Summary

• Neeson’s dive into action with Taken sparked a successful path in the genre, paving the way for The Grey’s chilling intensity.
• The Grey stands out as Neeson’s peak action film, boasting critical acclaim and intense survival sequences.
• Compared to Taken, The Grey offers a bone-chilling fight for survival that solidifies Neeson’s action star status.

Liam Neeson’s best action film since 2008’s Taken will soon be leaving streaming. The Ireland-born actor fosters an illustrious career dating back to the late 70s and has not only performed but excelled in films of various genres, i.e., the 1993 historical epic Schindler’s List, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination and the 2004 biographical romance Kinsey that drew him a Golden Globe nomination. In 2008, Neeson unexpectedly took a chance at a genre with a bit more grit by starring in the cast of Pierre Morel’s action thriller Taken and shone there, too.

Neeson was ordained a bonafide action star for his role as Taken’s retired CIA operative Bryan Mills. With Neeson at the fore, Taken flipped its $25 million budget into a $226.9 million worldwide haul and was well-received by audiences (as demonstrated by its 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes), giving rise to many more opportunities in the genre for him to pursue, including two other Taken films. Taken was an explosive start to Neeson’s action career and, in some corners, is considered his best. However, another action hit may better represent the heights he can climb in the genre.

What The Grey Is About

Neeson’s John Ottway Fights For His Life In Alaska’s Icy Wilderness

Off the back of Taken, Neeson featured in the action films Five Minutes of Heaven, Clash of the Titans, The Next Three Days, and Unknown until coming upon the survival action thriller co-written, produced, and directed by Joe Carnahan, The Grey. Based on the short story “Ghost Walker” by Ian MacKenzie, who co-wrote the screenplay with Carnahan, The Grey follows oil refinery workers headed home from a grueling five-week shift who become stranded in the Alaskan wilderness after their plane wrecks. As it happens, the tragedy is only the start of a very harsh and strenuous fight for survival.

By the end of
The Grey
, viewers have experienced a chilling and thrilling Neeson film like never before.

Of the survivors are Neeson’s John Ottway, John Diaz (Frank Grillo), Jerome Talget (Dermot Mulroney), Pete Henrick (Dallas Roberts), Todd Flannery (Joe Anderson), Jackson Burke (Nonso Anozie), and Dwayne Hernandez (Ben Bray), and despite their efforts to remain alive, mortal injuries, icy climate, and a pack of territorial wolves complicate the matter. By The Grey’s ending, viewers have experienced a chilling and thrilling Neeson film like never before. Critics, especially, held the movie in high regard with an 80% rating, Neeson’s highest action film RT critical score besides In The Land of Saints and Sinners and The Dark Knight Rises.

Audiences scored
The Grey
at 61% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Why The Grey Is Liam Neeson’s Best Action Movie Since Taken (& Beats It)

The Grey Is One Of Neeson’s Higher Rated Action Films

Regarding critical and audience reception, Neeson’s subsequent action films rarely bested The Grey, definitively cementing it as the actor’s peak action film of the 2010s and possibly his best to date. Although Neeson came to be a verifiable action star, the actor unfortunately got mixed up in some critical and/or commercial action flops, including but not limited to Wrath of the Titan, Battleship, and most surprisingly, the Taken sequels. Various action gems have popped up in Neeson’s acting catalog, but none have matched the intensity or screen time of the actor’s performance in The Grey.

Besides 2023’s
In The Land of Saints and Sinners
(84%) and
The Dark Knight Rises
(87%),
The Grey
holds Neeson’s highest RT critical approval of an action movie at 80%.

So is the question of how The Grey holds up to Neeson’s Taken. Taken was a crowd-puller and has generated enough effect on viewers to burgeon into a cult classic. However, when compared to The Grey, Taken’s premise skews toward popcorn fare. The Grey is a fight for survival, inspiring action sequences that are bone-chilling, brutal, and relentless. Opinions will inevitably vary, but one thing’s for sure. The Grey leaves HBO at the end of this month (via JustWatch), and with it, so does the ability to weigh it up against the movie that turned Neeson into an action star.

Stream
The Grey
before it leaves HBO on August 31, 2024.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, JustWatch