Warning: Massive Spoilers for the end of ‘The Grey’
Anyone that has seen the trailer for the new Joe Carnahan man vs. nature survival film ‘The Grey’ starring Liam Neeson probably went into that movie this past weekend wanting to see Liam Neeson take on a pack of wolves with nothing more than a hunting knife and a handful of smashed airplane bottles Macgyvered into claws. That was a big hook of the trailer, people wanted to see how Liam Neeson took down a pack of hungry wolves with nothing more than some simple tools and the will to live. In the trailer Neeson does his best Wolverine “Snikt!” before running into certain death and battling with the Alpha male wolf. However for those of us that watched the movie, this scene is technically not in the film.
Ottway (Liam Neeson) remaining the lone surviver after leading his men to their deaths realizes he’s found himself in the wolves’ den. He wasn’t leading his men away from danger, he was leading them right into certain death. ‘The Grey’ is a film about choosing life instead of death, even when death is imminent. It’s about starring into the black abyss and fighting against all odds. We’ve now learnerd through brief flashbacks that Ottway’s wife hasn’t left him as the film’s foreshadowed, she’s died in a hospital from a terminal illness which explains why Ottway knows about death so well. Instead of giving himself over to the ravenous pack of wolves Ottway arms himself and looks ahead to a battle he certainly cant win but will try anyway he can. The camera holds on Liam Neeson’s tired face and fade to black… There’s no Liam Neeson versus the wolves action sequence. Even though cinematically the film ends at a very natural point allowing the audience to choose for themselves what the outcome of the final battle will be, the trailer promises an entirely different ending. Needless to say, there’s been a lot of complaints no the internet about the movie cheating audiences out of the ending that was promised in the movie.
As I stated earlier, the film ends at a very natural point that feels appropriate. For those wanting a more finite conclusion, there is a brief after-the-credits scene that sheds more light on who won that battle. I understand most people’s frustration and feeling cheated since not only did the trailer actually show you the final moments of the movie, but it also advertised a fight sequence that is nowhere to be found in the movie. There’s footage after the ending of the film that is actually in the trailer. It’s understandable that it sells the film better to show Liam Neeson fighting wolves in a very man vs. nature against all odds way. Not having that actually scene in the film and just the trailer will sell seats, but leaving it out of the final cut is going to anger an audience that mostly went to a film for a movie promising Liam Neeson in a knockdown-drag-out fight with a pack of timber wolves. ‘The Grey’ is a very existensial film about death, and that’s never an easy thing to sell to mainstream movie audiences.
‘The Grey’ is a truly terrifying movie about surviving against nature and one of Joe Carnahan’s best films to date. It features one of the most terrifying plane crash sequences I’ve seen in years. As a whole the film never falters and truly illustrates how deadly nature is. The uplifting note of this film I think many were hoping for is that we would witness Liam Neeson just decimating wolves like they had ‘Taken’ his daughter Maggie Grace.
Trailers showing footage that isn’t in the movie is nothing new, it happens a surprising amount. Trailers showing footage from the very end of the film is terrible, but also nothing new. A trailer showing footage from what is to believed as an alternate ending, now that’s something new I’ve never experienced. I fully understand people’s frustrations with the ending, I myself was annoyed about it too, but didn’t let it sour how much I loved ‘The Grey’ as an entire film.
