Tag: alaska

“The Grey” Is Not the Movie You Thought It Was (Missed Movies)

If you avoided the movie The Grey (2012) because you thought it was just another Liam Neeson action film, you should reconsider and give it a chance. From the previews, the movie appears to be just an angry Neeson fighting with wolves. But the film is much more than that.

Yes, in The Grey, Neeson and some other men are alone in the Alaskan wilderness being stalked by wolves. But the movie is really about life and death, and how one chooses to live (and die).

The film begins with Neeson working with oil workers in the barren cold landscape. He works hunting and shooting wolves to protect the workers, but he also is haunted by demons from his past.

After boarding an airplane with other workers, Neeson falls asleep and wakes to turbulence that results in a crash that leaves many of the men stranded. Other actors do a great job, including Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, and Nonso Anozie. But Neeson’s character John Ottway remains the focus.

The CGI wolves do not look completely real, but that may be part of the point. The wolves represent something more than a canine. I do not want to spoil the movie, but the survival struggle raises existential themes about life and death.

Joe Carnahan produced and directed The Grey, and he co-wrote the screenplay with Ian MacKenzie Jeffers. The film is based on a short story by Jeffers called “The Ghost Walker.” The wonderful subtle soundtrack is by Marc Streitenfeld.

So, if you are looking for a dark action movie with deep themes and do not mind some ambiguity in your films, check out The Grey. The movie may not be a light popcorn yarn, but it will stay with you after you watch it.

Various theories about the movie reflect on whether all of the men are parts of Neeson’s character, that they are all in Purgatory, and that the movie encapsulates common fears of flying, heights, dying alone, and drowning. And what does the movie say about the existential struggle to give meaning to one’s life? If you have already seen the movie and want to read more analysis of the film, one might start with some of the analysis from Mother Jones, Ryan Pratt’s blog, The Cinephile Fix, this video on “A Philosophy of Heroic Suffering,” and a ScreenRant interview with the director.


What did you think of The Grey? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Alaska Bought Today: Anchored in Anchorage

    alaska compared to u.s.
    “But you know you’re in the largest state in the Union / When you’re anchored down in Anchorage”

    On October 18 in 1867, just a little more than two years after the nation ended a Civil War, the United States took control of Alaska. The U.S. had bought the land for 2 cents an acre for a total of $7.2 million.

    Seward’s Folly

    Secretary of State William Henry Seward pushed for the controversial purchase, so critics dubbed the purchase “Seward’s Folly.” Seward and President Andrew Johnson, who would be impeached a year later, were eventually vindicated in the Alaska deal.

    Gold was discovered in Alaska in 1896.  And today, after the territory became a state in 1959, the state is a treasure of oil and other natural resources. One other benefit is my favorite song about the state, Michelle Shocked’s “Anchorage,” off her debut album Short Sharp Shocked (1988).

    Michelle Shocked’s “Anchorage”

    In the song “Anchorage,” a singer who lives in New York City describes how she wrote a letter to her friend in Dallas, but the reply came back from Anchorage, Alaska. The rest of the song recites the letter from Alaska.

    In the letter, the friend does not complain about her life in Alaska.  Butut in her description, you sense some longing for the life of her big city singer friend.

    Leroy got a better job so we moved;
    Kevin lost a tooth, he’s started school;
    I’ve got a brand new eight month old baby girl;
    I sound like a housewife;
    Hey ‘Shelle, I think I’m a housewife.

    “Anchorage” is a beautiful song about friends and how we end up in places with our lives where we may not have planned. One senses the singer also may think the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence.

    Yet, the words and the way the song is sung reflect affection, not envy. If Michelle Shocked, who grew up in East Texas, wrote another song in the form of a letter from New York City back to her old friend in Anchorage, I wonder what she would say.

    Michelle Shocked

    Shocked’s song gives a voice to someone you might not think about. In the history-book version about adding all that beautiful land to the United States, we often hear about the later gold rush and the building of a new state.  But one should not forget the role of all of the regular people, especially including the overlooked women and natives, just getting by day-to-day.

    As we have been reminded with events around the world, society is not just the Andrew Johnsons and other politicians.  It is also made up of the rockers and the anchored-down folks.

    Map illustration via Eric Gaba.

  • “The Grey” Is Not the Movie You Thought It Was (Missed Movies)