The first trailer for Joe Carnahan’s men vs. wolves drama The Grey has gone online. The story centers on a group of oil-rig roughnecks who are stranded in the Alaskan wilderness after their plane crashes. They must battle to survive their injuries, the cold, hunger, and wolves. The wolves apparently play a big role. This trailer mostly highlights Liam Neeson and distributors Open Road are hoping they can net him an Oscar nomination for his performance. There’s also a little bit of Carnahan’s trademark insanity on display when you see Neeson breakout the broken-bottle knuckles to fight wolves. The trailer is selling the film as a drama but there’s definitely some fun to be had.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer who leads a cast that includes Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, Joe Anderson, James Badge Dale, and Nonso Anozie. The Grey opens January 27, 2012, but there may be a brief Oscar-qualifying run in December if Open Road thinks it has a serious shot at putting Neeson in the awards race.

Click over to Yahoo! Movies to see the trailer in HD.

Here’s the official synopsis for The Grey:

A group of oil-rig roughnecks are left stranded on the sub-arctic tundra after their plane experiences a complete mechanical failure and crashes into the remote Alaskan wilderness. The survivors, battling mortal injuries, biting cold and ravenous hunger, are relentlessly hunted and pursued by a vicious pack of rogue wolves.

—