Cold Pursuit (2019)
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A grieving snowplow driver takes matters into his own hands after his son is murdered by a drug cartel.
The story
After his son is murdered in a forced heroin overdose by a Denver drug cartel, snowplow driver Nels Coxman seeks revenge by hunting down and killing cartel members. While Nels carries out his violent quest, his wife Grace leaves him, angry at his lack of grief. The violence escalates into a gang war between the cartel's drug lord, Trevor "Viking" Calcote, and his rival White Bull. As the conflict intensifies, Nels finds himself entangled in a web of kidnappings and retaliations, eventually leading to a high-stakes confrontation where he must protect a young boy from the warring factions.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After his son is murdered by a Denver drug cartel, snowplow driver Nels Coxman begins a revenge spree, killing three cartel members and disposing of them in a waterfall. His wife, Grace, leaves him due to his perceived lack of emotion. The violence triggers a gang war between the cartel leader, Trevor "Viking" Calcote, and his rival, White Bull. Viking mistakenly believes his rival killed his son and orders a kidnapping in retaliation. Nels's brother, Brock, suggests hiring a hitman named "The Eskimo," but Viking kills the hitman and captures Brock instead. Meanwhile, Nels kidnaps Viking's son, Ryan, to use as leverage. Nels eventually lures Viking to his home, but Viking arrives early. Nels manages to hide Ryan and is captured by Viking's men. A shootout occurs between Viking's men and a mob of Utes, resulting in many deaths. Nels manages to impale Viking's car with a tree trunk, allowing White Bull to shoot and kill Viking. In the aftermath, Nels and White Bull drive away together, having both achieved their revenge. One of White Bull's men, Avalanche, is accidentally killed by Nels's snowplow.
- Original title
- Hard Powder
- First release year
- 2019
- Runtime (minutes)
- 119
- Production countries
- Norway; United States; United Kingdom; Canada; France; China; Germany
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Hans Petter Moland
- Writers
- Frank Baldwin · writer
- Cast and characters
- Liam Neeson · Nels Coxman; Tom Bateman; Tom Jackson; Emmy Rossum; Domenick Lombardozzi; Julia Jones; John Doman; Laura Dern
- Genres
- action thriller; black comedy
- Themes
- revenge; grief; violence
- Tone and mood
- action; humor; sophisticated
- Setting
- Colorado, United States
- Premise and plot tags
- revenge; gang war; vigilante; remake
- Source material / true-story basis
- In Order of Disappearance (Kraftidioten)
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, with a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 on Metacritic. It was praised for its action and humor, and was included in a list of the best action films of 2019.
- Reported review scores
- PostTrak · score: 3 · scale: 5
- Awards and nominations
- Saturn Awards · Best Action or Adventure Film · 45th · Nominated
- Production trivia
- The film was originally titled Hard Powder.; The red carpet premiere was canceled due to comments made by Liam Neeson regarding a past incident.; The film was shot in Alberta, Canada, and various locations in British Columbia and Manitoba.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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