This is a fun thrilling movie that I liked more than I thought I would mainly because it is a different Liam Neeson action movie as compared his last 4 or 5.

I borrowed for my review from a Review done by Rob Thomas of Capital Times which nailed it better than I could although I modified in several places.

           COLD PURSUIT   3.5***

     Nels Coxman (Liam Neeson) keeps the roads clear around the fictional Colorado ski town of Kehoe, his massive rig carving through the snow like a great white shark slicing through the water. His quiet, simple life with his wife (Laura Dern) is disrupted with the news that his son Kyle has been found dead in Denver of an alleged heroin overdose.

Nels immediately suspects foul play, confirmed by one of Kyle’s friends, who says they got mixed up with a local drug ring that had been smuggling cocaine through the Kehoe airport where Kyle worked. Nels begins to patiently work his way up the chain of command in the drug ring, killing lower-level thugs with names like Speedo and Limbo, working his way toward the kingpin known as Viking (Tom Bateman). Nicknames are kind of a thing in this movie.

It’s a standard revenge-movie plot, enlivened by two things. One is that the wicked at times morbid wit.  Nels dispatches one thug after asking him who was the better Denver Broncos quarterback ( his answer was meaningless as he was killed anyway), and shares a laugh with another over just how old he is (before killing him). Whenever someone dies in the film (which happens a lot), a black screen shows their nickname (often funny in and of itself) and real name along with a symbol for their religious affiliation.

The other distinctive thing is that there are a lot of characters in this film, and Neeson spends less time on screen than we’d expect. Not only do we follow the different tough guys in Viking’s organization, each with his own distinctive quirk, but there’s a Native American crime family that is inadvertently drawn into a violent turf war with Viking over Nels’ antics.

These quirky characters are at times a distraction from the main revenge plot, yet I wouldn’t have enjoyed “Cold Pursuit” as much without them. Director Moland has an eye for the grimly funny detail. What I’ll remember from the movie isn’t just the grisly violence, but the little comic flourishes, like a shot of a group of hardened gang members throwing snowballs at each other and giggling like little kids.

I really enjoyed this movie.. so well done with fine acting. The scenery is like an additional character for the movie.. always there and stunning !!!!

Rated R for strong violence (a high body count.. over 20), drug material, and some language including sexual references |