Over his nearly four decade-long acting career, Liam Neeson has proven himself to be a versatile performer, be it with dramas like Schindler's List or comedies like A Million Ways to Die in the West. That being said, he's been cemented for a long time as one of Hollywood's biggest badasses, building an impressive reputation off action movies and thrillers. Even in his mid-60s, Neeson is all too willing to play characters who have the necessary skills to swiftly eliminate his foes. Today it was announced he'll keep that streak going with what could be one of his weirdest projects yet, titled Hard Powder.
Described by Variety as a "Rocky Mountains-set action revenge thriller," Hard Powder will star Liam Neeson as Nels, an "uptight" snow plow driver who is awarded the "Citizen of the Year" prize but the folks in his Colorado ski town. When his son is murdered by a local drug lord, Nels will channel his fury and use the heavy machinery at his disposal to exact vengeance and dismantle the drug lord's operation. In the process, he'll ignite a turf war between a Native American mafia boss and "The Viking," a vegan gangster (seriously) who wears expensive suits, drives in a Tesla and loves to murder in cold blood. All this insanity will culminate in a final showdown that's guaranteed to kill almost all the participants.
Studiocanal, the group behind Hard Powder, described Liam Neeson's character as being "a hero in the mold of Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven or Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Director Hans Petter Moland also stated that the movie will aim for a tone and archetypes similar to Get Shorty and Out of Sight. Frank Baldwin wrote the script, and Michael Shamberg is attached as a producer. Neeson has previously worked under StudioCanal on 2014's Non-Stop.
In the collection of Liam Neeson's action-heavy movies, Hard Powder sounds like it will be one of the crazier ones. We're used to seeing him dispatch enemies in more conventional ways, i.e. with gun or fists, but taking down drug dealers and other nefarious figures with snow machinery?! I'm both perplexed and excited to see this go down. I'm picturing this story as a frantic blend of the Taken movies and The Grey, but if Neeson's past work is any indication, audiences are guaranteed a lot of thrilling and gripping moments in Hard Powder.
We'll keep you updated on how Hard Powder is progressing as more news comes in, but for now, you can see Liam Neeson acting alongside Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield in Silence, and his 2017 appearances include Felt (where he'll play real life FBI agent Mark Felt, a.k.a. Deep Throat) and The Commuter.
