Way better and funnier than I would have expected, COLD PURSUIT serves up chilly revenge with violent style, strong action and great wit.
Liam Neeson is Nels, a snowplow driver in a very frozen part of the Rocky Mountains, keeping the local roads clear and nearing the end of his career. He's at that stage where he's winding down and getting career achievement awards from his town.
When his son mysteriously dies in a heroin overdose, Nels and his wife Grace (Laura Dern) are devastated. But the more Nels digs into his son's death, the deeper he dives into a major drug ring.
Neeson soon takes up the most focused, efficient revenge spree since Charles Bronson blazed that path in "Death Wish".
What the movie gets right is filling the cast of characters with unique personalities and strong actors.
Tom Bateman (Murder On The Orient Express) is fantastic as the most obnoxious, elitist a-hole gang leader on record. Even his team hates him.
William Forsythe (Raising Arizona) is terrific as Nels brother and Emmy Rossum (Phantom of the Opera) is solid as a local young deputy with a hell of an eye for the truth.
Bradley Stryker is Speedo and Tom Jackson is fantastic as a Native American gang leader, White Bull, who treasures loyalty.
When additional sons are lost in the turf battle and another is kidnapped, the sins of the fathers collide in a hail of bullets, fists and anger.
Neeson is obviously enjoying having a great script in his hands that gives him a chance for every range of emotions within the story.
Adapted from the 2014 Norwegian film 'In Order of Disappearance', it's fast moving, lethal and a great ride.
The biggest surprise here is the intelligent sense of humor that fills the entire film, right down to its darkly hilarious final shot. Loved it.
I went in expecting "Taken 6" and got so much more. Neeson has said this will be his last action movie. If so, it's a hell of a way to go out.
COLD PURSUIT is chill fun of the finest order and gets a B+.
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