Cold Pursuit
Lionsgate | Release Date: February 8, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
17
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiFeb 12, 2019
Cold Pursuit is stark and refreshing, like taking an icy swim with the Polar Bear Club. A jolt. The movie makes you want him to stay around for a while longer. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 31, 2019
Cold Pursuit moves forward with the assured and deliberate force of Nels’ massive snowplow. And with Neeson/Nels at the wheel, Cold Pursuit is one fantastically hot mess of a movie. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJan 28, 2019
It knows exactly what kind of movie it is, but that doesn’t stand in the way of it goosing its bloodbath set pieces with irreverent, off-kilter gallows humor. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJan 28, 2019
Cold Pursuit resolves as a riotously fun example of a director remaking their own film for the right reasons. Read full review
80
EmpireIan FreerFeb 20, 2019
A typically taciturn turn from Neeson is surrounded by a colourful cast, gallows humour and complete disrespect for cinematic stereotypes. A little bloated, maybe, but deserves kudos for joining the road not Taken. Read full review
80
Total FilmJamie GrahamFeb 4, 2019
Neeson’s knees hold up in an oddball thriller that’s more interested in smirks than smashing things to smithereens. Read full review
80
VarietyCourtney HowardJan 28, 2019
By pumping up the darkly comedic undertones, augmenting the frigid chill of the original, Moland’s terrific, riveting noir-tinged picture distinguishes itself from other rote, reductive remakes. Read full review
78
IGNWitney SeiboldJan 28, 2019
Cold Pursuit is partly a great action thriller, and Liam Neeson is still kicking plenty of butt, but the film is mostly an intriguing, relaxing, totally tuckered-out character study of old men running out of the energy required to run a criminal enterprise. As thrillers go, this one is more adult than your average. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 11, 2019
Cold Pursuit has a strong current of dark humor winding through the proceedings. With a nod or two to Quentin Tarantino, he has fashioned a bizarrely entertaining ode to violence, gangsters, and heavy snowfall in the Rockies. Read full review
75
The PlaylistKimber MyersFeb 4, 2019
Flaws and all, Cold Pursuit is a gleefully violent good time. Moland’s movie is silly but sharp, with barbs drawing blood despite a story that we’ve seen before. Read full review
75
Slant MagazinePat BrownJan 31, 2019
It’s the way the film’s humor specifically subverts its genre’s expected emotional valences that makes it so effective. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeJan 29, 2019
One thing that does translate is Morland’s extremely dry, extremely dark sense of humor, which manifests at the bleakest moments of the story like whoopee cushions lining the pews at a funeral. Read full review
75
The Film StageConor O'DonnellJan 28, 2019
There is nary a moment of death that isn’t drawn out for laughs, or a moment of comedy drawn out for sorrow. Among the ice and the wind, Cold Pursuit paints an unsuspecting, desolate place, where death doesn’t care about you, so you might as well laugh. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 5, 2019
Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find … another Liam-Neeson-gets-revenge action thriller. But one with quite a few laughs thrown in amidst the unlikely ugly heroics. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJan 30, 2019
The action never stops being fun, and it eventually does make excellent use of the heavy machinery Nels' job requires. Cold Pursuit just gets a little winded, like a 66-year-old action hero working hard at high altitudes. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovFeb 12, 2019
Cold Pursuit very nearly brings Neeson full circle, imbued as it is with a lower-rent version of the patented Raimi gallows humor. Read full review
67
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerJan 29, 2019
The little beats throughout Cold Pursuit are distinctive enough to cover for this gory caper’s periodic misfires. Read full review
63
ObserverRex ReedFeb 8, 2019
As the corpses pile up on every side of the law, it reminds me more of those nasty, sometimes laughable Charles Bronson genre vehicles from the 1980s, buried under 50 feet of snow. Call it "Death Wish" with icicles. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzFeb 8, 2019
At its best, it plays like a wry critique of this unexpectedly lucrative period of Neeson's career, and a borderline-spoof of the genre as a whole. Read full review
63
Washington PostMark JenkinsFeb 5, 2019
An action thriller in which the Irish actor plays Nels Coxman, a snowplow operator at a Colorado ski resort with the death-dealing skills of a special-ops commando. This time, the absurdity is intentional. Read full review
60
