Wow. This shit was intense.

This is a survival-in-the-wilderness flick, maybe the best of its kind (way less silly than The Edge, which really wasn't terrible itself). Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, all doing great work.

Don't be mistaken, guys. This is NOT a Liam-punches-wolves-in-the-face movie. This is a psychological thriller. If you want to file it neatly into a genre, it's closest to a horror film in which the wolves/elements are the force of Death hunting them down.

The cinematography, while sometimes jarring in that Joe Carnahan way, is effective in achieving a very visceral feel. You feel the cold, you feel the violence, you feel the wind. I honestly found myself looking away in a scene or two, anticipating what bad things were going to happen next. You will get your thrills and your jumps and your violence... but it's not "fun" the way Taken is, for example.

Liam digs deep for a few scenes. I wondered at one or two points if he was exorcising some demons about his wife, in particular a scene or two dealing with whether God exists or not. It *feels* like a personal film for him.

I could certainly nitpick-- there's an obvious logic flaw or two, some scenes go on a little too long-- but overall, I'm damn pleased with the fact that this is my first flick of the new year.

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I know you didn't like The A-Team movie as much as I did but I'm a big fan of both guys & think they've done terrific work together once again here.

>Wow. This shit was intense.

The plane crash, wind, sound design, & of course wolf attacks...all intense.

>This is a survival-in-the-wilderness flick, maybe the best of
>its kind (way less silly than The Edge, which really wasn't
>terrible itself).

I don't recall The Edge that much but I remember I didn't like it at all. I'm also usually not a fan of this genre & gotta kick out of the Alive nod. I really enjoyed this one tho.

Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney,
>all doing great work.

Grillo was great & he plays those kinda characters really well. Was also nice to see some Rubicon actors shine too. James Badge Dale & Dallas Roberts.

>Don't be mistaken, guys. This is NOT a
>Liam-punches-wolves-in-the-face movie.

The rest of the movie was so good I couldn't even get upset I didn't get a chance to see how that played out.

This is a psychological
>thriller. If you want to file it neatly into a genre, it's
>closest to a horror film in which the wolves/elements are the
>force of Death hunting them down.

Spot on & this is the type of horror movie I enjoy. While it does get a bit gory at times & I guess you could say uses a few cheap scare tactics, the balance between those scenes & the more emotional scenes was perfect.

>The cinematography, while sometimes jarring in that Joe
>Carnahan way, is effective in achieving a very visceral feel.
>You feel the cold, you feel the violence, you feel the wind. I
>honestly found myself looking away in a scene or two,
>anticipating what bad things were going to happen next. You
>will get your thrills and your jumps and your violence... but
>it's not "fun" the way Taken is, for example.

I don't know if my theater just had the volume cranked to the max or what but I was really impressed how the sound mixed with the cinematography. The wolves howling, blistering wind, etc was all very effective. The only "fun" moment that reminded me of Taken was the manner in which Neeson convinced Grillo not to jack the billfold.

>Liam digs deep for a few scenes. I wondered at one or two
>points if he was exorcising some demons about his wife, in
>particular a scene or two dealing with whether God exists or
>not. It *feels* like a personal film for him.

That scene & the opening kinda got to me as well.

>I could certainly nitpick-- there's an obvious logic flaw or
>two, some scenes go on a little too long--

The only scene I thought might've gone on a little too long was the final No Mas scene with Grillo. What were the others for you?

but overall, I'm
>damn pleased with the fact that this is my first flick of the
>new year.

Early in the year but easily my favorite so far & already better than anything I saw last year.

Damn, sounds great!

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This movie was so awesome!!!!!!
Absolutely loved it!
Points for the studio promoting this movie the right way (something they don't get credit for when they do it right).
The commercials make you think it's "TAKEN with wolves."
And you know what?
IT IS!!!!!
I could go on.
Favorite movie of 2012 so far (hey, you gotta start counting sometime).


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

Longo says it isn't "Taken, but with Wolves"

Wordman says it is "Taken, but with Wolves"

Who am I to believe?

Does it even matter?

