‘Cold Pursuit’ Review

Mr. Plow that’s his name, that name again is Mr. Plow, and he’ll kill ya.

A snowplow driver seeks revenge against the drug dealers he thinks killed his son. Based on the 2014 Norwegian film ‘In Order of Disappearance’.

When I sat down to watch Liam Neeson’s latest action flick, I didn’t expect it to open with a quote from Oscar Wilde. Took me by surprise is all. It feels like just yesterday that Taken was coming to theatres and everyone was so curious how it was going to work. Mixing Liam Neeson an action star together, well it made quite the cocktail and it was a recipe that was recreated many times afterward, some being successful, others, not so much. He has gone on record to say this was his finale in the action genre, well until a dump truck full of money arrives at his house, but if this was his swan song to the action world, I didn’t mind it. Certainly, this isn’t better than Taken or The Grey, but if I were to rank all the action movies he has been in, this might fall into third place. I just thought the action blended nicely with the dark humoured that was sprinkled in throughout the film. That’s the thing, Cold Pursuit was really funny at times, I think it would have been even funnier if I saw this in a crowded theatre, seeing how laughter in contagious.

Cold Pursuit knew exactly what type of movie it wanted to be. I always respect films like that. It knew its identity and role and followed that formula to a tee. The premise is insane, but the execution was wonderful I thought. A lot of people die in this movie, and each one gets their own “in memoriam” when it happens, which played into the whole black humour aspect again. It’s about a man who plows a single stretch of road everyday then suddenly becomes an assassin. At one point, when his brother asks him how does he know how to kill a man, Neeson calmly responds “I read it in a crime novel.” That was good enough for me. It’s always a ton of fun watching Liam Neeson kill thugs and bad guys, that’s why these movies are always semi-successful. Over time it can ware you down of course, but this movie was a little different, and it was nice not seeing him stuck on a plane or train.

There’s an excellent kid performance (Nicholas Holmes) and a super over-the-top cheesy villain played by Tom Bateman. Everyone kind of knows the type of movie they’re in and everyone is really going for it. Something that I admired about the film. Even Laura Dern shows up for a bit. She might say 20 words the entire film? Laura Dern, coming in and just saying 20 words, it took me by surprise, it really did. I was never really bored, I was interested because of all the different characters they throw at you, each of whom have a hilarious nick-name. Another great trope, all the nick-names for the thugs, it really added a nice layer to the film. But obviously Neeson is the star, and we spend a lot of time with him. He doesn’t want to be a bad guy, or even really hurt people, but when you lose a son, what are your other options? He was pushed over the edge, and when a man breaks, sometimes there’s no stopping him. When he kidnaps a young boy, it almost turns comedic, because he’s not doing it for money or to harm the kid, and they end up becoming buddies, and the kid actually ends up liking him more than his real dad. I was just taken aback by the amount of times I found myself chuckling.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about Cold Pursuit, you’re either going because like me, you enjoy watching Liam Neeson kick all sorts of ass. It’s simple, you don’t go to this movie for the plot or great character development, you go for some laughs and to watch an old man beat the living hell out of some punks. I’ll give Emmy Rossum and John Doman some credit. They play the local cops and whenever Rossum was on screen, she just made an adorable little cop, who wants to take down the big drug lords, while Doman gave zero you know what’s about anything. I just thought they had terrific chemistry together. She needs to be in more things, I’ll just say that.

All I know is I’ll miss this side of Liam Neesons career, but it’s been a fun ride. Something no one saw coming and something we will all miss dearly.

Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Cold Pursuit = 65/100