The Grey: biting at the competition

If you are expecting a movie where Liam Neeson punches wolves in one long action sequence, this movie is not for you.

This is a survival movie. The title, The Grey, refers to the grey in between knowing and not knowing and that primal fear we all have in us and the instinct of survival.

This movie is not about fighting off enemies, but about pure survival from nature and humanity, and it cuts that fear right to the audience's core.

This movie has a beautiful soundtrack, and many wide shots of the frozen lands of Canada--the beauty of it and the treacherous wilderness nature can possess.

Liam Neeson delivers a breath-taking performance as John Ottway, an aged convict working for an oil rig in the northern lands of Alaska.

The film opens with Ottway writing a letter to his wife. He references his life and the terrible things he has done. He also asks himself why he is writing to her, because he "knows that she is never coming back."

Ottway was hired to protect the oil-rig workers from wolves, as we see in the first few scenes when he saves a couple of men by sniping an attacking wolf.

After that, the plot gets going, and the workers, Ottway included, board a plane. The plane hits turbulence and goes down.

The crash scene literally left me breathless. It was the most realistic crash scene I've ever seen.

After a short flashback to him and his wife, Ottway wakes up to find himself in the middle of one big crash site. Out of the entire plane only 7 people survive.

It's not long afterwards that they find out they are not alone; they are in the middle of wolf hunting ground. Ottway explains they have to move away from the den, or the wolves won't be so kind.

One by one, the men start to die, whether it's from the wolves or the hardships of the wilderness. The climax of the film leads you to an ending that will leave your jaw hanging open.

Where the movie is full in visual aspect, it lacks in plot and character development.

Why was Ottway there? What did he do that was so bad? How does he know so much about wolves? These are all questions you will not get an answer to.

Then again, the source material this movie came from is limited, which is a short story entitled, Walking Ghost by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers.

Maybe if that story were a novel and not a short story, the two hours the movie took to get to the point would be more understanding.  That being said, this is a great movie, and anyone who enjoys Liam Neeson should definitely check this movie out. I give it 3 ½ wolf bites out of 5.