In the Grey

Grade: B

In the Grey involves zip-lining. It’s appropriate, because the whole movie is like one exciting zip-line run. It keeps up a momentum that never falters or wavers until the viewer is on the figurative ground, 97 minutes later. I’m not sure I understood everything, but neither do the characters. They are constantly explaining, describing, reminding, laying out, debriefing, and recapping to each other.

There are chases on several different kinds of vehicles, including but not limited to cars, motorcycles, and ATVs. The movie’s first half is all about getting them (and us) up to speed. Through voice-over narration, cutaways, captions, diagrams, and Indiana Jones style moving lines across a map to signify a flight path, we hear all about the plan – and the two or three contingency plans put in place if the original one goes sideways.

I haven’t said a thing about the plot, nor does it matter one whit. You won’t walk out of this talking about what happened. You’ll talk about how it happened. Henry Cavill plays Sid, and Jake Gyllenhaal plays Bronco. They head up a team, and it sounds cool to hear the phrase “Sid ‘n’ Bronco” throughout the movie. Eiza González is utterly fierce and confident as a lawyer who isn’t afraid to get in the thick of it. Rosamund Pike is a powerful boss with a large office on a high floor, which is where all of her scenes take place. Fisher Stevens (from the Short Circuit films, and most recently in Song Sung Blue) is awesome as a lawyer on the other side of the table. There’s a rhythm and kinetic energy to the dialogue, and the action is no slouch. This movie pops.

We see every setup from earlier put into play by the end. We also get callbacks from previous lines, and a mic-drop comeuppance moment that’s on par with what you’ll find in any great crime caper. The ending hits it and quits it, with no belaboring at all. In the Grey is everything it needed to be, and I liked it almost as much as Crime 101 from earlier this year. You don’t have to understand all the lyrics to enjoy a song.

Grade: B