Zach Strawn Takes You Into "The Grey"

Once more into the fray,
Into the last good fight I’ll ever know,
Live and die on this day ...
Live and die on this day ...

If one looks at ‘The Grey’ and sees Liam Neeson kicking wolf ass, you’d be correct.  Perception is our reality.  We tend to know the thespian Neeson as Oscar Schindler, Rhas al Ghul, Qui Gon Jin, Rob Roy, Darkman and an overall resident badass.  Neeson has become so ingrained as a contemporary yet grittier  Steve McQueen that with ‘Taken’ and ’Unknown’ we expect him to unleash his animal rage and kill wolves using MacGyver –esque nuances.  And let’s be honest, when we see Liam run at the wolves with mini-liquor bottles between his knuckles, our own carnal ambitions come forward and all of a sudden we become Michael Vick.  Fuck those wolves.  I went into this film expecting the typical man vs. beast flick that translates so well in ‘The Edge’ and ‘Jaws’.  What I got was so much more.

Very rarely do movies leave you feeling so overwhelmed with thought and contemplation that you want to just sit down in a dark corner and polish off a bottle of Woodford Reserve by yourself.  Ok, maybe that just happens to me, but ‘The Grey’ is an intense sermon.  It’s a last prayer in the religion of survival and a hymn to the resounding belief that we all can overcome obstacles if we keep fighting.  Neeson draws upon the emotion of his wife and her memory as we collect his characters flaws and core.  Another flashback is between him and his father.  Ironically, Neeson draws upon the happiest memories he has in the most perilous of situations he’s a part of.  It lends us to see an acceptance of death.  He’s willing to succumb, but why doesn’t he?

It is a survival story.  Seven men survive a plane crash and decide to hike out of the Alaskan tundra as wolves begin to attack them and weaken their union.  A colorful cast of characters keep ‘The Grey’ fresh with diversity of opinion, beliefs, and personalities.  Conflicts between some of the men and... how a few of them meet their end... remind us that we all approach stress... and the end of our lives in very different ways.  Some pass away in the quiet of the night, some quit, some try, but fall up shirt.... and then there are those who despite all hardship, keep fighting.  It’s a powerful allegory for the times we live in.  If this film feels like its summed up in the entire line of ‘No Fear’ t-shirts... you could be right.  But the power of resiliency is arguably one of the most inspiring attributes an individual can possess.  We all have to ask why Neeson keeps fighting, and its certainly open for interpretation... but we know that he is at peace... being at war.  

We all have wolves in our lives, we have blizzards, and rivers blocking our path.  We have experienced crashes and survived dire straights.  With death (and taxes) being the only certainty the rest of us will all experience... it seems that we all have a choice.  As the poem Neeson recites frequently throughout the film ends... our choice is relatively clear....

Live and die on this day ...

 -Zach

Zach writes for the blog "Shoot From The Hip"