I think it's one of those "saying the same thing, but differently" things.
There was more to the movie than Liam Neeson vs. wolves.
The movie doesn't rely soley on the wolves.
The story isn't cheap.
The production value isn't cheap.
The acting isn't cheap.
It's probably the best American Mountain movie in recent memory (this isn't a genre I'm well versed in. The last flick of this type I can recall is CLIFFHANGER - and I think we all remember that cinematic masterpiece).
I'm just hype because the movie lived up to my expectations.
And what were The Wordman's expectations?
A FUCKING BAD ASS MOVIE WHERE LIAM NEESON FIGHTS WOLVES!!!
The movie met that requirement and then some.
In fact, the only thing this movie was missing was titties.
But you know what? That's okay.
Because it had wolves.
Wolves that fight Liam Neeson.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

We never see how that scene in the trailer plays out which is probably the popular wish amongst those expecting a movie along the lines of Taken.

What we do see is him outsmart the wolves as much as possible. The violence is always the last resort.

I remember the first time I saw the trailer in the theater & nearly everyone (myself included) laughed it off. This ended up being a lot better than I expected & even though some of the scenes were somewhat tough to sit through, I can't wait to watch it again on the big screen. I don't buy a lot of dvds anymore either but this probably gets picked up when it's released there as well.

>In fact, the only thing this movie was missing was titties.

It's about learning how to live.
It's about faith and God.
It's about acceptance.

There's not a big Liam vs. a CGI wolf battle (I was stunned to hear that most of the wolves are animatronic or real). It's a character-driven psychological thriller/horror film in which the serial murderer systematically picking apart our group is Nature.

It's pretty badass, but in a very different way from Taken. I like it more and more the more I think about it, whereas Taken is a movie that requires you NOT think about it.

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I still like it & there's a few moments of Liam using his smarts over his fists which are really nice. But yeah overall The Grey is the better flick by far.

"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

>In fact, the only thing this movie was missing was titties.

lol, weeeerd!

Hammer or anvil?

This is a DARK survival thriller and more than a bit of a bummer. I liked it quite a bit but it's not a "fun" movie like Taken or A-Team.

Pack of lions, wolves, a bear. Like I expect a group of flying ninja squirrels to attack them.

************************************************************

Just no.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

*Effasig*

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.

-------------------------
“The other dude after me didn’t help my case. It was just like…crazy nigga factory going on.”
Dre makes no apologies for his own eccentricities. “I was young, and searching, trying to find myself,” he says. “Never did.”-- Andre B

And maybe better than I expected.

Liam delivers once again.

Well shot, directed and acted.

Surprising amount of humorous moments that are completely believable. It makes me wonder why there isn't more of that in likeminded films.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

*Effasig*

I really dig dark ass, survival thrillers, i.e. ones with ambiguous endings and the like.

(and, as screenwriter, if I had to choose the kinds of films I like to write, dark thrillers/dramas, sci-fi, and action is pretty much it. So, yay that THE GREY is right up my alley).

I knew that this would be more of the same and i was right.

I like Liam Neeson and he's one of the few actors whose films i'll gladly see, sight unseen. Because, I know, regardless of the story or genre of film, his giving a strong and quality performance *NEVER* changes.

From what I hear, Liam is great in this also.

I will have to make an effort to try and check this out during the week, if not then next weekend.

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Some of y'all need this in your life: http://www.psychology.com

I can see this becoming a classic tbh

almost a classic by January releases standards. I could nitpick some things (like the suicide thing not really making sense), but to be fair my expectations were pretty low, so I'm more than satisfied. I kinda hated Unknown and thought Taken was a bit stupid, this one felt much more real, in the best possible sense. The ending was almost perfect, I really can't think of a much better way they could've finished it. A moment I loved was when Neeson rages against God, and nothing actually happens. How many shitty action movies would've had a plane fly over, or a wolf attack, or something like that?
This reminds me a bit of Hanna, in that it's a movie released very early in the year that I could see end up in my final top 10.

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

Because they showed the sky I thought for sure a cheesy plane would fly by.

Glad it didn't.

darkness in him, until I remembered that he also wrote/directed the HIGHLY underrated (and very dark) Narc

Really enjoyable flick. The only thing I'd argue is that the "wolves" aren't the big boogeyman, per se, but nature itself is...

