Neeson is the new Chuck Norris, except with acting skills

If every movie produced by Hollywood starred Liam Neeson, then nobody would ever complain about bad movies. I came to this conclusion last week after watching Neeson in “The Grey” and, for just a few scenes, “The Dark Knight Rises.”


Neeson has this unique ability to turn his lines in what may have been a subpar screenplay into pure greatness. When he takes on a pack of wolves in “The Grey,” it is he who makes the viewer terrified of the wolves, and not the computer-generated images of the wolves that rival the terribleness of those in the “Twilight” series.

After seeing him battle the wolves for nearly two hours, I went to bed genuinely scared of something as a result of watching a movie. “The Grey” isn’t even a horror movie – a genre I usually don’t even bother with anymore because I know nobody will ever top “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” – but Neeson’s acting abilities were good enough for me to admit to my wife that going outside that night was not on a list of things I was willing to do.

I first recognized Neeson’s greatness a few years ago after seeing “Taken,” a by-the-numbers kidnapping thriller that somehow was better than most movies that year simply because it involved Liam Neeson kicking the butt of the people who took his daughter.

In some ways, the movie made him the new Chuck Norris, except this Chuck Norris can act.

But here’s a fact that many will find hard to believe: Liam Neeson has never won a major acting award. He’s been nominated for a bunch of awards, including several Oscars and Golden Globes for his work in such films as “Schindler’s List” and “Kinsey,” but other than some regional awards from several film associations, he’s never been on a podium to accept the big award.

In many regards, his career echoes that of Harrison Ford, another actor who used to elevate the films he’s in to be much better than they would have been without him. Before the good roles dried up shortly after “The Fugitive,” Ford was untouchable. Now he’s a shell of what he once was, as evidenced by how awful the last “Indiana Jones” film was.

I believe Neeson can escape Ford’s fate, simply by choosing his roles wisely. Keep it varied, and surprise people. Ford seems to only choose roles in which his character is grumpy, and that’s stumped his career as nobody wants to see grumpy Ford. Someone should have probably told him people liked his cockiness in many of his good films, and that cockiness is different from grumpiness.

Then again, it might already be too late for Neeson. I haven’t seen “Battleship,” and I probably will never voluntarily watch the film of my own accord. If forced to watch it, though, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he at least makes the film watchable.
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Originally published in The Portage County Gazette on Jan. 4, 2013.