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 7, 2019
The fans show up for this kind of movie to watch Neeson knock heads with bad guys, and Moland lets him rip. There’s no dawdling over sentiment. If you want to see a snowplow used as a weapon of mass destruction, you’ve come to the right movie. Read full review
60
The AtlanticDavid SimsFeb 7, 2019
The script has a wry sense of humor but is almost never laugh-out-loud funny, and the gory substance of the plot regularly overwhelms the delicate notes of parody. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonJan 28, 2019
This English-language remake of In Order Of Disappearance by its Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland doesn’t particularly succeed as a thriller, but the film’s gleeful perversity at refusing to satisfying genre conventions gives it a scruffy integrity all the same. Read full review
60
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJan 28, 2019
While director Hans Petter Moland’s remake of his own film “In Order of Disappearance” (Frank Baldwin adapts the original screenplay by Kim Fupz Aakeson) may fall short of its goals, it’s hard not to admire the film’s ambitions — and certain scenes, performances and even one-liners — even as its flaws start piling up. Read full review
58
Original-CinJim SlotekFeb 6, 2019
There’s a kind of wannabe-hip quality to it all, but by the end, we’ve been so hammered by quirk (and numbed by bloody deaths) that we’ve forgotten what motivated this glib daisy-chain of revenge in the first place. Read full review
50
UproxxVince ManciniFeb 13, 2019
To be fair, Cold Pursuit is rarely boring. You’re never particularly invested, but its shrill unpredictability is like a circus performance. It’s impressive the sheer amount of calories being burned despite the lack of believable characters or compelling situations. Read full review
50
TimeStephanie ZacharekFeb 11, 2019
The big problem is that Neeson drops out of the story for long stretches, and the movie needs him: None of the drug-biz guys, not even the classy, serene White Bull, can match his craggy charisma. When he’s absent, the landscape is very cold indeed. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriFeb 11, 2019
Cold Pursuit ultimately winds up being about how unsatisfying films like Cold Pursuit can be. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 8, 2019
I didn’t hate “Cold Pursuit,” but it’s not the giddy darker-than-dark murder-comedy that “In Order of Disappearance” was, and that this film’s trailers (Memorably choreographed to “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” a MUCH better title, BTW) promised. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranFeb 7, 2019
The body count goes up, but our interest level doesn’t rise with it. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzFeb 6, 2019
It all feels arbitrary and aimless, especially when the filmmakers decide to wrap things up with a long, wanly executed shootout whose stakes couldn’t feel lower. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 5, 2019
Neeson is as earnest as ever, but the movie’s tone is arch. Neeson doesn’t think he’s funny, but the director thinks everything is funny, or at the very least, absurd. Read full review
40
CNNBrian LowryMay 21, 2019
A wholly forgettable movie, most likely to be remembered, lamentably, for its contributing role in Neeson landing in hot water. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeFeb 24, 2019
The whole tone of this glib black comedy, with its cartoon bad guys and conspiratorial wink with each addition to the body count, seems rather dated. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 21, 2019
Even without Liam Neeson’s bizarre promotional “rape revenge” anecdote, this violent movie would leave a weird taste in the mouth, lumbered as it is with odd sub-Coen, sub-Tarantino stylings. Read full review
40
Time OutTomris LafflyFeb 14, 2019
More troubling is Neeson’s baffling disappearance for long stretches of time, when screenwriter Frank Baldwin gets too enamored with the supporting clan while failing to expand upon them. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. ScottFeb 7, 2019
I can’t deny that the glum, resentful, not-giving-a-damn masculine vibe of Cold Pursuit has its appeal, as does Moland’s blunt knack for efficient screen violence. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 28, 2019
The movie delivers, in its chosen way. But it’s a soulless way. The violence may be for laughs, and many Neeson fans will likely respond to the larky brutality of Cold Pursuit, which is very different from the star’s previous mid-winter vehicles (“The Grey” is my favorite). But I don’t get much psychic recreation from this sort of action movie. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 7, 2019
The stupidity lacks smarts in the script department, and the joke, such as it is, wears thin, then turns sour. Read full review
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