Cold Pursuit 4K Blu-ray Review
Story
Nels Coxman's quiet life as a snowplow driver comes crashing down when his beloved son dies under mysterious circumstances. His search for the truth soon becomes a quest for revenge against a psychotic drug lord named Viking and his sleazy henchmen. Transformed from upstanding citizen to coldblooded vigilante, Coxman unwittingly sets off a chain of events that includes a kidnapping, a series of deadly misunderstandings and a turf war between Viking and a rival boss.
Review
When I first saw a trailer for Cold Pursuit I wasn't too sure what to think of it. I've enjoyed most of Liam Neeson's films from the past decade and this one seemed like more of the same. I did my research and was surprised when I read that it was a dark comedy. Given the plot and setting it felt like I would be watching a Fargo-esque film and I was not wrong.
Neeson plays a grieving father who is out to find out what exactly got his son killed and to get his revenge on those responsible. He was not afraid to get his hands dirty whatsoever and I was honestly surprised by how unaffected he was by it all. Even for a film that plays as a dark comedy, it came off as too pedestrian for your everyday blue collar worker. Neeson's performance is pretty subdued and I think it needed to be a bit more over the top for this kind of movie. Something else that bothered me was the short screen time that Neeson actually got. It felt like it should have been his movie but I walked away wishing he had been involved in more scenes.
If you've watched Fargo, either the movie or the show, you know that there are rarely any happy endings for the characters involved. Cold Pursuit is a bit of the same. There are a lot of deaths throughout the entire movie. I won't go into spoilers but after someone died they would show their nickname and a little symbol to represent them. it was a nice little touch that I quite enjoyed.
There are some action scenes but overall the film does feel a bit dialogue driven. I know I keep mentioning Fargo but I also got some Tarantino vibes but obviously not at his level. There are plenty of interesting characters to get into but nobody really stood out more than the rest and honestly I would not have minded a smaller cast if it would have meant a bit more meat to the characters.
I do want to say that the main antagonist in this film was over the top cheesy. That is actually a compliment. He had a face that you would just want to punch and right away you want to this guy to go down. I gotta give it to Tom Bateman for knowing exactly what kind of performance this film needed from its villain, I just wish that Neeson had given a similar style performance.
Video
Cold Pursuit is presented in a 2160p transfer in 2.39:1 aspect ratio and looked great on screen. There are a ton of scenes that took place outdoors in snowy conditions and they looked super bright when necessary and still managed to look great in darker conditions. Scenes that took place indoors were crisp and demonstrated a great amount of detail.
Audio
The Dolby Atmos track here is nothing to write home about or reference quality as they call it. With that being said there are no major issues and the outdoor scenes stood out as a highlight. The mix of the constant wind blowing with the chaos going on throughout the movie were handled well and sounded great.
Extras
- Deleted Scenes
- Interview with Actor Liam Neeson
- Interview with Director Hans Petter Moland
- “Welcome to Kehoe: Behind the Scenes on Cold Pursuit” Featurette
Language
- English: Dolby Atmos
- English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
- Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles
- English, English SDH, Spanish
Final Thoughts
Cold Pursuit is another solid entry in Liam Neeson's revenge tour, if you're a fan of dark comedies then this one is worth spending a couple of hours with.
