A Lifeles, Characterless 'Cold Pursuit' Indeed

Apparently, after the surprise success of Taken and the subsequent blunder of...basically everything he's done since, Liam Neeson realized that all of his typical characters are inherently unrelatable.  By this logic, a movie about a snow-plow driver out for revenge sounds reasonable; as long as one ignores the bevy of inherent logic to the contrary.  To be clear, nobody holds reservations regarding the existence of these Liam Neeson movies: there are no new stories to tell; there are no grounds yet to be uncovered; there are only shameless cash-grabs left to be had.  Yet, even when popular demand features Liam Neeson punching his way to victory, Cold Pursuit was not requested by anyone.

One problem with Neeson's typically unsuccessful over-the-top action flicks is a twofer.  Firstly, they're too ridiculous to be taken too seriously.  However, this absurdity could be a virtue rather than a vice; but it becomes a vice for movies like the Taken sequels, Non-Stop, and The Commuter because they take themselves too seriously.  In contrast, Cold Pursuit largely has no illusions about what it is, but only some of the time.  

Successful opening scenes display many things--character insights, exposition, world-building--none of which should take a back seat to tone.  When over-the-top films open with an equally over-the-top sequence, the audience becomes fully aware of what is in store for the film's duration.  However, a film can still have juxtapositional tones without becoming tonally inconsistent or haphazard.  Guardians of the Galaxy and Aliens are demonstrable of this success.  

And it is in this aspect that Cold Pursuit snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.  It tries to have its cake and eat it too by featuring an absurdly over-the-top premise, villain, and deaths, while periodically shoe-horning in scenes of "character development" and attempted "depth" that leave audiences emotionally confused.  How are we supposed to feel when the opening events which are dark and emotionally crippling for the characters are undercut by cheap visual gags?  Are we supposed to laugh?  Cry?  Feel sympathy?  Because, honestly, the only thing creeping into my amygdala is sheer apathy.  

While blame for Cold Pursuit's unengaging nature is partially placed upon its tonal inconsistency, arguably equal blame must be placed upon the character-writing.  It is impossible to root for any character when nobody is written with even a minuscule level of empathy.  Neeson's character in Taken is morally ambiguous at best, yet audiences can still root for him due to his moral superiority by comparison.  There is a bevy of evidence of who he is and how he became that way, which is why all of his actions are both explainable and understandable.  

In Cold Pursuit, however, nearly nothing about him is demonstrated outside of seconds-long scenes of him performing moderately kind tasks and other characters assuring the audience that he's just a really wonderful dude.  (Apparently plowing snow and jump-starting someone's car is supposed to demonstrate moral divinity in this movie.) Thus, naturally, when he takes his revenge on the movie's villains, it's far more shocking than satisfying, and not in a good way. 

And it is this constant personality absenteeism that causes Cold Pursuit to crash so explosively, both narratively and conceptually.  Indeed, the film's character-absence isn't even limited to Neeson's character (as disturbing as that would be).  No, this entire ensemble of characters lacks anything beyond surface-level traits and tropes.  This narrative couldn't exist without personality-absent and characteristically irredeemable characters performing a series of senseless and unexplainable actions which serve no purpose beyond advancing the plot.  Nobody can walk out of Cold Pursuit expounding upon any name or description of any characters, let alone any attempt at a journey or lesson they experienced or learned.  Every character who lives until the end of the film is the exact same person they were at the start; subsequently having learned nothing, nor impacted the world in any significant way. 

When one typically speaks of editing, they are referring to the scene's cuts, transitions, and impact on cinematography.  While all those elements are very important, editing also refers to when particular scenes are shown hey lie within the storytelling.   While the Cold Pursuit's editing in the camerawork sense is passable, its storytelling is subpar at best and pathetic at worst.  Even after viewing the film, it remains unclear who the central character was supposed to be, or which story was supposed to be in the spotlight.  The entire viewing experience was plagued from a lack of artistic vision or coherent storytelling to such a damning degree that even the moderately funny scenes were basically unenjoyable.

It isn't surprising that Liam Neeson's movies have become a parody of what they used to be; it's just disappointing that the same story is being told in increasingly boring, nonsensical ways.  Oh, how unaware we were of just how much worse Taken truly could have been.  10 years ago, Liam Neeson had us saying, "I will find you...and I will kill you."  Today, all we're left saying is, "...Ugh."  Translated, that's a quality-rating of about 32%, sending Neesom & Company to the

Pawn Shop.