⭐⭐⭐⭐
Liam Neeson, as Nels Coxman, once again seeks revenge in Cold Pursuit as a man who has a very different particular set of skills to those we’ve seen before. This time his area of expertise is keeping the roads safe by driving a snow plow through the drifts of Kehoe, a sleepy ski resort a few hours from Denver.
Recently named as their “Citizen of the Year” for his services to the community, his life is turned upside down when his son is murdered by one of the local drug lords, Viking (Tom Bateman).
As Coxman attempts to uncover the truth about his son’s death he ignites a turf war between Viking’s gang and their Indian rivals led by Tom Jackson’s White Bull.
Starting at the bottom of the ladder, Nels climbs the rungs dealing out his own version of justice to avenge his son. Cold Pursuit is nothing you haven’t seen before, especially from Neeson, but it’s still a fun thriller, violent but occasionally comical too.
Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland makes full use of his freezing surroundings as the unforgiving landscape is as bleak and brutal as some of the action. Remaking his own 2015 film, In Order of Disappearance, the temperature plummets as the body count rises and he manages to give each character their own certain quirks making them all memorable.
Tom Bateman’s bad guy treads a fine line between psychopath and pantomime villain and spends most of his performance with a foot either side. Still, it works and keeps him unpredictable without detracting from the story.
Neeson shows that he’s still the go-to guy if you want a man of a certain age to ice the bad guys, and Cold Pursuit delivers just that with a surprisingly touching odd couple relationship thawing the frost towards the end.
Leave a Reply