Movies in Review: "The Grey"

This movie was #1 at the box office its opening weekend with top ticket sales of $20 million, but who didn't expect that. Liam Neeson's name alone will likely carry top billing for movie goers. It was hard to say what I expected from this film, all I know is that I was left a little unsatisfied...

I don't know if it was just me, but the beginning of this movie was annoying the mess out of me as Neeson's character is reciting a letter that he wrote his wife. He is overly whiny, and I honestly just wanted him to STFU! There are shots of where he is as the letter is being read, but for the life of me I have no clue where he and the other characters were, what they were doing there, and why they were now on a plane...heading????....Needless to say I felt the story was way under developed, although the movie was long as hell. I guess the writers didn't thing we would be interested in the background of the characters, and would be satisfied with short glimpses, or pictures. The meat and potatoes of the story comes when all the characters board the plane, and of course crash.

This is a story we have seen done before, but the director was still able to keep the audience in suspense and on edge. You will also find yourself vested and rooting for each survivor. There are a number of great shots that will keep you interested even when the story starts to get a little melodramatic. This movie will have a way of tearing at your heart as characters fall one by one as a result of the Alaskan elements, and the pack of wolves stalking them. The end left movie goers in the theatre I watched it, a little flat. Just remember this theme when watching "Live and die on this day" and you may not feel so let down...B-