Liam Neeson has played thoughtful and sensitive in movies like Kinsey, or romantic in Love Actually but we love him best when he's slinging swords or kicking butt.

Since he's reprising his role of ex-CIA man Bryan Mills in this week's rip-roaring sequel Taken 2, we thought we'd refresh your memory on just how big of a badass this 60-year-old Irishman really is before you watch him blow away Albanians for two hours.

Note: Due to badass violence, badass language, and general badassery, viewer discretion is advised.

9. 'Darkman' (1990)

Before Sam Raimi enabled Tobey Maguire to swing betwe...

Man vs. wolves. Pretty straightforward stuff – unless you’re the man involved! We’re checking in with the new film featuring a little man/wolf tension titled "The Grey," out on Blu-ray May 15 from Universal Home Entertainment. The review battle begins below!

Title: "The Grey"

Grade: 4

Cast: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo

Director: Joe Carnahan

Rating: R

Runtime: 1118 minutes

Release Company: Universal Home Entertainment

Website: www.UniversalHiDef.com

The Flick: I don't know what has come over Liam Neeson lately, but his recent selection of films have bee...

Liam Neeson stars in producer/director Joe Carnahan's tense adventure thriller "The Grey" about a group of tough-as-nails oil rig workers who must fight for their lives in the Alaskan wilderness after their airplane crashes miles from civilization.

With supplies running short and hungry wolves closing in, the shaken survivors face a fate worse than death if they don't act fast. It's a tense countdown as the survivors try to outrun and outwit the fierce animals who hunt them down one at a time.

Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, and Frank Grillo co-star. The film raked in $20 million during ...

Animal rights activists are urging film fans to boycott Liam Neeson's new movie The Grey after the actor admitted eating wolf stew in preparation for the role.

In the film, the Irish star plays an oil worker who is stranded in the arctic with a group of colleagues following a plane crash and they are forced to fight for survival as they are hunted by a pack of wolves.

During the shoot, the movie's director Joe Carnahan suggested the cast eat wolf meat to get into character, and Neeson revealed he "went up for seconds of the wolf stew."

However, his comments have infuriated activists at...

"The Grey" appears to be box office gold - it raked in $20 million at the weekend to take top spot in the box office chart.

Liam Neeson's adventure drama bumped Kate Beckinsale's horror film "Underworld: Awakening" to second place with takings of $12.5 million.

Coming in at a close third was Katherine Heigl's bounty hunter comedy "One For the Money" with earnings of $11.8 million.

Falling to number four was George Lucas' passion project "Red Tails" ($10.4 million) and "Man on a Ledge," starring Sam Worthington and Elizabeth Banks, opened in fifth ($8.3 million).

This weekend, audiences will get the chance to see Liam Neeson fight a pack of hungry wolves in order to say alive in “The Grey” from director Joe Carnahan. Though he has become a worldwide action star with films like “Taken” and “Unknown,” 15 years ago the Irish-born former amateur boxer was better known for dramas like “Schindler’s List” and “Michael Collins.” That’s not to say he takes the craft of acting any less seriously now than he did back then. He is still as talented and charismatic as ever, only now he seems to be having a lot more fun.

So how did Neeson go from being a serious ...

Clearly the best thriller this year (although 2012 just started), I don’t think I have enough words to describe how much I love and respect this film. Shot in harsh terrain in 40 days without all the fancy Hollywood hoopla, it clearly displays a large amount of professionalism by the cast, crew, and everyone in between.

For many who have come across this film via TV spots, posters or on-line promos, the common thought is probably, “Oh, here’s another one of those plane crash survival films like 'Alive,' with a twist resembling 'The Thing.'” Perhaps there might be some mirroring of those fi...

Two Jews on Film - By Joan Alperin Schwartz: It takes a lot for a film to truly scare me. I mean, after seeing hundreds and hundreds of movies featuring, knife wielding masked maniacs, cannibalistic nuclear families preying on hot teenage girls and demon possessed embryos, I've become kind of blasé about the horror genre.

So many horror films are durative of one another. But I'm happy to say this is definitely not the case with 'The Grey' directed by Joe Carnahan ('Narc', 'The A Team') and starring the very tall and always excellent, Liam Neeson.

The story is simple. A group of sup...

Liam Neeson's new survival thriller The Grey has come under fire from officials at an animal conservation group, who claim the movie's portrayal of wolves as violent killers is "fantasy".

The Schindler's List actor plays part of a group of men stranded in Alaska after a plane crash and forced to survive on their wits as a pack of wolves hunts them down.

However, the winter wilderness drama has failed to impress chiefs at Wolf Conservation Center.

Managing director Maggie Howell tells the New York Post, "Wolves don't hunt humans - they actually shy away from them."

"It's not anything...

I loved last week’s Steven Soderbergh movie “Haywire.” It’s a visually stunning picture with cool music, and a strong, sexy female protagonist to boot. For elaboration on my thoughts, check out my review, if you haven’t already.

Dropping into theaters this week is the frosty Liam Neeson thriller “The Grey,” the high-rise standoff “Man on a Ledge,” the Glenn Close period piece “Albert Nobbs,” the Katherine Heigl action comedy “One for the Money,” the historical drama “In Darkness,” and the foreign drama “Declaration of War.”

Look out later this week for my interview with “Man on...

Moviemaker Joe Carnahan urged Liam Neeson to channel his grief over the death of his wife Natasha Richardson for an emotional scene in new movie The Grey.

The film focuses on a group of plane crash survivors who are stranded in the Alaskan wilderness, and Neeson plays Ottway, whose spirits are kept alive by the thought of reuniting with his wife.

In a crucial scene, his character pens a heart-wrenching letter to his loved one - and Carnahan suggested Neeson should think of his late wife Richardson to summon up the appropriate emotions.

He tells Empire magazine, "There's a letter that Ott...