Poor old Liam Neeson. First he waits ages to play Lincoln for Steven Spielberg, only to give up on the idea and see the role half-inched by Daniel Day-Lewis. Then after making Unknown, he decides to go and get away from it all by working on a remote oil platform, only for his plane home to crash and for his day to be well and truly ruined by some hungry, violent wolves. Is it any wonder he responds violently? Wait, maybe the latter parts are simply the plot of his new action thriller** The Grey**, which has just shoved its second trailer online.
Directed by Joe Carnahan, The Grey finds Neeson’s Ottway stranded in the wilderness along with some of his work mates (including Dermot Mulroney, James Badge Dale, Frank Grillo and Nonso Anozie). Faced with harsh Alaskan conditions and hunted by fanged fiends, the men have to find a way to stay sane and survive.
Naturally, Neeson has some driving reason to make it through – he’s got a wonderful woman waiting for him at home – so he tools up with broken bottles and all manner of other makeshift weapons to take on the furry menace.
**The Grey *will snarl into cinemas on January 27, and looks set to do for wolves what Jaws did for sharks, i.e. unfairly vilify an already-endangered species.
*But we still love it, Mr Spielberg.