Grade: A-
Author: Billy Madden
Sometimes you miss one of the best weekend-released movies because it doesn’t have a big studio backing. Cold Pursuit from Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment was released this past weekend, alongside Warner Brothers Pictures’ LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part and Paramount Pictures’ What Men Want. Unfortunately, not many gravitated towards Pursuit, compared to the other two box office titans. As someone who saw all three-weekend openers, Pursuit was a far better movie. It should be noted that this movie also lost traction due to the controversy surrounding its principal actor, Liam Neeson. My main focus, however, is to grade this movie.
Cold Pursuit is about a snowplow driver in Colorado who tries to track down his son’s killer. This is a remake of a Dutch movie titled In Order of Disappearance. I have not seen the original version, but in comparison, it has a more serious tone.
If you have seen any other Neeson revenge movie, you know that nobody does revenge as well as him. His characters often have no problem going to the extreme for justice. His character, Nels Coxman, is no exception.
Neeson’s supporting cast of bad guys is also great! Domenick Lombardozzi plays Mustang, and he is perfect for this role. I enjoyed his work in the show Breakout Kings (canceled way too early), and although he may be a bit typecasted, he does an excellent job in Cold Pursuit.
It is easy to write this movie off as another Taken movie, but it is quite different. First, Coxman does not have a certain set of skills like that of the character in Taken. Secondly, Cold Pursuit is refreshingly funny, though the humor is dark. You will laugh at the characters’ deaths while the story unfolds. I won’t spoil how the movie accomplishes this, but speaking from experience, the entire theater was cracking up and clapping at the end.
Cold Pursuit should be on your radar if you are a comedy action fan. It is the perfect movie to make you laugh out loud while keeping you on the edge of your seat as every twist unfurls. I highly recommend going to the theater and catching it with friends.
RATED: R
DIRECTOR: Hans Petter Moland
SCREENWRITER: Frank Baldwin
STARRING: Liam Neeson, Emmy Rossum, Laura Dern, Tom Bateman
GENRE: Action
Synopsis:
“Cold Pursuit” is an action thriller infused with irreverent humor, stars Liam Neeson as Nels Coxman, a family man whose quiet life with his wife (Laura Dern) is upended following the mysterious death of their son. Nels’ search for justice turns into a vengeful hunt for Viking (Tom Bateman), a drug lord he believes is connected to death. As one by one, each of Viking’s associates “disappears,” Nels goes from an upstanding citizen to an ice-cold vigilante, letting nothing and no one gets in his way.