The Grey, in theatres as of this past Friday and starring Liam Neeson, is ostensibly about the survivors of a plane crash in Alaska forced to battle both the wilderness and a man-killing pack of wolves. I went into the movie expecting something similar to The Edge, where Anthony Hopkins battled the wilderness and a man-killing bear, but it turns out I was in for a bit of a surprise.

There are two enemies in The Grey, the wilderness and the wolves, and the first thing you will notice is that the former is very brutally realistic and the latter are, well, not. The movie was filmed on location in northern British Columbia, in blizzards and -30 degree temperatures, and all of the bone-chilling cold, the howling winds, the choking blizzards, and the freezing ice and snow are 100 percent authentic. Unfortunately the wolves are not, and every time we see them in full action it's fairly obvious that they're not real wolves. They're slightly larger than real wolves and don't always move all that convincingly.

However, it turns out that's not a real problem, because the wolves are at their best and scariest when they are out of sight or moving too quickly or in too much darkness for you to get a good look at them, and moments of full view fake wolves are blessedly sporadic. Also, and this is what surprised me, it turns out that the movie isn't about fighting wolves at all. Not really. It's not even truly an action movie.

First you need to understand that this must have been an intensely personal performance for Liam Neeson. He lost his wife to an accident in 2009, and since then has been immersing himself in his acting work. And now here he is playing a man who has lost his wife, who has fled to the edge of the world, and who is on the verge of ending his own life because everything feels pointless and hopeless.

And the further you get into the movie, the more you realize that The Grey is actually more of a tragic drama than an action film. It is in fact a two hour metaphor on life and despair and fighting to find a reason, which happens to be wrapped in a story about blood-freezing wilderness and terrifying, angry wolves.

Because you see, the wilderness is a metaphor for the world, and the wolves are a metaphor for all the bad things that happen in life. As the well-acted cast succumb or are torn to pieces one by one as they struggle through the wilderness, each loss is troubling and tragic and the dwindling group must find reasons to fight even though the world and the bad things in it get everyone in the end.

Throughout the film, in and among the freezing and the scary wolves, the characters are given chances to butt heads, to reminisce, to talk about faith, to remember the things they love or the ones waiting for them or the ones they've left behind. The movie focuses on their troubles and their troubled minds at the same time as we are treated to the visceral and convincing fear of being hunted through the forest by wolves.

Various styles are blended well. There is a fantastically frightful plane crash, there are jump-in-your-seat gotcha scares, and there is one long, tense shot that keeps going for ages as you wait and watch for what you know is coming, but then it never does. The movie tries to keep your brain engaged by mixing up moments where you get what you expect and moments where you do not.

Don't go in expecting this to be a movie about Liam Neeson punching wolves. It's not, and he doesn't actually even do that. It's a story about life and loss and despair. It's a story about men broken down into their true selves. It's a story about fighting even when you stand no chance of ever really winning. And it's still also a story about bone-chilling forests and goddamn terrifying wolves hunting you through the night, and both the thrills and the chills do not disappoint in and amongst the metaphors.

One downside however is that many of the most ferocious action scenes are filmed in close-ups and shakey cams and tumbling point-of-view shots that do away with clarity in favour of scary and obscure flashes. This is another side-effect of having fake wolves. You can't actually show them interacting clearly, directly and physically with the human actors, and have to obscure it.

I would give it an 8/10 because I realize that not everyone will get the same out of it as I did. For me personally it's an easy 9, but the story and metaphor and atmosphere and beautifully terrible wilderness really worked for me. If you really hate somewhat fake-looking animals and obscured wolf attacks, you may want to expect a 6.5 instead. If you just want to see Liam Neeson punch wolves, watch the somewhat misleading trailer again instead.