Darkly comic revenge thriller
COLD PURSUIT DIRECTOR: Hans Petter Moland
CAST: Liam Neeson, Laura Dern, Micheál Richardson, Tom Bateman
CLASSIFICATION: 13 LVDP
RUNNING TIME: 128 minutes RATING: ★★✩✩✩
SET in the icy climes of a fictitious resort town Kehoe in Colorado, is where snowplow driver Nels Coxman (Liam Neeson) lives a comfortable life in a cosy but wellappointed cabin with his wife Grace (Laura Dern). He’s probably the most liked man in town because he keeps the roads accessible and clear of snow round the Rocky Mountains.
The teaser line for the movie is cheesy but true “revenge is best served cold”. It comes about when Nels’ son Kyle is murdered. Nels is all about finding those responsible. Working his way systematicially up the ladder to the top of the villain heap he notches up a considerable number of dead bodies which he rolls into the Colorado river until he gets to the head honcho.
It’s Neeson doing what he does best – whether he’s fighting terrorists, kidnappers or drug lords in Taken or in The Commuter or in Non Stop; the film shows what happens when an ordinary man is pushed to the edge through extraordinary circumstances. He does his bit in fighting the baddies in that stolid but sure Liam Neeson type of way.
Here in the American Rockies he uses his strong hunting skills to eliminate those whose paths he crosses on the way to finding the real culprit. Thus toting up a number of dead bodies, which are listed in black and white with a cross on the screen.
The ruthless and fearsome druglord is Trevor “Viking” Calcote, well played by Tom Batemen, in a seriously over- the-top sort of way. You will probably laugh more than get scared watching him. You can’t take him too seriously either at the way he barks at his son (a nerdy character who). Meanwhile daddy’s ordering around his string of henchmen (and pulling the trigger at those who don’t do what he wants).
Just under halfway through the movie all hell breaks loose and things spiral out of control. Nel’s revenge tactics result in Viking’s gang of henchmen being mistakenly pitted against a rival gang headed up by White Bull (Tom Jackson) – a Native American group of killers.
That’s when the black crosses and Stars of David start multiplying on the screen. Things move from the sublime to the ridiculous – most of them have wacky nicknames like Wingman, Speedo and Limbo. The long list of dispatched individuals is a symbolic graveyard of the cheapness of life and the ease and wantoness with which people are able to get rid of others.
To cut a long story short, Nels hires a hitman called Eskimo; who gets killed for squealing on him by Viking; then Nels kidnaps Ryan and gets on better with him than Ryan does with his own dad.
Things come to a head when Nels lures Viking and his men toward his posse. Hiding Ryan, he tries to kill Viking and there’s a massive shootout; the Indians arrive and just about everybody (who’s left) gets killed except you got it… Viking who makes a last ditch attempt to escape in his car.
Horror of horrors, Nels just happens to have a machine which cuts a tree and drives it through Viking’s car. Viking’s trapped and White Bull shoots him in the chest.
In the final bizarre twist Nels and White Bull are riding along the snowy roads as White Bull’s last surviving man, Avalanche (Mitchell Saddleback), paraglides by. He accidentally flies into the path of the snowplow and… gets shredded.
Take it all with a pinch of salt
– it’s a darkly comedic parody on crime’s worst case scenarios.