If you enjoyed watching Liam Neeson battle territorial wolves in Joe Carnahan’s The Grey — and plenty of moviegoers have — then you'd be well-advised to look into Lee Tamahori's 1997 thriller The Edge. Starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin and perhaps best characterized by screenwriter David Mamet's trademark clipped dialogue, the film is an unusually strong entry in the survival-story tradition — and one to which The Grey owes at least a spiritual debt (if not more).
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Joe Carnahan probably knew he was in for something of a tussle when his latest film, the survival actioner/mortality meditation The Grey, began drawing criticism from animal activist groups sight unseen even before it debuted (at #1, no less) last weekend. But then PETA posted its own twofold complaint regarding the depiction of wolves in the film and the reported eating of wolf meat on Carnahan’s set, escalating the anti-Grey fight. The question is, does PETA have a legit beef with The Grey?
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Critics will argue over whether or not Joe Carnahan’s latest, The Grey (currently holding at 76 percent at Rotten Tomatoes), succeeds as the latest nature-as-killer yarn to hit the action genre, but it’s worth taking a closer look at what Joe Carnahan is attempting beyond the survivalist thrills and chills. In the age of the metrosexual, and in an industry inundated with juvenile comedies and mind-numbing blockbusters, what does this Liam Neeson vs. the wolves pics have to say about modern masculinity?
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Joe Carnahan’s thriller The Grey, currently receiving kudos for its blend of red-blooded action and considered existentialism, tells the fictional tale of a group of oilrig workers who survive a plane crash only to be hunted by wolves in the wild. Among the ragtag band of comrades facing off against nature under Liam Neeson’s steady leadership is Dermot Mulroney’s Talget, who, like the others, learns to shed his protective layers and confront his own fears when forced to face off directly with Mother Nature.
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Wolves, like most animals, know a lot of things that humans don’t. When bad white men move onto their turf to do bad white-man stuff – like drilling for oil – they instinctively know something’s amiss in the balance of nature, and damned if they’re going to just sit back in their dens and fuhgeddaboutit. In The Grey, wolves unleash their fury at mankind in a bloody yet tasteful flurry of stamping paws and gnashing teeth; mankind fights back as best he can, which in this particular case, is not very well.
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“Smokin’” Joe Carnahan (Narc, Smokin' Aces, The A-Team) has endured his fair share of ill-fated projects and setbacks, but his passion project Killing Pablo remains a priority. And while the fate of White Jazz remains opaque, Carnahan shared optimism for his long-gestating Pablo Escobar biopic while promoting his existential survival pic The Grey last weekend in Los Angeles. If all goes well and the Liam Neeson-led The Grey takes off upon release later this month, he says he hopes to make Pablo his next project.
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Last time we saw Liam Neeson in a trailer for the upcoming survival drama The Grey, he was preparing to battle a few angry wolves. In the new kickass preview for Joe Carnahan's wilderness adventure, Neeson is not only preparing to wage a full-scale attack on all of the wolves that stand between him and civilization, but he heroically maintains the morale among a group of fellow stranded plane crash survivors on their long walk home.
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