BY IKENNA OBIOHA
Earlier this month, Liam Neeson drew diatribes over his alleged racist remarks on dealing with black men after a friend told him she was raped by a black man. Though that event happened 40 years ago, it actually fetched a good level of fanfare for Cold Pursuit.
An almost frame to frame remake of 2014’s Norwegian film In Order of Disappearance, Neeson’s recaptures the role of Nels Coxman, a well respected, conservative snowplough driver in the wintry Colorado ski resort of Kehoe. But like they say “until it happens to you, you don’t know how it feels.” Coxman’s normal ways is transformed by the sudden death of his son (played by his real life son Micheál Richardson) who dies in the fluffy snows from a drug overdose in the hands of drug cartel gangs. Realising the cause of his son’s death, Neeson launches into a killing spree that becomes complicated as the film advances.
As he walks up the chain of henchmen in the cartel helmed by Viking (Tom Bateman), a temperamental boss who often manifests psycho traits, Coxman’s killings misleads Viking and his team into assuming the threat was coming from a Native American drug cartel, and this is where hell is let loose.
Estranged by his wife (played by an underutilised Lauren Dern), Coxman is caught between avenging his son’s death and saving Viking’s surprisingly smart son who becomes the contention of the cartel war. While all these sounds serious, Frank Baldwin finds a way to infuse comedy at every chance he gets in the script. For each death, a black title card with contrasting white fonts flashes the screen to commemorate their death, adding a comical touch.
Primarily, Neeson is projected as the handy, quiet guy who improvises to kill, with the impressive part being that none of his victims ever sees him coming. In fact, one of his victims mocked his geriatric look before Neeson killed him. Although the pattern is typical of his other films, Cold Pursuit is laced with a touch of the Quentin Tarantino effect in its dialogue style. The film remains the typical Neeson action flick, only this time with sprinkles of humour and absurdity.
The characters aren’t what one would expect in a typical action/revenge film. Ranging from the closeted homosexual Mustang who becomes overly emotional from his lover’s death, to a never impressed, nagging housewife Ahn (Elizabeth Thai), the script cleverly infuses the misfits into the plot that goes from serious to humorous. At another point, Coxman shared a moment of laughter with his victim, a move in the plot that mocks the essence of his revenge right before finishing off his target with a shot to the head.
Like most Neeson movies, Cold Pursuit projects real-life actions only reproducible through stunts and not over the top computer generated imagery (CGI) effects. One can feel the cracking of bones and skull, though this also is amplified through sonic manipulations, to evoke the desired response quite effectively. However, if you are looking forward to be thrilled by back-to-back action scenes, this may have you dozing off at certain points with the film’s rather boring dialogue.
On a production budget of $60 million, the film opened third place raking in $11.03 million at the American box office behind first place The Lego Movie 2, and second place comedy movie What Men Want. So far, it has grossed a total of $18million in box office sales.
These figures could have been less, but its success in this timeframe is indicative of the awareness it gained from the controversy surrounding Neeson’s speech. Otherwise, it would have been just another traditional Neeson film where he plays a middle aged man on a quest for vengeance; only this time with a witty twist.
