The Grey

[Risu]

I think at the end it's more about his inability to let go than his struggle to get back to something. I noticed that it's up on Netflix and I haven't watched it since January, so I'm definitely planning to watch it again soon.

 

[blipper]

Art - I believe it's not the wife of Neeson's character that's dead, I believe it's Neeson's character himself that's dying (note that in the climatic flashback the intravenous drip is behind Neeson's character, he's the patient, not his wife).
It's like Jacob's Ladder - the last moment before death played out as a fight, his wife even tells him "not to be afraid" : she's telling him to let go.

'The Grey' is a limbo, the critical point that connects black and white, life and death, where Neeson is struggling, unwilling to accept death, unable to let go of his wife in the living world, but feeling it's 'breath' constantly.
I was so hacked off at Prometheus - Scott and Lindelof saying it was a 'big' movie posing 'big' questions and full of mysteries and puzzles for us to work out - when in my opinion The Grey is a much better example of how a philosophical/puzzle movie should work, it doesn't brag about how clever it is, it just is, and is much more worthy of repeated viewings, imo. Love this film.

 

[Art Andrews]

Art - I believe it's not the wife of Neeson's character that's dead, I believe it's Neeson's character himself that's dying (note that in the climatic flashback the intravenous drip is behind Neeson's character, he's the patient, not his wife).
It's like Jacob's Ladder - the last moment before death played out as a fight, his wife even tells him "not to be afraid" : she's telling him to let go.

'The Grey' is a limbo, the critical point that connects black and white, life and death, where Neeson is struggling, unwilling to accept death, unable to let go of his wife in the living world, but feeling it's 'breath' constantly.

And this is why I post about a movie everyone else watched 6 months ago. I find this interpretation a bit hard to swallow, but you are going to make me go back and rewatch the film, because if you are right, that one change takes the film from annoying and pointless to brilliant in my opinion. That is an amazing way to view it! thumbsup:thumbsup

I was so hacked off at Prometheus - Scott and Lindelof saying it was a 'big' movie posing 'big' questions and full of mysteries and puzzles for us to work out - when in my opinion The Grey is a much better example of how a philosophical/puzzle movie should work, it doesn't brag about how clever it is, it just is, and is much more worthy of repeated viewings, imo. Love this film.

Hey now... I LOVED Prometheus!!! lol

 

[jedi573]

Art - I believe it's not the wife of Neeson's character that's dead, I believe it's Neeson's character himself that's dying (note that in the climatic flashback the intravenous drip is behind Neeson's character, he's the patient, not his wife).
It's like Jacob's Ladder - the last moment before death played out as a fight, his wife even tells him "not to be afraid" : she's telling him to let go.

'The Grey' is a limbo, the critical point that connects black and white, life and death, where Neeson is struggling, unwilling to accept death, unable to let go of his wife in the living world, but feeling it's 'breath' constantly.
I was so hacked off at Prometheus - Scott and Lindelof saying it was a 'big' movie posing 'big' questions and full of mysteries and puzzles for us to work out - when in my opinion The Grey is a much better example of how a philosophical/puzzle movie should work, it doesn't brag about how clever it is, it just is, and is much more worthy of repeated viewings, imo. Love this film.

Well, hey. That's not bad at all. I am going to watch this flick again.

Andy

 

[epilepticsquirl]

I liked it till they ripped off the music at the end from Ink.

 

[letmebestormy]

I concur - The Grey ruled, Prometheus blew.

 

[0neiros]

Its a good theory but the after credits scene kinda wrecks it.

 

[blipper]

I find this interpretation a bit hard to swallow, but you are going to make me go back and rewatch the film, because if you are right, that one change takes the film from annoying and pointless to brilliant in my opinion. That is an amazing way to view it!

To be fair Art - it's just an interpretation, but there are things in the movie that to me indicate there's another layer the director may have been playing with.
It's clear the director was prepared to gamble by having what some consider an open and unsatisfying ending - he must have felt that everything that matters is contained *in* the movie and to expect to see Ottway fight (and possibly prevail over) the wolf is to miss the point.
That's why I wouldn't even consider it an open ending really - Ottway dies, the whole point of the movie is Ottway moving toward death, the story is concerned with how he decides to face his death: at peace or in pain.

So (acknowledging your previous misgivings) if you interpret the movie straight up as his wife being the one that's died I still think it's a wholly satisfying one, seeing Ottway move from a place of pain to one of peace as he prepares for the wolf (death).

Here's some things though that caught my attention and got me thinking it's possible that Ottway is dead from very early on in the movie (maybe even the start?) -

As it becomes apparent that the plane is in trouble we see Ottway buckle-up with three seat belts across three seats: after the plane crashes Ottway is nowhere near the plane and debris, and is certainly not lashed to any seats as he was moments before. This can't have been an oversight, he was clearly shown buckling in three times.

Also, when he wakes up after the crash he doesn't have a single scratch on him. He stands and looks around and it's a grey/white, featureless landscape, even the sky is obscured by a storm. Is this him waking in purgatory?

Interesting also that Ottway's dream on the plane is interrupted with the brief shot of him being pulled away from his wife after laying peacefully together. Is this Ottway being taken from his wife? The moment for her when he dies? When he dreams of her after the crash (and now perhaps in purgatory) this time it's his wife that is being taken away from him that wakes him, perhaps marking the moment he's on a one way trip to endville.

So much of the movie seems to take on metaphorical device at this point - the landscape is featureless and forces them to keep moving, the wolves are out and out larger than life and more in line with supernatural beings. The survivors all seem to have unresolved issues, and some eventually come to terms with those issues and welcome death - the 'attitude guy' at the end who sits on the rock in the river unable to go on has dropped his attitude, forged a meaningful human bond and embraces the moment and the amazing scenery. That's his epiphany and nothing else can compare so he let's the wolves take him. It's like all these guys are in Purgatory, having to find peace with themselves.

Interesting that the movie is based on a short story called Ghost Walker, which may hint at Ottway's 'walking dead' status, or as another definition of Ghost Walker has it, a person who guides troubled souls to pass on. Maybe that's Ottway's role too, to take this bunch of losers and bad apples on a journey that might prepare them for death. He seems to know a lot about death (first when he talks the dying guy in the plane through by describing the 'warmth' and later when questioned by another if he was telling the truth about his knowledge)

I don't know, it's a strange one. I certainly wasn't prepared for something that lent itself so well to alternate readings, whereas around the same time when I saw Prometheus I thought I'd personally get something more thought provoking (bizarrely both movies are Scott Free produced though!)

Its a good theory but the after credits scene kinda wrecks it.

I don't see it that way. To me it mirrors one of the earliest scenes when Ottway has his hand on the wolf, feeling it's dying breaths. We get a similar shot post credits where we see the wolf side again, with slow breathing and Ottway's head motionless on it. I think that's closing the loop on Ottway - Ottway is now dead too and so is the wolf which may only have ever been a metaphor for his inevitable death getting closer - no Ottway, no wolf.

I need to see the movie again though, there's a bunch of other things I think are going on, and also when did he die? Was the suicide attempt in fact successful? After all it's the wolf howl that interrupts him - perhaps that wolf howl was the moment his death manifested as a wolf that eventually fights him.

Or maybe he actually died on the plane, or even before the movie starts and it's all constructed from memories.

 

[rodneyfaile]

Just watched this on Netflix instant.

Very good!

I kept thinking that WY on Talget's hat was an early Weyland Yutanni reference , as the film had kind of an 'alien in the artic' feel.

I figured the director was a fan of the Alien films.