There are certain types of movies that fall within the “Mike Rubino Wheelhouse.” They aren’t necessarily all works of art, or even considered by a broad audience to be good–sometimes, but not always. A movie involving, say, a group of men assembled to go on a mission: wheelhouse. Or maybe a film about a father who has the willpower, strength, and secret fighting skills necessary to save his family: wheelhouse. What about a film involving survival, make-shift weaponry, and enough machismo to turn chipped ham into beef jerky? Wheel. House.
The Grey, starring Liam Neeson, most certainly matches much of the aforementioned criteria. I saw it last Saturday, and I enjoyed it greatly. It’s rough, dark, depressing, and like the saltiest Jack London story you can imagine. Neeson, who plays a wolf-sniper for an Alaskan oil conglomerate (I assume that’s a real job), and a group of six men survive a freak plane crash in the great north. Now, with just their wits, some random debris, and the wallets of the dead, these men must march across the barren, snowy landscape to safety. The thing is, there’s a pack of blood-thirsty wolves standing in their way… it’s almost like they knew Liam Neeson shoots them for a living!
Sounds like a solid movie, right? Well, if you can stomach the gore and cope with the grief, it is. I’ve been comparing it to Alive or The Edge. Stuff like that.
It’s the film’s trailer, however, that could lead audiences astray. I, for one, was expecting a wholly different movie from the one I saw–lucky for me I still enjoyed it so much. Others probably didn’t, and who can blame them?