I can imagine more than a few folks being let down by what this movie ultimately turns out to be, as they probably thought it was going to be Liam Punching Wolves in De Face!!!!!! b/w Action! Action! Action!, as has been mentioned

And

SPOILER










You've been warned








I'm pretty sure people will be pissed at the way the movie ends

And even more pissed by the shot that's after the credits

So I guess we should be prepared to answer questions about it

When, really, the best answer is, "What do YOU think happened?"





Anyway, a solid, solid film. Carnahan's best work since Narc, and I considered myself a fan of both Smokin' Aces and The A-Team...

_________________________________________________________________________
A TOM CROOZE PRODUCTION.

...the 1st time I saw it. Saw it again today & stayed through the end.

The only thing I noticed from the final scene was the Alpha sounded similar to the 1st wolf he shot right before it died.

I'm guessing what happens, but not totally sure.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

*Effasig*

The post-credit shot is of Ottway and the wolf, both breathing. Ottway is on top of the wolf but his back is turned to the camera, so you don't know what happened in their battle.




_________________________________________________________________________
A TOM CROOZE PRODUCTION.

>
>The post-credit shot is of Ottway and the wolf, both
>breathing. Ottway is on top of the wolf but his back is
>turned to the camera, so you don't know what happened in their
>battle.

I couldn't tell that Ott was breathing too. I just thought it looked pretty cool that it looked like he was using the Alpha for a pillow if indeed he was still alive.

The ending was good, but suggested otherwise (or maybe just my read on it).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

*Effasig*

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******************************************
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Make sure you stay after the credits.

------------------------------------------
America from 9:00 on: https://youtu.be/GUwLCQU10KQ

The ending is what I call a "European" ending in that it is left up to the viewer to decide what happens and usually that annoys me but with this flick it was cool because they left the audience with a sense of resolution because if he didn't make it he left the wallets and notes.

I appreciated how they dealt with death in a real way, no *music slows* *close up of a man screaming "Noooooo"*.

Just "Oh well. He's dead. That sucks. Let's move on."

I got a personal kick out of the one Black cat being from Yakima, WA (Well I assume that's where he's from since you see "ma, WA" on the DL). There's a very small population of Black folks so LOL.

Liam's a bad 6'4 motherfucker.

Close enough lol.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZSrvU7o1AJI&v=ZSrvU7o1AJI&gl=US

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A

_________________________________________________________________________
A TOM CROOZE PRODUCTION.

Did my link not work or something?

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZSrvU7o1AJI&v=ZSrvU7o1AJI&gl=US

________________________________________________________________________
A TOM CROOZE PRODUCTION.

a movie in theaters for MONTHS.

dont forget Taken 2 is coming out this year also..

yupyupyupyupyupyupyupyupyupyupyupyupyupyup

Thank you God for my surviving that plane crash. Well, maybe.

The Grey chronicles the survivors of a plane crash in a place that might very well be the cold version of Hell. The seven or so, all-male survivors are now in the middle of nowhere in the midst of blizzard-like weather conditions trying to survive. Unbeknownst to them, not only did their plane fall, but they too also fell; down the food chain ladder. The new top dog of this hierarchy belongs to the literal ones. Wolves. Lots of them. All around them. And they're hungry.

Liam Neeson stars in this movie as the lead of the survivors, and luckily, he hunts wolves for a living. It's what he's paid to do in his normal life. His knowledge of wolves and hunting in this climate is top notch. But, these wolves appear to be special. They appear to be different from the ones he normally hunts and kills. These wolves are implied to be larger and way more vicious. Now, the unknown surely kicks in and trying not to be eaten by wolves add lots of juicy suspense and thrilling moments.

The wolves aren't the only enemy for the plane crash survivors, the weather wants a piece of the action as well. The cold is relentless and merciless. These guys are being double teamed without a timeout.

Liam Neeson does what he does in this movie. He's just good. One can argue that he plays the same guy in the new situation in most of his movies, but he does it so well. It's so believable, and we like Neeson for that. The guy is just "perfect". The characters he plays just seems to know everything that is needed to know. His skill-set always seem to fit the situation, no matter the nature of the situation.

