‘The Grey,’ ‘Dog Soldiers’ and Liam Neeson’s Growl

I have an obsession.

For as long as I can remember, I have been simultaneously fascinated and haunted by wolves, werewolves and everything in between. Maybe it was my brother introducing me to “An American Werewolf in London” at a young age. Or, maybe it can be traced back to my mother reading “Little Red Riding Hood” to me (I made sure this happened every night), and simply laughing at my adolescent, but unsettling quips of, “Hey, let’s skip to where the wolf eats everyone.” Kids in those days…

Anyway, from 7-years-old to 27-years-old, my affinity for anything wolf has only gotten stronger. Believe me when I tell you I’ve seen more movies involving lycanthropes than I have any film actually documenting real life events. Sorry “Red Tails,” but I’ll take an actor in a wolf suit over anything George Lucas has done in the past 10-15 years. In fact I practiced what I preach when I joined a couple brohams of mine and checked out “The Grey.”

When I first saw the trailer for the film about oil workers crash-landing in the Alaskan wilderness and stalked by a relentless pack of wolves,  “The Edge”…

…was the first thing to come to mind. Long story short:  in the “The Edge”, three men find themselves trapped in the in the middle of nowhere and stalked by a man-eating bear. Scrap the Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin and a raging grizzly and add one of Hollywood’s most underrated bad asses in Liam Neeson, a pack of wolves and few more bodies to go around and you have the current #1 movie in America.

While the previews might lead you to believe the film is simply a Man vs. Wild theme and the whole point of the story is to find out which mammal comes out on top at the end, like “The Edge” and Scottish cult classic, “Dog Soldiers,” “The Grey” succeeds – and sometimes with terrifying results – at playing with the idea that when your back is against the wall and death is staring you in the face , there is no right or wrong way to act. In this case, death comes in the form of sub-zeros temperatures, drowning and of course, wolves.

Neeson plays John Ottway, a sharp shooter hired by an oil refinery and charged with protecting the workers from the wildlife that could potentially harm them on the job. After a grueling trip, the plane carrying Ottway and the workers crashes and of the 30-some odd folks on the flight, seven men survive and are left to deal with nature and themselves. Oh, and did I mention they crash in the vicinity of a wolf’s den, which turns the latter from giant forest canines to a cold-blooded band of killers hell-bent on imposing their will on our ragtag crew of victims, uh, characters.

The flick goes beyond senseless bloodshed and unnecessary gore, but that doesn’t mean it’s free of very depressing death scenes and wolf attacks that will haunt your beauty sleep for a few nights after you see it. The action was on par with the aforementioned “Dog Soldiers,” another flick with a man versus wolf storyline, but with a lot less realism and 100x more laughs.

Example:

Yet like “The Grey,”  “Dog Soldiers,” a story about soldiers on a training mission stalked by werewolves and forced to barricade themselves in a middle-of-nowhere house till the last man/woman stands, perfectly toys with the mind and spirit’s battle to keep living when it seems like hope is lost and the sometimes inhumane reactions we have to the unexpected and unknown.

While “Dog Soldiers” didn’t make me lose sleep, I was hit with the child-like wonder of the sheer entertainment of wolf-inspired horror flicks. “The Grey” is just as much a horror flick as it psychological thriller, but with all of that said it is very entertaining and at several points breathtaking and nerve-wracking. When Ottway and the gang see a what seems to be herd of wolves descending up them, their fear is shared with the audience and 110% comes from the solid performances of the mostly unknown supporting cast and Neeson’s badassery.

Example:

Honestly, I don’t care if you go see “The Grey” or not. If you’re a fan of good movies, I’d recommend it. If you’re fan of wolf movies like I am, I double-dog dare you to go ahead and offer your review of it or lend your two cents to my take. Pick your poison. But like “Avatar” did for blue chicks, I hope “The Grey” can do for any filmmakers down the line who want to sink their teeth into a story about wolves, werewolves, werepanthers, etc. Don’t take your cues from #TeamJacob, and even though I love him, Benicio Del Toro’s take on “The Wolfman” was God-awful and someone should have taken a silver bullet to that whole production. Let’s hope Lon Chaney Jr. powder slaps the crew when they all link up in horror movie heaven. Until then, I bet even Lawrence Talbot himself will tell you to check out “The Grey” and respect Liam Neeson’s gangsta.