What would you have done if you'd survived the plane crash in 'The Grey'?

I first read about the movie, “The Grey,” several months ago in an issue of Outside magazine, and I’ve been wanting to watch it ever since. I finally got around to watching it the other day, thanks to NetFlix, and I recommend it to anyone out there who likes a good, manly adventure movie.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, “The Grey” is about a small group of oil pipeline workers in Alaska. They board a plane to head back to their respective homes, but bad weather causes the plane to crash in the remote Alaskan wilderness. A number of the oil workers survive the plane crash only to have to deal with their injuries, extremely cold weather and a pack of very territorial grey wolves. One of the oil workers is a professional hunter, and he attempts to lead the survivors back to civilization.

“The Grey” was released in January and is rated R. Directed by Joe Carnahan, “The Grey” stars Liam Neeson (as the professional hunter), Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts and Joe Anderson. The movie’s producers included Carnahan and Ridley Scott.

I was interested to learn that the movie was based on a short story called “Ghost Walker” by Ian MacKenzie Jeffers. He and Carnahan wrote the screenplay together. If you’re hoping to read the original version of “Ghost Walker,” good luck. I’ve spent more time looking for it online than I probably should have and didn’t have any luck. From what I gather, Jeffers eventually expanded the short story (or novella) into a novel, and you can buy it through Amazon as an ebook.

I liked the movie because of its man vs. wild, survival aspects. The wolf pack almost became a character all its own, sort of like the shark in “Jaws.” The movie’s setting also added a lot to the film. It had a very Jack London feel to it. The movie was shot in British Columbia with temperatures dipping down to 40 below zero at times during production. The bad weather scenes were the real deal, not CGI. In fact, the movie’s marketing outfit partnered with The Weather Channel to promote the movie by highlighting the extreme weather conditions that the movie was filmed in.

I did enjoy this movie, but fair warning, you will be required to suspend belief for a while. If you’re the type person who likes to overanalyze movies, you might drive yourself a little crazy watching this one. I’m no survival expert, but there seemed to be a number of things the crash survivors could have done to either get help, aid their rescue, kill the wolves, etc., etc. Of course, if they’d have done any of those things, the movie would have been about 15 minutes long. My advice is to just go with it.

In the end, how many of you have seen “The Grey”? What did you think about it? Did you like it or dislike it? Why? Let us know in the comments section below.