The movie has slow periods and really takes the time to go a bit deeper into each of the survivors pre-crash life situations, but that's actually a good thing. The movie certainly individually humanizes each survivor by sharing a piece of their personal story in some manner. I do wish the scale between these individual introductions and the action from their immediate threats tipped a little more to the action side of things, but there was enough suspense and thrilling to keep you vested. It's not that the human stories were unimportant, because they were, but jeez, being in the middle of nowhere surrounded by super hungry wolves might want to make you save the personal, emotional, & intimate stories for the ride back to civilization. First, let's survive. This sort of thing created some "unbelievable" moments in the movie. The movie had its fair share of "now why the hell would they do that!?" moments in it too.

The movie isn't a masterpiece. But it isn't horrible either. It was interesting and entertaining, yet it had room for improvement. The ending will be sorely disliked by many. Very many. The ending doesn't justify the lack of action in the movie. The setting and situation gave prime opportunities for action and participation, but to no avail. The individual human stories weren't interesting enough to satiate the audience to offset the lack of action. Having children isn't unique enough for us to fall in love with the characters and give us a deeper reason to see them survive. The characters also didn't really display a deeper sense of wanting to survive. This removed the inspiration from the movie as the audience didn't have a whole lot to cheer and root for. Overall, the movie was an "in the middle" flick with some thrilling suspense and some interesting situations, but nothing special or above average.

Princeguy reviews:

"No pretentiousness.

No pompous re-interpretations.

Sometimes, a movie is just a movie. You work hard for your money.

The decision is yours.

See and enjoy what YOU like."

The ending doesn't justify the lack of action in the
>movie. The setting and situation gave prime opportunities for
>action and participation, but to no avail. The individual
>human stories weren't interesting enough to satiate the
>audience to offset the lack of action..


What fucking movie did you watch? Lack of action?

WHAT?!?

And did anyone else besides me just assume that the wife was dead from the beginning?

mtv.com:

>'The Grey' Director Joe Carnahan Talks Controversial Ending

'You have to decide for you: Is it a movie about a man living and dying or is it a movie about a man fighting a wolf?' Carnahan says.

By Kevin P. Sullivan, with reporting by Tami Katzoff

After three years, we essentially have a new movie tradition on our hands. Since 2009, a Liam Neeson film has opened every January, earning around $20 million in its opening weekend. That much money during one of the box office's most consistently bad months more than proves Neeson's worth as a cold-weather action star.

And it doesn't get much colder than "The Grey." The Arctic thriller won the box office in a surprisingly good weekend for business. Though it made slightly less than Neeson's previous two January releases, "Taken" and "Unknown," the success of "The Grey" signals the star's continued drawing power.

The $20 million take seems even more impressive when you consider that Open Road advertised the movie as little more than Liam Neeson versus wolves. Anyone who saw "The Grey" can attest to a much different picture, one distinctly lacking any of the promised wolf punching. The film plays out much more like an existential drama about men surviving in the wilderness than the supposed "Taken" with wolves premise.

There are spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen the film.

As those who saw "The Grey" this weekend will recall, after the wolves pick off the survivors of the crew one by one, Neeson's character, Ottway, moves on as the only man left. He holds onto the wallets of the men who have died in order to preserve some sort of legacy for the forgotten oil workers. The flashbacks to Ottway's wife or girlfriend throughout the film suggest that she left him, but the final look back reveals her illness and presumed death.

After cursing God, Ottway finds himself in the wolves' den, the center of all the evil that has been hunting him. The poem his father wrote persuades him to continue to fight despite overwhelming odds. He tapes a knife and broken bottles to his hands and prepares to fight. The screen goes dark suddenly, and the film ends without showing Ottway's fight, leaving the audience to fill in the blanks and think about what they've seen.

Director and co-writer Joe Carnahan spoke with MTV News about the creative decisions behind the ending, choices he felt obligated to make. "I felt that to end it any other way, I felt that would be spoon-feeding the audience something that I wasn't interested in spoon-feeding them," Carnahan said. "I think the movie's about something as massive and as mysterious as life and death."

Regardless of how you feel about the ending — whether it signals to a deeper meaning or just leaves promises unfulfilled — Carnahan deserves credit for shirking the expected Hollywood ending. Though fans showed support with ticket sales, the CinemaScore exit polling was not as approving. "The Grey" earned a "B-" from audiences, two marks less than its weekend competition"Man on a Ledge" — which earned a"B+" — and the same score as "One for the Money."

