Movie Review: Liam Neeson Goes on a Suddenly Very Awkward Revenge Spree in "Cold Pursuit"

The best 'Liam Neeson revenge flick' in years arrives at the worst possible time.

In Cold Pursuit, Liam Neeson plays a regular joe who goes on an unexpected killing spree, which would seem cinematically surprising if the last decade of Liam Neeson films hadn’t happened. It was likely more effective when Scandi everydad Stellan Skarsgård played the part of revenge-seeking father in director Hans Petter Moland’s Norwegian original, In Order of Disappearance. (Though Stellan, father of Alexander and Bill, has proven with his genetic offspring he’s not quite 'every' dad.)

Here, Neeson plays Nels Coxman, an admired snowplow driver in the fictional Colorado town Kehoe. When his son is found dead of a suspicious overdose, Nels starts taking out his anger on the likely culprits: Denver’s drug cartel, run by the ruthless Viking (Tom Bateman). Having learned how to kill from his years of hunting—and how to dispose of bodies from crime novels—he climbs the cartel's ladder, dismantling it member by member. With each execution, there’s a cut to black, so a title card can solemnly, sarcastically commemorate the deceased. It’s a decent bit, and an indication that Cold Pursuit is at least a little more light-hearted than the typical Neeson fare.

Moland probably figured he’d scored a casting coup with the leading man of his English-language remake, shot in March of 2017. And that is was, until one week before its release in February of 2019, when Neeson barfed gasoline onto a barely smouldering cigarette stub and told the world, unprompted, that he had once considered killing a random black man in the spirit of vengeance, when what he should have said was nothing (to steal a Mike Birbiglia line). Press junkets are hard enough, particularly when you’re segueing from 'here’s a hate crime I almost did' to 'enjoy my new comedy!'

His statement—which attempted to critique the futile cycle of vendetta-driven violence, but was dehumanising in its execution—will diminish any reasonable viewer’s appetite to watch Liam Neeson indiscriminately slaughter people. That’s fair enough. Still, there’s something to Cold Pursuit, which does indeed add a darkly humourous, self-aware wrinkle to his recent parade of kill-a-thons. It also includes a thoughtful subplot about a Native American crime syndicate, and how they’ve been historically disenfranchised, even when it comes to criminal enterprises.

The thing is, when the final body falls—and there are a lot of them—you realise Cold Pursuit has merely circled a bunch of points, without ever landing on one. And why screenwriter Frank Baldwin felt the need to include cop characters—played very appealingly, yet ultimately to no narrative end, by Emmy Rossum, and John Doman—I’ll never know.

The always appreciated Laura Dern is in there too, briefly, as Nels’ wife, and there are some interesting supporting performances from Julia Jones, as Viking’s unyielding ex-wife, and Domenick Lombardozzi, as a henchman with a heart. However, this thing lives and dies on Neeson’s considerable back. For many, given the week that was, Cold Pursuit is DOA. Certainly, if you’re ranking 'movies in which Liam Neeson reckons with the abyss of death in chilly weather', it’d be second to The Grey. Nonetheless, his grizzled-dad-on-a-murder-bender shtick is getting its best workout in years thanks to the strange, sometimes mournful comedy stylings of Hans Petter Moland.

In short, Cold Pursuit doesn’t put Liam Neeson’s career on ice. Only Liam Neeson can be accused of doing that.

3/5

In Australian cinemas now. Rated MA15+ for strong themes and violence.

Header Image: Studio Canal