COLD PURSUIT: You Can’t Spell Slaughter Without Laughter

In the frostiest regions of Tyos, Norway, a fictional town forged for the 2014 Norwegian black comedy In Order of Disappearance, a stone-faced Stellan Skarsgård played the equally stone-cold character of Nils Dickman. Five years later in the English-language remake, not only has the film been retitled to Cold Pursuit – which sounds like something Cannon Films would immediately green-light with Charles Bronson in the mid 80’s – but Liam Neeson, who now takes the reigns of the retributor, is renamed Nels Coxman.

Yes, its a sly dick joke, a low-key word gag which basically tells you everything you need to know about 2019’s first entry into the ever-growing library of “Liam Neeson’s Payback Parent” films, a prolific progression of action titles that begun with Taken in 2008, and thankfully, has finally been re-energised under the wise purview of Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland, who makes his English-language debut with this whip-smart tale of wickedness.

Mr. Plow, That’s My Name

Like a terrific season of Fargo condensed down to two hours, this a mid-budget shoot-em-up that on paper, seems like another vehicle that Neeson could perform in his sleep (and in some cases, has), but, untethered by the ineptitude of Jaume Collet-Serra and his recent string of deadpan misfires (his last half-dozen being helmed by Film Twitter’s favourite action auteur), Neeson finally gets to join in on the fun thanks to the off-beat absurdism of Hans Petter Moland, who has indulged in the risky endeavour of remaking his own film.

The underrated crime-comedy In Order of Disappearance seemed like a perfect fit for Hollywood’s favourite ass-kicking Irishman, as he once again plays a grief-striken father who takes on the local mafia, so its not surprising that this new version, adapted by newcomer Frank Baldwin, has chosen to essentially deliver a shot-for-shot remake (save for a few specific cultural references), but hey, if it’s not broke, why fix it?

After recently being crowned “Kehoe’s Citizen of the Year”, soft-spoken snow plow driver Nels Coxman (Liam Neeson) is rewarded with the world’s worst news: his son has just been discovered dead, with an autopsy labelling it as simply another heroin overdose. Unsatisfied with the results and dismissing any notions that his son was a “druggie”, the bereaved father jumps into his massive snowplower – armed with a sawn-off hunting rifle – and rides right onto the road of retribution, whilst his wife silently grieves in the background (an inexplicably cast Laura Dern, doing what she can in a real minuscule role).

His instant efficiency at the art of revenge is given an actual reason for once; he is the son of a legendary gangster, eschewing that lifestyle in favour of humble domesticity, spending his mornings making the roads safe for citizens. His weary brother “Wingman” (a wonderfully moustached William Forsythe) on the other hand, who Coxman must turn to help for once things gets serious, has just retired from the dangerous lifestyle, happy to hold up at home with his superficial wife Ahn (Elizabeth Thai).

As Coxman quickly kill off the men behind his son’s death, Trevor ‘Viking’ Calcote, the head of the ruthless gang responsible (played by a devious Tom Bateman, whose level of sociopathic slickness could have you mistaking him for Patrick Bateman) starts to think that it’s a war ignited by their rivals, an American Indian drug cartel who signed a peace treaty with Viking and Coxman’s fathers back in the day. The American Indians start their own warpath of revenge once the first of their henchmen is killed – the son of their leader, White Bull (Tom Jackson), who swiftly demands a “son for a son”, the same sacrifice that Coxman valiantly tries to execute (an appropriate word used there).

A Blitz of Blood

Throughout the escalating carnage, one of the more creative flourishes that has been carried across from the original is that whenever anyone is killed, a title card of the character’s full name, their nickname and a symbol of their religion flashes on-screen (most get a Christian Cross, but like every narrative beat, Moland has fun mixing them up). Not only is this a neat visual convention, but it becomes a clever shorthand to tell us that a character has died without having to explicitly show us their death – by the third act, just an appearance of a card elicits laughter.

The comparisons to both the movie and television versions of Fargo are apt; the frosty weather conditions, the black comedy-infused bloodshed, the snowballing (hah) narrative, even down to the wardrobe of giddy local detective Kimberly Dash (a game Emmy Rossum), who takes it upon herself to clean up the can of worms that has been spilled across the snowy (and once again fictional) town of Kehoe, Colorado. For such an efficiently structured story (Neeson starts busting heads by the 15 minute mark), Dash’s subplot never quite intertwines with the multiple narratives spawned by Coxman’s vigilante streak, and even her exposition-dump additions rarely matter, especially in a film that’s much more concerned with dropping bodies than dramatic intrigue.

Cold Pursuit: Conclusion

With Cold Pursuit, Hans Petter Moland is fully aware of the cliched territory that he’s stepping into – a tale of guns and gangsters, driven by a lone vengeful figure – but what saves him is his willingness to lean into these tropes with a big goofy smile, shaking off the deadly serious vibes that have afflicted Neeson’s recent action-packed stories of one-man armies seeking rightful revenge.

This won’t detract the naysayers – Liam Neeson and Gerard Butler are legally required to give us two “dad films” a year now – but this will definitely make die-hard fans hopeful for the next batch to come out (if they ever do now, in light of Neeson’s recent controversial comments). This is a rare self-helmed English-language remake that actually works (apologies to Nightwatch), a solid genre entry that knows what it wants to do, and does it damn well.

What do you think of Liam Neeson’s recent streak of action films? Let us know in the comments below!