Even if audiences were mildly disappointed as the CinemaScore suggests, Carnahan sees his story as one that required the ending he gave it. "I think it's like, you have to decide for you: Is it a movie about a man living and dying or is it a movie about a man fighting a wolf?" Carnahan said. "Because I think it is incidental, at least in my mind, compared to the great questions that it creates in the end."

_________________________________________________________________________
A TOM CROOZE PRODUCTION.

I assumed she was dead, and that final shot which if I'm not mistaken shows some sort of IV tube or something of that nature verified it.

In my press screening, someone shouted at the end when the screen went black, "OH HAYYYLL NO!" And the rest of the house, myself included, laughed hysterically. Great ending, but ooh wee is it going to piss some people off.

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that shot was pretty clear-cut, and frames Ottaway's story a lot better than any voiceover could.
There's no real reason to be so mad at the ending. If he kills the alpha wolf it's sort of ridiculous (and then it wouldn't necessarily mean jack since he'd still have to survive in the cold), and if you show him dying it brings a finality that I don't think the movie intended. So the point is that he chooses to stand and fight. The poem and everything else in his behavior lead up to that, and I felt very satisfied, from a logic POV, for the movie to end that way.
But then again some people also prefer movies that are longer because "they get their money's worth", so I don't expect common sense to necessarily dominate the reaction to the ending.

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

Fuck the tidy wrappers. Leave 'em guessing (a la Sopranos).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

*Effasig*

Trust me, there will be more.

"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

Hohoho. Inception hasnt' influenced anything. That movie is boring.

The ending of 'the grey' isn't ambiguous.

The "end the scene before said scene's resolution" technique.
It was used in THE GREY.
It was used in INCEPTION.
Your feelings on the film in this situation are irrelevant.
One film used a technique that was used to wide acclaim in a previous film.
Films have been recently applying this technique, and will continue to apply this technique, based on the success of the technique in INCEPTION.
I'm sorry you don't like the movie, but that has literally nothing to do with what I wrote.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

A billion character dramas that end with "What do we do now?" "I don't know." etc.

Unless A SEPARATION was also inspired by INCEPTION, then I fail to see a direct correlation between THE GREY and INCEPTION. In fact, I'd say INCEPTION has a much more resolved ending.

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of how well it worked in INCEPTION.
Yeah, it's a technique that's been used before, but the reason that this time next year you will be sick of that technique is because of INCEPTION.
I've already seen it in an action movie, sci-fi, and TWO romantic comedies set to come out in the next 13 months.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

..while its true that liam tends to play the same dominant character in most of his films, it was kinda refreshing to here him say "..i don't know..." in this film.

***SPOILER ALERT***

yeah, he's an expert marksmen, but his skills are primarily based on necessity and preservation, not hunting. his knowledge of the wolves is crucial, but he's used to watching & waiting to keep them @ bay and protecting the grounds of their work facility.

faced with what appears to be insurmountable odds, he makes a gut call and instead of leading the men to safety, he ends up right in the heart of the wolves den.

this saved the movie for me. that & the fact that he was never the "unstoppable hero." he's simply doin' his best to survive.


..and miles to go before i sleep...

Great flick. I was prepared to suspend my disbelief with the whole wolf thing. I'm Canadian, so Farley Mowatt's 'Never Cry Wolf' was basically required reading when I was a kid.

Whatever.....Great movie. The comic relief worked....the sound design was really impressive. It was fun....and the philosophical elements didn't fall flat to me. In fact, it kinda gave me an inspirational boost when I left the theatre.

Anyone else think there was a bit of an aetheist theme in the movie?

..just the struggle to cope with the loss of a loved one






..and miles to go before i sleep...

It definitely had an aetheist theme.

It's funny too....cause you could see how they tried to bring up issues of faith. But Liam's character identified himself as aetheist.....

'I wish i could believe but I can't' during the campfire conversation.

'Fine...I'll do it on my own' and speaking up to the skies during the climax.

'It just slips over you'

And really, the whole movie is set up by the scene of Liam caring for the dying plane passenger during the first act. It's a poetic interpretation of an aetheist's last rites.

I can just as easily see an animist, or traditional, non-christian interpretation of the film as well.

Ultimately, I think its about man's struggle for meaning, obviously, but atheism doesn't have a monopoly on that idea/trope

..its simply acceptance regarding the laws of nature

this entire movie is set up through scenes of serenity.

