Revenge is a dish best served cold
LIAM NEESON finds himself in hot water high up on frozen mountains in this quirky and nihilistic revenge-driven black comedy thriller. A US adaptation of the 2014 Norwegian film In Order of Disappearance, also directed by Hans Petter Moland, it translates slickly to chilly Colorado.
It’s yet another two-fisted starring role for Neeson, which sees him as Nels, a snowplough driver recently appointed Citizen of the Year in his isolated home town.
Laura Dern plays his almost ageappropriate love interest, and their domestic bliss immediately sets alarm bells ringing in your head.
Sure enough, their adult son is quickly murdered and the promising start proves there are few more menacing cinematic figures than a drunk and despondent Neeson bearing a gun and a grudge.
Nels is drawn into a murky crowd of cops and criminals which includes drug dealers, informers, hitmen, and a trio of fathers avenging their sons.
Tom Bateman stands out among the throng as
Trevor ‘Viking’ Calcote, an arrogant and agitated Mob boss who is battling his ex-wife while fighting to maintain a grip on power. There’s kidnapping, suicide, beheadings, face- smashing and bloodsplatting violence, and an inventive method of body disposal.
But in a tiresomely offbeat comic style, just about everyone has a nickname which is signposted on the screen after each frequent death.
Frostbitten photography allows us to experience the breathtaking chill of the wintry conditions, while the pristine white landscape is in sharp contrast to the dark story. It’s vaguely reminiscent of the Coen brothers’ superior 1996 thriller, Fargo, however, Cold Pursuit runs into a snowdrift of icy cynicism, a sluggish pace and it’s own eccentricities, eventually outlasting its welcome. After recent controversial comments by Neeson resulted in a blizzard of bad publicity, the same may sadly also now be true of the Irishman’s acting career.