The Grey
Open Road Films (II) | Release Date: January 27, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
9
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJan 26, 2012
It's a fine, tough little movie, technically assured and brutally efficient, with a simple story that ventures into some profound existential territory without making a big fuss about it. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJan 25, 2012
Sit through the entire credits. There's one more shot still to come. Not that you wouldn't be content without it. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn LevyJan 26, 2012
Genre movies are often mere excuses for shows of gore and tricked-up suspense, and while The Grey should satisfy anyone who seeks only that there's something more profound and pure at its heart, making it a genuinely entertaining thriller that puts a chill through you in more ways than one. Read full review
80
SlateDana StevensJan 26, 2012
I pretty much loved this movie from start to finish - risible implausibilities, insufficiently explained premise and all. An admirably spare survival thriller, The Grey (nice title!) abounds in qualities that are rare in movies of its type. It's quiet, contemplative, and almost haiku-like in its simplicity. Read full review
80
MovielineStephanie ZacharekJan 26, 2012
What is surprising is how poetic the movie is, partly thanks to its high-lonesome sound design and the desolate beauty of its visuals, but mostly because of its star, Liam Neeson. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJan 26, 2012
The gristle inside this movie is one of the things that save it from being simply a series of challenges. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderBen SachsJan 26, 2012
Like Anthony Mann's "The Naked Spur" (1953) or "Man of the West" (1958), the movie draws on the terrifying beauty of the natural world and generates tension from the volatile dynamics of a carefully observed group. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenFeb 1, 2012
The film is an intelligent study of the will to live. It's so strong that even a suicidal man rises to the occasion. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 31, 2012
There's an almost poetic quality to the way things develop, with characters becoming increasingly introspective. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithJan 27, 2012
Forsaken in a cruel wilderness, a man looks to God and pleads for help. Receiving no answer, he says, "F- -k, I'll do it myself." Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayJan 26, 2012
The setting and fatalistic musings of The Grey invite comparison to Sean Penn's stirring 2007 ad­ven­ture "Into the Wild"; in its more metaphysical moments, told in impressionistic flashbacks, it recalls last year's "The Tree of Life." Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 26, 2012
A terrifically exciting, deeply unsettling survivalist epic. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 26, 2012
Call The Grey "Deliverance" Lite, with snow, and wolves. And call it a solid January surprise. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedJan 24, 2012
The Grey avoids smug clichés, takes you to places you least expect and settles for no comfortable solutions, while it explores the dark shadows of the male psyche and finds more emotional fragility there than you find in the usual phony macho myths from Hollywood. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoJan 23, 2012
There's little in Joe Carnahan's previous films, marked by their frenetic, fanboy-friendly overindulgences, to predict the cold blast of The Grey, an old-fashioned, neatly arrayed survival story that almost reads like a reaction to the excesses of his past work. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonJan 26, 2012
Mr. Carnahan has till now been pigeonholed, and rightly, by comedy shoot-'em-ups like "Smokin' Aces" and "The A-Team." But here he is with The Grey - certainly an adventure film but one with a spiritual ingredient that is both surprising and fiercely resonant. Read full review
70
TimeRichard CorlissJan 26, 2012
True to its grim prospectus, The Grey dwells in haunted machismo to the very end. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJan 25, 2012
Don't be mistaken -- this isn't an artsy thriller. It is still, at heart, men vs. wolves, and the wolves definitely have the home-court advantage. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJan 19, 2012
The Grey, a man's-man of a genre picture that will satisfy the action audience while reminding more discerning viewers what they saw in director Joe Carnahan's decade-old breakthrough, "Narc." Read full review
65
NPRIan BuckwalterJan 27, 2012
The movie might not be a vengeance-driven wolf-man cage fight, but in subverting those escapist expectations, it sinks its teeth far deeper and more memorably. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyJan 26, 2012
The film sustains some suspense and brooding atmosphere for its first half, but eventually the clichés of character and dialogue drag it struggling to ground. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJan 26, 2012
The Grey, whose clipped title, grim swagger, and lost-in-the-outback themes conjure up visions of that Alec Baldwin/Anthony Hopkins classic, "The Edge," devolves into a predictable man-against-nature, and man-against-fellow man, affair. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJan 26, 2012
At times, the animatronic effects used to create the wolves are too obvious, and the one-by-one kill-off plotline employed in so many horror films gives The Grey a plodding predictability. At nearly two hours, it's also too long. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichJan 24, 2012
Moment to moment, the film is gripping and beautiful to behold (props to cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi for the mesmerizingly grainy, achromatic visuals). But caveat emptor to those expecting a hinterlands gloss on "Taken" with rapacious curs in place of nefarious Albanians. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasJan 25, 2012
Neeson brings gravitas to the table, acting as a legitimizing counterweight to the overwrought dialogue and flesh-tearing lupine hysteria. But in a scenario this persistently ludicrous, he can only do so much. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumJan 25, 2012
You see the pattern here? Winter-release slot + travel budget + Liam Neeson = slightly preposterous, routinely violent, apparently lucrative action movie in which the Irish-born star signals inner emotional conflict with his handsomely mashed boxer's face while settling outer physical conflict with his boxer's fists. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJan 28, 2012
Neeson's gravity elevates the action, and there's a fine, prickly performance by an actor new to me, Frank Grillo, as the asshole of the group. But The Grey, despite moments of sublimity, is as predictable as a funeral. When Ottway angrily calls out to God, the nonanswer is sadly redundant. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigJan 26, 2012
The computer-generated wolves have more personality than any of the dull characters in The Grey. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisJan 26, 2012
It's cheap the way The Grey wants to be both a Liam Neeson "Quit Taking My Stuff'' movie and an existential thriller about survival. Read full review
50
VarietyJoe LeydonJan 19, 2012
The picture's dialogue-heavy stretches and ambiguous finale could leave ticketbuyers impatient for less chatter and more chomping. Read full review
40
Village VoiceBrian MillerJan 24, 2012
There's too much Jack London, and, as they systematically pick off the stragglers, too many CGI wolves go unpunched. Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazineVadim RizovJan 19, 2012
This is admirably ambitious, but Carnahan's not nearly good enough a writer or director to pull it off: the results are portentous, muddled and not nearly as entertaining as Neeson's usual face-punching antics. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliJan 26, 2012
A handsome but gabby take on the standard survivalist thriller that's more concerned with lofty metaphysics than which poor blockhead is about to bite it next. Read full review
25
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJan 25, 2012
Carnahan didn't make a movie unfit for mankind but it certainly isn't worth mankind's money. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJan 25, 2012
Neeson is always compelling, even in a movie as ridiculous as The Grey. Read full review
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