- liam and his ailing wife
- the way he kneels over the fresh kill
- the awakening after the crash
- the way they show respect to the recently deceased

the entire film is a lesson in the respect for life AND death

yes, liam struggles with his faith, but not in a question of whether or not he believes. like most people in mourning, his grief clouded his ability to see the truth: that life & death are inevitable. an atheist doesn't argue with a god he doesn't believe in.

"..fine... i'll do it myself..."

that's called initiative. in such a subtle manner, he enacts the laws of nature by fully embracing his own responsibility.


..and miles to go before i sleep...

Who do you love?

Think of the good things.

It's Ok. You're dying. It's ok.

..and its not specific to religion or lack thereof

simply easing the pain of the transition...


..and miles to go before i sleep...

Very beautiful and respectful of life. No noise....no afterlife....no judgement. Just nature.

but I gotta say...that thing you said about 'no aetheist struggles with god' is definitely in the movie as well. He is obviously struggling with god and god's will to take his wife....and he overcomes this by seeing that nature is not god's will. In my mind, because he resolves himself to the fact that there is no god.

..that the laws of nature and gods will are one in the same...


..and miles to go before i sleep...

It seems clear to me that the movie doesn't go in that direction though.

Interesting to compare 'the grey' with 'alive' which is also a pretty good movie imo. But your interpretation works perfectly with 'alive'. They find god in their desperation. I'd argue that 'the grey' has the exact opposite theme of 'alive'. Liam realizes he's alone in his desperation.

..and miles to go before i sleep...

The realization that this thing you grew up believing and believed in for much of your life is a lie-- there is no one out there helping you.

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..i find it interesting that people have a hard time reconciling the possibility of anything and nothing at all

in this movie, ottaway didn't give up. he simply stopped fighting the inevitable, and instead focused only on his present circumstances. once he was capable of letting go of his grief, he was able to completely immerse himself in a battle of life & death.

either way, he wins...


..and miles to go before i sleep...

I agree that you can interpret that he still thinks there's a god, but he's a useless deity that casts his creation into an ocean of cruelty and never helps if he is real at all.

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..or somethin' like that

lulz


..and miles to go before i sleep...

>>an atheist doesn't argue with a god he doesn't
>>believe in.

I'm a pretty devout atheist, but I believe if you took all of the world's atheists and threw them in a situation like this, 80% of them would try to bargain for a god once they saw death approaching, including myself. Aka what Liam did after the drowning. This doesn't mean we're not really atheists, it just means we're human and survival is all we've ever known, and we want to keep living as long as possible. But you could still do this yet know deep inside that you truly don't believe in the supernatural. I think Liam's character never truly believed in the supernatural, thus he's an atheist, but in a moment of desperation it's only human to bargain for a god.

..a person who claims to not believe in god, only to plead for his help in the face of death is simply a believer in denial.

liam says he wish he could believe, showing that he did at one point, but simply lost his faith in the wake of an obvious tragedy.

he doesn't claim to be atheist. he doesn't claim to be anything. he is numb (and justifiably so).

like i said before: an atheist doesn't argue with a god he doesn't believe in...


..and miles to go before i sleep...

I have a couple of friends who consider themselves Atheists

They are responding to this film as if it's their The Passion of the Christ

_________________________________________________________________________
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...that have this heavy a "we are alone in the universe" message.

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The camera work bugged me a bit, I have a thing against constant close ups and shaky camera(the latter cuz I get nauseous).

I'd recommend it to folks. I think it's a theatre experience movie for the sounds and to see the emptiness the snow causes on the big screen.

It was fun leaving the theatre, apparently while in it the first real snow happened and everything was covered.

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*Note to self: Add Sig*

If this movie was ONE thing to me, it was a study of human will, and what humans are capable of enduring with a spark of motivation. I walked out of the theater with a shot of adrenaline.

And I agree that this movie is affirming for atheists. It certainly doesn't make any CLEAR statement on faith/the lack thereof, but based on some of the film's most memorable scenes, I would definitely say it "leans" toward atheism.

Loved it.

wait till after the credits rolled? There's an extra scene, I couldn't make out what it is on the shitty copy I own but it looked as though the wolf laid dying after his battle with Neeson...all in all FUCKING AWESOME ENDING!

