Review: Cold Pursuit

Image courtesy of Lionsgate.

"Cold Pursuit" fulfills the annual obligation for a Liam Neeson late winter action film, although the film often feels more like a Tarantino knockoff than a "Taken" sequel - and it's all the better for it. Based on the Norwegian film "In Order of Disappearance" and made by the same director, Hans Petter Moland, "Cold Pursuit" is narratively all over the place and often comes off as a satire of the type of film you'd expect it to be.

As the picture opens, Neeson's Nels Coxman (where do they come up with these names?) is a snowplow driver in a small town outside Denver where he has been named "citizen of the year." My first question while watching the picture was, "Is it possible that it snows this much in Denver?" Nels' son works at the airport, and early in the film he is murdered by a slimy Denver gangster known as Viking (Tom Bateman) after he and a pal tried to steal a suitcase full of money.

The young man's death leads to a rift in Nels' marriage to Grace (Laura Dern, seen only too briefly), and he is quickly consumed by a need to track down his son's killers. But as he starts moving up the food chain, hunting down Viking's men and killing several of them, he sets off a gangland war between Viking and a group of Native American drug smugglers, who are led by White Bull (Tom Jackson), and manages to get his ex-gangster brother (played by William Forsythe) into the mix.

The film has a running gag in which a character's name appears onscreen with a cross next to it after they have been bumped off. A very obvious joke occurs following a major shootout involving a number of the characters, and the picture ends on a gag involving a man using a hang glider that is, frankly, pretty hilarious. In many ways, "Cold Pursuit," despite its constant bloodshed, is more of a comedy than an action film - and Neeson isn't quite the tough guy character here that he has played in recent films, such as the "Taken" pictures.

Still, the movie is, as I'd mentioned, a Tarantino knockoff, meaning it doesn't rise to the level of that director's work. But it's still pretty fun and a welcome relief from the Neeson action films that have become an annual event in recent years. It's especially welcome that "Cold Pursuit" isn't a typical Neeson vengeance movie in light of the actor's recent unsettling discussions about vengeance fantasies. If you can disassociate yourself for a moment from that revelation, then you might enjoy "Cold Pursuit," which is an amusing action thriller that goes as heavy on the comedy as it does the bloodletting.