Although Into the Grizzly Maze has a decent ensemble at its disposal, there aren't many thrills to be found on the movie's soggy, haphazard trek toward a ridiculous finale. The film sags under the weight of at least one unnecessary plot thread (involving a police captain played by Scott Glenn and his connection to some local bear hunters, who have Adam Beach as their hired guide), a resoundingly uninteresting screenplay (credited to Guy Moshe and Jack Reher), and some terribly inept direction by David Hackl, a production-designer-turned-director who cut his teeth on the Saw series.

The most glaring and fatal problem with the movie is that none of the bear material works at all. Although the bear takes home an honorary credit ("with Bart the Bear", right above "and Billy Bob Thornton"), it's pretty clear that all of the footage featuring the animal was shot separately from the rest of the production, either in some similar-looking forest with day poorly re-graded to night using computers, or on a greenscreen that allows Hackl to half-heartedly composite the bear into any situations that would require the bear to do something other than walk around. The effect is so unconvincing it manages to ruin the tension even as Hackl bends over backward to keep the bear and the characters in separate shots as a last-ditch effort to avoid asking too much of the effects. He then pours salt in the wound by chopping each sequence to bits, trying to cover up the inadequacy of the attack footage by running it by so fast and with so many cuts that the viewer can't get a good look at it. An early scene of the bear attacking a police officer while she's examining an abandoned vehicle is mostly shots of the actress struggling inside the interior of the car without the bear even visible, including relatively lengthy coverage of her bloody hand gripping a radio that broadcasts her screams to the other characters. A better director could've made this "radio play" approach engage the imagination, but it's obvious it's a directorial Band-Aid.

The story tissue that connects Rowan and Beckett's threads is the presence of poachers in the forest, but as badly staged as the bear attacks are, the film might as well cut to a black screen for all the interest that thread generates. To say that Marsden, Jane, Perabo, McManus, and Thonrton have more interesting or fleshed-out characters would be pushing it, but all are seasoned performers who are able to inject rote family drama and interpersonal conflicts with enough life to tolerate them, if not quite enough to enjoy them. In a somewhat surprising twist, Perabo and McManus arguably make the most impression, with Perabo conjuring up sympathy using her expressive eyes (a better film would make great use of the fact that she's deaf, whereas Grizzly Maze just has the bear show up behind her a couple of times), and McManus actually coming off as if she has some semblance of a personality. She also gets one of the film's few visceral moments, a grimace-inducing beat involving a broken-off branch.

As the characters emerge from the forest, Grizzly Maze finally reaches go-for-broke rock bottom at the end with a tonally incompatible finale packed with some of the movie's worst visual effects. At no point during the film does Hackl demonstrate much of a grasp on tension or tone, but the climax is jarringly exaggerated, looks terrible, and squashes what might've been the script's one character-based payoff for the film's semi-likable protagonists in favor of something sloppily set up 20 minutes earlier. At best, Into the Grizzly Maze would've been a fun B-thriller, but even a recipe as simple as four heroes, a wild card, and a ferocious bear proves to be too much for the script and director to wrangle.

The DVD
Into the Grizzly Maze improves slightly on the usual big heads and boxes by aligning its cast in a lineup next to an image of a bear's snarling mug, wiht the forest as a backdrop. Combined with the photos on the back, it gives this low-budget production the sheen of a Hollywood blockbuster that slipped under the radar. The single-disc release comes in an eco-friendly Amaray (less plastic, no holes), and there is no insert.

The Video and Audio
Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, Into the Grizzly Maze also disappoints presentation-wise. Black crush is a significant issue throughout the movie, with shadows falling off steeply into inkblot blackness. Detail is softened throughout, without with plenty of fine detail being lost or appearing blotchy or slightly aliased rather than smooth. There are also significant pieces of footage, mostly the bear footage, which appears to have been shot day for night and then digitally graded, or even shot on a greenscreen, and this material looks very poor, taking on a blueish tint that isn't quite natural and giving way to odd, blotchy shadows and further smearing already low clarity. The 5.1 soundtrack is flat and weak, robbing gunshots and the bear attacks of the kind of ferocity the the film needs to provide a bit of excitement. When the bear attacks, there's no sense of how that attack surrounds the viewer or any attempt to feel realistic, it just seems like a bunch of chaotic roaring and growling coming from all angles. A French 5.1 track, English captions for the deaf and hard of hearing, and English and French subtitles are also included.

The Extras
None. Trailers for Lake Placid vs. Anaconda, Air, Insidious Chapter 3, Home Sweet Hell, Broken Horses, and Bad Country play before the main menu, and are accessible as a reel from the main menu by clicking "Previews". No trailer for Into the Grizzly Maze is included.

Conclusion
At one point during Into the Grizzly Maze, Billy Bob Thornton's character refers to the antagonistic animal as being "smarter than the average bear," yet it's impossible to tell through the writing, the direction, or Thornton's performance if the line is an intentional joke or not. It's a microcosm of how out of whack all three elements are in the movie, which is too distracted, sloppy, and disjointed to be any fun. Skip it.