Liam Neeson stars in mis-toned remake of a Norwegian black comedy that feels off the mark ultimately disappointing

Cold Pursuit is directed by Norwegian Hans Petter Moland and is a remake of his 2014 film ‘In Order of Disappearance‘. The film stars Liam Neeson as Nels – a snow plough driver whose son dies following a drug overdose, although as Nels makes clear to the coroner ‘he’s not a druggie’.

Nels goes on to find the his son was killed by a drug gang, and rather than the suicide that had been previously considering, instead opts to go on a mission of revenge, working his way through various members of the group one by one. In fact, each gang member is set out in a different chapter of the film.

There must have been a time before Liam Neeson found himself lost in the world of revenge action thrillers but right now it seems hard to remember. Love Actually feels like a very, very long time ago at this moment as Neeson rapidly heads to an increasing parody of his role in Taken. 

The original film is described as a black comedy and that may ultimately be the issue here. Black comedy is a very difficult tone to get right, and they certainly are off the mark with this film.

It feels like a sort of poor take on Fargo as the music and titles between chapters of the film add a quirky sense to it, but it never quite worked for me. With these issues with tone, it ends up feeling like a conveyor belt Liam Neeson revenge thriller – and there are enough of those already. If this was a Taken film, it would rank below the sequels which says a lot.