The Grey is a 2011 survival film co-written, produced and directed by Joe Carnahan and starring Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Dallas Roberts, Joe Anderson, Nonso Anozie, and Dermot Mulroney. It is based on the short story “Ghost Walker” by Ian MacKenzie Jeffers, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Carnahan. The story follows a number of oil-men stranded in Alaska after a plane crash, who must wage a war against multiple packs of Canadian Grey Wolves, hence the film’s title, stalking them during the mercilessly cold weather.
Released in the United States on January 27, 2012, the film received positive reviews and praise for its philosophical themes. It grossed $81 million worldwide.
Plot.
John Ottway is a sharpshooter for an oil company in Alaska, primarily killing grey wolves that threaten the drillers. On his last day on the job, he sees a wolf pursuing a pipeline worker and shoots it, listening to the wolf’s final breath. That evening, Ottway writes a letter “without purpose” to his wife, Ana, explaining his plans to kill himself, but does not follow through. The next day, Ottway boards a plane that will take him back to Anchorage for his two weeks off. However, the plane begins to have major turbulence and falls apart, crashing somewhere in the remote Alaskan wilderness. Only a handful of people survive the crash, including Ottway. Ottway sees Chavis calling for help, pinned down, stabbing his leg on his seat and his leg got stuck. Ottway helps him, though Chavis has hypoxia.
Ottway finds Hernandez before they find Flannery sleeping. Ottway and Hernandez take Flannery to the crash, finding Talget, Diaz, and Burke. Henrick watches helplessly as Lewenden has a lot of blood on his abdomen. Ottway talks quietly to Lewenden before he dies of his injuries.
Ottway takes charge of the survivors, and sees one of the flight attendants moving. He runs to help her, only to realize that the movement came from a wolf feeding on her corpse. Ottway is attacked by the wolf, but is rescued by the group; Diaz finds Calfskin’s body. Ottway realizes that the plane has crashed in the wolves’ territory and they take turns keeping watch. While on watch, Hernandez is killed by two wolves, and Ottway suggests that they should leave the crash site to avoid further attacks, but Diaz questions his leadership.
While searching for the wallets of the dead to return to their families, Diaz finds an emergency wrist watch with a radio beacon, which he vainly hopes will send for rescue.
While attempting to reach the nearby treeline, Flannery falls behind and is killed by three wolves. The survivors run for the trees, lighting a fire to ward off the animals and building makeshift weaponry. Diaz succumbs to stress and threatens Ottway with a knife but is quickly disarmed. Before he can apologize, he is attacked by a wolf, which the group manages to kill and roast for food. Ottway surmises that the wolf was an omega sent by the alpha wolf to test the group. A crazed Diaz beheads the wolf’s corpse, throwing the severed head at the pack, which causes the wolves to howl in rage.
By the fire, Diaz tells the group of his atheism and Talget states that he believes in God and lovingly talks about his daughter. Ottway says that he is also an atheist, but wishes that he could believe or have faith, and recites a simple poem written by his father. The next day, a blizzard hits and Burke, who had been suffering from hypoxia, is found dead. The remaining survivors travel to the edge of a canyon. Henrick secures a line to a tree on the opposite side, and Diaz and Ottway traverse the canyon. Talget gets his foot caught on a hook, and the rope breaks away and he falls to the ground. Barely alive, he hallucinates a vision of his daughter, and is dragged away and gets ripped apart by wolves. Attempting to save Talget, Diaz falls from the tree and badly injures his knee.
Diaz, Ottway, and Henrick arrive at a river where Diaz, humbled by his journey and unable to walk, explains that he can accept dying in the middle of nature. Leaving Diaz to his fate, Ottway and Henrick continue and are set upon by the wolves. Henrick falls into the river and is trapped beneath the surface; Ottway is unable to pull him loose, and Hendrick drowns. Now alone, Ottway angrily appeals to God to “show him something real,” but seeing nothing, decides that he will “do it [himself.]”
Exhausted and suffering from hypothermia, Ottway eventually stops walking and goes through the collected wallets before arranging them into a cross. He realizes too late that he has stumbled right into the wolves’ den – the team had been walking towards, not away from, the danger.
Surrounded by the wolf pack and facing its leader, Ottway looks at his wife’s photo in his wallet. It is revealed that she was dying of a terminal illness, the reason he was earlier preparing to kill himself. As the alpha wolf approaches, Ottway arms himself with a knife and shards of liquor bottles taped to his hand. He recites the words, “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.” He charges the alpha wolf. In a post credits scene, Ottway defeats the alpha wolf. His fate remains unknown but it is likely that he died from his wounds and hypothermia.
Box office.Â
The Grey opened in North America on January 27, 2012 in 3,185 theaters and grossed $19.7 million in its opening weekend, with an average of $6,174 per theater, finishing first. The film ultimately earned $51.6 million domestically, and $29.7 million internationally, for a total of $81.2 million, against its $25 million production budget.Cast:
- Liam Neeson as John Ottway
- Frank Grillo as John Diaz
- Dermot Mulroney as Jerome Talget
- Dallas Roberts as Pete Hendrick
- Joe Anderson as Todd Flannery
- Nonso Anozie as Jackson Burke
- James Badge Dale as Luke Lewenden
- Ben Bray as Dwayne Hernandez
- Greg Nicotero as Duke Chavis
- Jacob Blair as Simon Cimoski
- Anne Openshaw as Ana Ottway