Hammer or anvil?

the plane crash scene - one of the most terrifying representations of that kind of a disaster I've ever seen.

>the plane crash scene - one of the most terrifying
>representations of that kind of a disaster I've ever seen.

Narc
Smoking Aces
The A-Team

and now this.

the only thing i remember about Narc is enjoying it. mildly.

Smoking Aces is an Americanized Guy Richie movie. no thanks.

The A-Team is a bastardization not far removed from the Michael Bay Transformers.

and then he makes The fucking Grey. had he in fact made Taken with Wolves i would have considered that par for the course for Carnahan. and i say that with the conviction that Taken is one of the most overrated action thrillers in recent years.

i loved this movie so much.

-30-
You know it's drama, but it sound real good.

i had a chance to peep a screening and skipped out on it.

this is one of the more haunting film experiences in the vein of "take shelter".

that plane crash sequence was very well done.

carnahan seems like he's good at hitting a switch in certain places and he pulled out all the stops.

i'm out.
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o00o

ima dot point my thoughts cos i think all of em have already been brought up:

* like so many others, went into this flick with "Taken with wolves" being the only info i heard about it. but i had a clue it was guna be more than just that with Carnahan's involvement. and yeah, movie experience like no other. could not look away. and the omnipresence of the wolves mighta been a tad more terrifying than their sheer size and ferocity. they're pretty much everywhere and nowhere, and you can FEEL them in almost every scene once they set out on their trek from the crash. kept the intensity on full burn, moreso in the slower scenes. one dude's decision to just STOP and let death come was tough but beautiful to watch. and the framing of that scene, for him (and us) to witness such a fucking beautiful scene of nature (the background was mad picturesque), but to know this man is about to get fuckn EATEN lol.

* not sure what movie some of u were watching, but a sign from god was the LAST thing i expected to happen after Ottway cries out for help. by that point, it was pretty much a given there was not gonna be any divine intervention (in whatever subtle or overt forms it coulda possibly been presented in). it was completely unambiguous, just the wailings of a man at the end of his rope, trying to come to terms with impending death. and in the end it's the will to survive and to keep living that makes him get gully and take on the alpha at the end. the whole thing ends up being a mirror of what life musta been like for early man, the need to get creative, to find faith in one's own will to survive and beat back the odds. it's how humanity was able to survive as we went up the foodchain.

(actually now that i think about it, the LACK of a cheesey "divine intervention" moment could also be a sign from god, representing his lack of action, therefore giving Ottway that final boost to stand up and fight for his life).

* on the RELIGIOUS/ATHEIST tip, as some have already asserted, the film itself doesn't dictate one or the other. it's only Ottway's journey that informs us of any inkling of religious affiliation, or lack of. and i don't think sussing out a label for his experience is the point, either. it's about him coming to an acceptable understanding of the nature of the world around him, and pulling himself out of despair by taking charge and making a decision to confront the shit head on. perhaps to him the entire struggle against the wolves and its alpha take on a more spiritual resonance and he connects the dots somehow and sees meaning in them, whereas the wolves are playing war games and using tactics to kill off the intruders on their territory. but of course they take on this mythic property, but that's only a refletion of Ottway's and the rest of the men's journeys. and from a more simple POV, it was clear to me from the beginning his wife had died (otherwise why the fuck put the shotgu barrel in his mouth? easy connection to make), and whatever faith he'd had previously in divinity was most-likely broken. he's lost and punishing himself by working in conditions that resemble icey hell (or better yet, purgatory).

*I CAN'T BELIEVE THE RICHEST MAN IN QARTH DIDNT MAKE IT!

V.

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::folds arms in front of chest::

"Mother of Dragons, when I came to Qarth, I had nothing. Now, I am the richest man in OH MY GOD WOLVES ARE EATING ME HOLY SHIT"

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YARDS

it's definitely my favorite of the year so far, and IMMA BE ALL KINDS OF PISSED if Liam don't get a god damn (<--see what i did there) acting nod for this. it was dark, philosophical, and viscerally jarring/moving. i almost teared up a couple of times and was clutching my couch at other times. many folks have already spoken on why this film works so well, so i don't feel the need to be redundant. also folks complaining about the ending... stop it

4.75/5