Pitting the spirit of man against the brutality of nature, The Grey proves itself to be an action movie with a soul and finally sees director Joe Carnahan live up to his potential.

Carnahan’s debut film Narc was an incredibly good and gritty cop movie that heralded the arrival of a bright young filmmaker. Only now with The Grey has Carnahan met the expectations placed on him, because this is a surprise of a film: spiritual, frightening, heartfelt, and thrilling. Exactly the opposite of what the “Liam Neeson punching wolves” trailer implied.

Speaking of Neeson, this performance is one of his better recent turns. The last several years has seen the Irish leading man become an action hero and The Grey melds Neeson’s dramatic chops with his action man skills.

He stars as Ottway, a mercenary hired to protect workers at an Alaskan oil drilling site from wolves looking for slim pickings. When a plane carrying Ottway and several workers crashes in the middle of nowhere they are left to the mercy of the elements, the brutal terrain and the wolves picking them off one by one.

Carnahan melds a lot of different elements here. On one hand this is a chase movie as Neeson and his grizzly band of survivalists try to stay one step ahead of these severely menacing wolves, whose guttery growls (such great sound effects) are enough to make the hardest of hard men urinate themselves.

On the other hand The Grey is a deeply felt drama, with every character dealing with the realisation that he is about to become prey to an unmerciful land and its inhabitants. This leads to interesting –yet never long winded- discussions about life and God. Nothing like gabbing about Heaven when you’re one wolf mauling away from the hereafter.

The performances from a great cast of character actors – Delmort Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Dallas Roberts – further strengthens our concerns for these men. Carnahan’s great use of the environment (the film was shot in British Columbia) also sells the believability of their situation.

With Neeson at the lead, Carnahan has placed his film in the hands of an actor that could sell the many emotions The Grey taps into, that feeling of hope when there is nothing but hopelessness and the fight to stay alive despite the overwhelming odds. When Neeson’s Ottway screams to God for a sign, it is not another tacky “Noooo!” moment. There is grit and guts and desperation in that scene.

Carnahan has finally met the expectations placed on him. Let’s hope he continues to do so.