Why Masculinity Matters: 59-Year-Old Liam Neeson Is Action’s Most Bankable Star

by Christian Toto

There’s nothing pretty about Liam Neeson.

The Irish actor sports a disheveled nose and an accent that sounds like it belongs in a pub where the bar stools date back to the Second World War. And when Neeson puts up his dukes on screen, there’s no “Matrix”-style effects to give him cover. It’s all loping jabs and hay makers.

It’s why audiences are responding to his latest action film, “The Grey.” The film came in first over the just-wrapped weekend, earning $20 million without any big stars beyond Neeson and no existing brand to bank on. Neeson stars as a depressed sharpshooter who must survive the elements, and a hungry pack of nearby wolves, when his plane goes down in freezing terrain.

Compare the box office results for “The Grey” to the opening weekend haul of Taylor Lautner’s “Abduction” from late last year:

“The Grey” – $20 million

“Abduction” – $10.9 million

Lautner’s got Neeson by 40-odd years, and you just know Neeson doesn’t have six-pack abs like Mr. “Twilight.” Audiences didn’t care. They responded to the way Neeson goes about his business on screen. It’s never smooth or calculated, but Neeson’s characters settle scores and survive in a way that hearkens back to how male movie stars used to behave on screen.

He’s a man’s man, and that makes him a rarity in today’s Hollywood.

Read more: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2012/01/30/why-masculinity-matters-59-year-old-liam-neeson-is-actions-most-bankable-star/