‘Cold Pursuit’ adds humor to the revenge

Posted on February 15, 2019

By MARK VIOLA

Ever since 2009’s “Taken,” actor Liam Neeson has starred in a wide variety of action thrillers, most of which involve his character, who happens to possess a certain set of skills, taking revenge against those who did him or his family wrong.

Those films have been a mixed bag, but his latest movie, “Cold Pursuit,” is definitely one of the better ones, mixing the usual dose of bloody action with just a dash of unexpected comedy. Neeson’s films, even the outlandish ones, tend to have a veneer of self-seriousness, but “Cold Pursuit” remembers to have some fun.

Of course, Neeson has been in the news lately for entirely different reasons, but I’ll let you decide if that will affect your decision to see this movie.

The story centers on Nels Coxman (Neeson), a hard-working snowplow driver who keeps the small village of Kehoe connected with the outside world, including Denver to the south. When his son is found dead of an apparent drug overdose, he doesn’t believe it, and is soon proven correct when he discovers that his son was killed by a Denver drug lord for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Unlike Neeson’s usual revenge-seeking characters, Nels doesn’t have any pre-learned skills in killing, except for his time as a hunter and what he’s read in crime novels.

What follows is pretty formulaic, but director Hans Petter Moland, who also directed the Norwegian film upon which this one is based, adds some dark comedy, such as title cards showing the name and nickname of each character who is killed.

“Cold Pursuit” could have easily been another brooding thriller, but we’ve seen that before from Neeson. This, at least, is something new, and because of that, is quite a bit of fun, as long as you don’t mind bloody violence and some irreverent humor.

The movie is rated R for strong violence, drug material and some language, including sexual references.

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