The Grey (15)

Starring: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney

Anthony Quinn
Friday 27 January 2012 01:00 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Joe Carnahan and Liam Neeson last worked together on The A-Team, so no great hopes were pinned on this tough-guy wilderness yarn.

But it turns out to be a belter. Neeson plays a man whose death wish seems to have been answered when the plane carrying him and other oil-rig roughnecks goes down in the snowy wastes of Alaska. He and a handful of survivors stumble from the wreckage, and soon realise they're not going to be rescued. The cold is bad enough; worse is the local company of wolves, led by a howling alpha wolf that looks about 10ft tall, with fangs like pointed tombstones. Oo-er!

Can Neeson lead his team of freezing comrades out of this barren kill zone? He gets full marks for effort, as do the cast of unknowns and half-forgottens (Dermot Mulroney?) who follow his lead. OK, we could have done without his Irish boozer of a dad's four-line poem (third and fourth line repeated) and the macho cackling in the face of adversity, but within its generic limits it delivers fabulous thrills and some surprisingly noble death scenes.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in