Cold Pursuit review

[Westside Steve]

Cold Pursuit
Summit Entertainment
R.              98 min
Okay it’s Spring, right? Meaning that we in Northeast Ohio have just slog through the entire winter that are crossing our fingers we’ve seen the end of the snow. I thought it was especially appropriate that finally one of the most familiar figures in our neck of the woods is featured as the hero in an action thriller, namely the snowplow driver. Remember Mister Stanley, if it wasn’t for the snow plow driver we’d never even be able to see the white lines on the Highway.
So the latest thriller starring senior citizen action hero Liam Neeson is COLD PURSUIT. On the plus side it’s supposed to be an action thriller and I usually like those especially when there’s some good old fashioned revenge involved. We know from the trailers that snow plow driver Nelson Coxman’s (Neeson) son has being found dead and the preliminary cause of death seems to be a drug overdose. Dad knows that his boy is not a druggie so the real reason must have been murder. And we're off.
One of his sons dirtbag buddies spills the beans that they’ve been wrapped up in some sort of dope deal gone south. Dad puts together a plan to kill off all the members of the food chain, one by one, until it gets to the head drug lord, known by his gangland nickname Viking. (Tom Bateman). For the record all the bad guys have gangland nicknames. Viking is certainly a despicable character but there’s just enough asshole in his personality to keep him from being truly frightening. As matter of fact most of these desperados fall short of the intense hatred necessary to make a Revenge film work to its fullest extent. Don’t get me wrong we are still happy to see these mugs get knocked off but mostly they come off has more stupid than pure evil. Another thing that makes the revenge factor less compelling is that we never really meet and get to know Nelson’s son. If there was more of an empathetic connection I think the audience would feel worse about his unjust death. 
One semi interesting subplot is that Viking has mistakenly killed the son of an Indian chief, who just happens to take time away from the casinos and the reservation to be a rival cocaine kingpin. That means Vikings son is now in jeopardy.
This particular film, set in Colorado, is the Americanized version of a Scandinavian project and book called In Order Of Disappearance. This, as I assume did the previous versions, keeps a running total of all the bad guys who meet an untimely end. 
This flick is listed as a dark comedy and while it is certainly dark enough it’s my opinion that the Scandinavians, for all their fine qualities, seem to fall a little bit short in the area of Comedy. 
Anyway despite the lack of excitement and real intrigue there is just enough of the poor man’s Coen brothers quirkiness to keep it from being a complete bore. Just not quite enough to earn it more than a mediocre rating.
C
WSS