Cold Pursuit is an oddball action film, with badly written comedic scenes, and a painful story that doesn’t work in any way, shape or form. In this action flick, that doesn’t know its identity, we meet a couple of decent characters and nearly a dozen bad ones. Today, I’ll be focusing on the bad, as I couldn’t believe what I saw in Cold Pursuit. While some characters are infuriating, others made me want to shut the film off. Do you wanna know which ones are the worst? So, without further ado, here’s my list of the top 5 worst Cold Pursuit characters!
The craziest part about Cold Pursuit is that Hans Petter Moland created the exact same story before, and he did it a thousand times better! In 2014, he directed In Order of Disappearance (Kraftidioten). This Norwegian film was adapted by Moland in 2019, and it was given the title Cold Pursuit. But why couldn’t he make the same magic he made with the original? Well, let me tell you, the writing for Cold Pursuit was abysmal. It reflects in the plot and the characters. Now, let me explain what I mean with my list. So let’s get started!
5. Grace Coxman
Played by Laura Dern
Why hire someone as talented as Laura Dern, if you’re going to waste her without giving her a single thing to do? What was the point? You could’ve left her out of the story, and not a single thing would’ve changed. As a result of this, we’ve got a great actress not living up to her own standards.
Worst of all, this Oscar-winning actress was written out of the story unceremoniously, without a proper explanation. I understand that she was distraught about her son’s passing. I’m aware that it can cause deeply rooted issues in a relationship with the man you once loved. But why couldn’t you show us ANY of it? We only saw her get mad at Nels in the car, and question the lackluster relationship he had with their son. That’s it. Nothing more. Why didn’t you develop this part of the story that was actually compelling? You got Dern acting opposite Neeson, and you didn’t get anything out of it? Well, isn’t that just disappointing.
If Laura would’ve been given more to do, I’m sure she would’ve been pretty good in this role. But that’s not the case. What we got here was a cameo at best. And I’m not blaming Laura for it. Not one bit. She was good whenever she was on the screen and had something to do. But the better the actor, the more I expect from them. Sadly she played a lackluster character in Cold Pursuit.
4. Ahn
Played by Elizabeth Thai
Ahn is written to be as annoying as possible, with an attitude problem only rivaled by a young child who didn’t get some candy from the store. It’s actually that bad. If only she would have a proper reason to look constantly annoyed at everything and anything then maybe it would’ve made more sense. But that’s not the case. She’s a very difficult character to like, as she spends all of her time showing one singular emotion; anger. There’s nothing else to her. And while I’m fully aware of why she’s angry, her emotions never get explained. I think that her role needed to be dimished to fit her pointless part in it.
Listen, I can read between the lines. I know that Ahn is frustrated with Brock and angry at Nels for getting involved in mafia stuff again. Not only that, but I understand that Ahn spat on her late husband’s grave because she knew this stuff would get him killed. So I’m not saying she’s a bad character for making sense. I’m saying that she’s constantly shown to have an attitude. Irregardless of what it is. In all honesty, It doesn’t even seem like she’s in love with Brock. She just doesn’t fit the movie, and feels out of place. If only they would’ve shown a different side to her as well, so that we can understand her frustrations better.
🥉 Dexter
Played by Benjamin Hollingsworth
Dexter’s entire character consists of being in a hidden relationship with Mustang and being a complete jerk to his boss, Trevor ‘Viking’ Calcote. So he’s a stuck up a-hole with a secret? I’m not saying that’s a bad starting point. But why wasn’t any of it developed further? Was there like a reason Dexter treated his employer like trash? Why did he feel the need to hide his love for Mustang from others? Jesus Christ, just give us something of value! Dexter had good time on the screen, but it all concluded with a bullet to the dome. He was just here to make Viking look cool, and that’s it.
Worst of all, Dexter’s relationship with Mustang didn’t grow into anything of substance, and was merely an extra bit of information about two characters that didn’t matter in the story. While I liked the shock-value of finding out that Dexter and Mustang were lovers, I was really bummed out by how they used it. It didn’t turn out as expect, to say the least. This love story was a catalyst for Mustang to betray Viking with a phone call to White Bull and his associates. That’s it. There was nothing else to any of it, and that’s disappointing.
Dexter is a poorly-written character who adds very little to Cold Pursuit. Considering his good amount of screen time, you would’ve expected more from him. In fact, Benjamin did well in a few scenes. But it wasn’t good enough. Neither was the writing. Therefore, I believe that he’s one of the worst characters in Cold Pursuit.
🥈 Kim Dash
Played by Emmy Rossum
Why were the cops even present in Cold Pursuit? While I understand that you have to stick in the law enforcement in an action-thriller, I don’t get why the cops were given so much screen time while offering nothing to the story! I’m talking about Kim and Gip, the police officers that are inserted into the story for no reason, except to add some “realism”. As if the police would ever be this oblivious to a serial killer and drug-lords in their own region? Oh dear lord, don’t even get me started on how unrealistic the film is. It would’ve been better to leave that idea in the trash, together with Kim and Gip, where they belong.
Kim is the lesser of two evils, as she actually tries to do some police work. With an ex-bf as a contact, she tries to find out how Kyle died of an overdose; the son of Nels (Liam Neeson). In this pursuit, she does make some progress, but it doesn’t lead to the truth, and there’s no resolution in her story. It’s like they forgot that she was in the film? Kim was the only one who was putting two and two together, only to be an observer in the climax of the film.
Emmy Rossum was left out in the cold, wasn’t she? Nothing came from her work and effort. She barely got to share the screen with Liam Neeson. But I like Emmy Rossum, and would’ve loved to see her character have a more central part in the story. I mean, hey, she’s playing the damn police officer! Give her something more to do that makes her involvement valuable! As a result of poor writing, she made my list.
🥇 John ‘Gip’ Gipsky
Played by John Doman
I’m going to keep it short and sweet with Gip, alright? I’m sure he’d love it, considering that he doesn’t do police work, he doesn’t care, and he’s completely pointless in the grand scheme of things! His involvement makes 0 sense, as we already have Kim Dash doing the “casual police work that every cop needs to do in an action thriller to increase its validity and add realism”. It’s just a joke to have him in the film, and my bet is that they just wanted to John Doman in Cold Pursuit. He’s a well-known actor. So having him on board looks nice. However, Sadly for him, he plays a pointless character. Just excess weight to an already overbloated film.
In conclusion, I think that there are many bad characters in Cold Pursuit. But the worst one has got to be Gip, played by John Doman. When you consider that he’s a well-known actor, playing a poor character like this is unacceptable. While I’m not saying that it’s all his doing, the character is bad, and there’s no two ways about it. Therefore, I’ll crown Gip as the worst of the worst characters in Cold Pursuit!