A matter of Liam and death

Monster movies are about the fear of death and none more so than The Grey.

It is a surprising movie. You may be expecting a Liam Neeson action movie in the vein of Taken, but what you actually get is an existential howl into the abyss.

The Grey, out in cinemas now, is about a battle for survival in a snowbound wilderness with a pack of wolves slowly picking off the cast one by one.

It reminded me of the Werner Herzog documentary Grizzly Man, the real-life strory of a man who befriends bears and is, ultimately, eaten by them. In fact, there is a sly and very quick reference to Grizzly Man in the first 10 minutes of the film.

In Grizzly Man, Herzog grimly intones: "I believe the common character of the universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility, and murder."

That is pretty much what The Grey is about. It is an existential, primal movie about the fear of death and how to cope with the terrifying void of death. Not what you would expect from what is ostensibly a monster action movie.

But most monster movies are about death. I think US film director John Landis wrote in his excellent coffee table book Monsters in the Movies that death is the ultimate mystery and so we create myths and stories to try to make sense of it. That is kind of what movies are, telling stories in the dark to try to make sense of what feels like a meaningless universe and the devastating finality of death.

As the characters in The Grey face the bleak indifference of the wilderness and struggle with the prospect of imminent death, they confront some pretty meaty philosphical issues. As a result, The Grey is pretty powerful stuff because it confronts these big issues full on. It's an eloquent reflection on those fears and the conclusions it comes to are essentially humanist and existential.

There is one moment when Neeson's character says he wishes he could believe in god, but he fears there is nothing after death. We just have to embrace and appreciate the joys of life while we are here, he says.

We have to make our own life with each other here on earth.

A pretty powerful message for a monster movie.

Have you seen The Grey? What did you think? Let me know.

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