Venganza

"Kraftidioten", a.k.a. "In order of Disappearance", is a brilliant 2014 black comedy/vigilante thriller from Norway. Since a lot of people in this world object to reading subtitles (and simply because it's an easy and profitable business), Hollywood is always eager to produce remakes of successful foreign movies. For once, however, I didn't immediately feel like boycotting the US remake; and this for two reasons. Number one: native Norwegian Hans Petter Moland directs the American remake himself and, number two, none other than the awesome Liam Neeson reprises the role of the grieving but vengeful father. Apart from different people in the cast, obviously, "Cold Pursuit" is practically a shot-by-shot remake of "In order of Disappearance. The setting has moved from snowy Norway to snowy Colorado, and the drug wars are fought with Native American tribes instead of with Albanian mafia families, but the plot of the quiet and introvert plow driver seeking retaliation for the murder of his innocent son is identical. This basically means that "Cold Pursuit" is still an awesomely entertaining action movie with sublime dry humor, but the freshness and the surprise elements are gone (unless if you haven't seen the Norwegian original, duh).

The thing with most Liam Neeson actioners these days is that their screenplays solely depend on his tough guy demeanor to keep the proceedings engaging. Cold Pursuit, another Liam Neeson actioner on the onset, is entertaining but for reasons not pertaining to the set pieces alone. Don't get me wrong, the set pieces are very much there but this film doesn't go the typical Hollywood remake route.

While I haven't watched the Norwegian original (In The Order of Disappearance; the name choice a lot more suitable for the film), it sure seems like the material writer Kim Fupz Aakeson and director Hans Petter Molland (who has directed the remake as well) had in hand was worthy of a re-telling. While there are some sly remarks made by baddie characters in the film that are sure to turn some sections of the viewers off (in fact, in-your-face offensive at times), everyone who does so eventually gets the 'treatment' they deserve, which was satisfying as hell.

The crude humor takes a while to arrive, as the incident that sets the storyline in motion is a grim one: the son of a snow-plow operator is found dead during a snowy winter in Kehoe and he decides to find out who's behind it. More characters are unveiled, while some begin to 'disappear'. A title card with the respective character's name shows up every time a 'disappearance' occurs (innovative!). I couldn't help but laugh out loud at instances such as the 'Coxman reference' joke, the whole 'Eskimo' scene, and of course, the 'motel' scene. You'll know when you've watched!

And yet, amid all that, you have a brilliantly written scene featuring Nels (Liam Neeson) bonding with the chief baddie's son in a "Tell me a story so that I can sleep" situation. It does its bit in showing us that even as Nels goes about enacting his vengeance, he still has a heart that yearns for the son that he lost. The climactic showdown is executed well and ends on a rather 'unexpectedly funny' note. I know of Neeson's 'racist' comments and the controversy surrounding it, but I can't deny the fact that his performance was pretty good in this movie, as he always gives a 100% even when the scripts offered to him are mediocre.

It's easy to write off 'Cold Pursuit' as cliched, predictable action-drama, but the clever undercurrent of dark humour does the trick at least for some of us. This film was very much in Tarantino-Coen-Zahler territory (minus the subtlety, of course!). I adore both Emmy Rossum and Laura Dern, and am of the opinion that they should've had better-written roles in the movie. 'Cold Pursuit' meanders a bit in its storytelling and is indeed more fascinating in fragments than as a whole, but you can give it a watch if you're a fan of black comedies.

This film was not what I was expecting but once I understood and came to grips with the fact it was a dark comedy, in a Fargo-esque sort of way, and a parody of revenge killing films, rather than meant to be taken seriously other than for its beautiful absurdity, I started to really enjoy it.

The whole movie was fun escapism with gratuitous violence, and hyper-exaggerated cliché portrayals of Native Americans, crime bosses and average men being local heroes, etc. Not to mention an exponentially growing kill tally. What is not to love?

It was a special treat for those of us that live in Denver, as although much of the movie was supposed to take place here, none of the neighborhoods, architecture, streets, buildings, trees, landscaping, mountain ranges, etc. matched anything close to what really exists in Denver. I spent the entire movie looking for something I could place as actually being in Denver, but I came up empty. Instead, a totally fictitious version thereof was portrayed (too surreal to match any actual city I am aware of, but closer to a blend of the more affluent parts of Los Angeles and Vancouver than Denver, with world class architecture and night clubs) which fit in perfectly with the artfully crafted alternative universe intended to be created. Like the bizarre relationships between the characters, I slowly began to realize that what first appeared to be a sloppy annoyance was in fact an intentional critique of the genre and actually a quite clever game with the audience.

Many will undoubtedly knock this film for being unrealistic, absurd, over the top, culturally insensitive, and with settings that did not match named cities (at least those such as Denver that actually exist). Those people just failed to see that was the entire point. You shouldn't go in expecting to see realism, complex character development, suspense and drama, or something akin to Taken. Instead, go in expecting to see a dark comedy parody film. Think Fargo meets Peppermint, with a wink to Quentin Tarantino in honor of his impact on modern cinema.

Starts out really good, with Neeson as the usual man on a mission and exacting brutal vengeance on a few men. But after that it shifts attention to too many needless people, mainly for comedic effect, but apparently to advance the story by inches to avoid Neeson's character from appearing to be too powerful to get things done alone. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work here since these side events don't feel parallel to the main story or interesting. For example, a female cop, portrayed as eager and hard-nosed, is constantly discovering bits of info related Neeson's son death, even confronting him out of the blue about it, appearing suspicious of him for some reason, but nothing ever happens after that. What was the point? Then the 2nd half really gets dragged on by too much forced attention on the Native Americans and the same old "white men took everything" story (I don't want to sound insensitive but it was too out of place), and a kid that would've been better off staying on the sidelines.

I had relatively high hopes for this movie, and was left disappointed.

I was expecting a movie similar to Neeson's "Taken". "Cold Pursuit" was much better. In fact, Neeson was really one of the ensemble actors in the movie. Anyway, Cold Pursuit was really a dark comedy more than a thriller. The film reminded me in a good way of Fargo. It wasn't quite as good as Fargo but it had a similar feel to it. I'm sure this is not the first review to make that observation.

So I am recommending Cold Pursuit with the warning that if you are expecting a recycled "Taken" or "Non-Stop" you will be surprised. Hopefully pleasantly surprised.