Review for Cold Pursuit

Nels Coxman is just your ordinary snowplough driver, recently awarded Citizen of the Year in the town of Kehoe. He thinks his life is fine until his son is murdered after a failed drug deal on the orders of the local drug lord known as Viking.

Looking for revenge, Coxman tracks down those responsible, using the skills he learnt 'from reading a crime novel' and takes out the people in Viking's gang one by one. Confused by this, Viking presumes this is the work of his rival White Bull, leader of the Native American gang and this turf war soon brings in the local law enforcement who are used to small crimes and nothing this serious.

I am not sure what I am supposed to make of this film. At times I feel like the film is too grim to be funny and too funny to be a drama. It's a fine line that some films can walk, but this film doesn't seem to get right. There is definitely a feeling that the film is trying to be like Fargo, but it just isn't as funny as it should be, or dramatic as it should, it's in a limbo where I'm just not sure how to take it.

It could be said that like most of Liam Neeson's work since Taken this is just 'Taken in the Snow'. I will try and avoid the controversy regarding surrounding Neeson, though I do feel that this will tarnish much of his career now, but this was a solid performance by him playing the hard man and I am glad that they don't go the usual 'Ex-CIA' or 'Ex-Cop' route.

The supporting cast are fine in general. Tom Bateman is wonderful as Viking. His sleazy performance just oozes on every scene and it is almost like a classic Bond villain. Tom Jackson is also great as White Bull, his quite reserved rival. Emmy Rossum and Aleks Paunovic as the local police are fine, but not given enough to do to make them more memorable.

Throughout the film the pacing is great and the action scenes are just what I would expect from this type of film. What I did enjoy was the realistic approach to it all and so nothing was over the top, though the first kill has got to be one of the funniest moments I have seen in years. It was just a shame that nothing really comes close to this and it just feels like the film doesn't know what it wants to be and suffers because of it.

Extras include Welcome to Kehoe: Behind the Scenes on Cold Pursuit. This is a twenty-five minute look at the making of the film and is pretty good if you want to know more. There is also a Trailer and that's it. It is a shame that there were no interviews (though all things considered, I can understand why) or break downs of certain action scenes, but it wasn't like this was a film I expected to have a Blooper Reel or anything.

Cold Pursuit is not an awful film by any stretch and I actually enjoyed much of it. However, it felt like it was just one push either way from being either a great comedy or great drama. Instead it just feels like the makers did not know what they wanted and instead it is a franken-film that is a shame as it could have been great. If you are a fan of Taken and films of that nature, then you will enjoy it, but if you are looking for more then you may not want to pursue this film.