any Neeson fans.