It’s been 15 years since Liam Neeson was reinvented as cinema’s favorite grizzled badass in Taken, but nobody – probably not even the man himself – could have predicted that he’d still be punching goons in the throat a full decade and a half later, even if the law of diminishing returns has long since set in.
The Academy Award-nominated veteran has promised his days of running and gunning were numbered more than once, but with at least three more action thrillers coming down the pipeline, the finish line remains out of sight. Even though it only released four years ago, Cold Pursuit is already the relic of a bygone era, for the sole purpose that it wasn’t resoundingly trashed by critics.
Boasting a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 68 percent, it remains the last Neeson vehicle that wasn’t designated “Rotten,” an achievement that Honest Thief, The Marksman, The Ice Road, Blacklight, Memory, Marlowe, In the Land of Saints and Sinners, and Retribution couldn’t claim. Even at that, a 49 percent audience average indicates that not everybody thought it was above average, but Netflix subscribers have opted to find out for themselves.
Per FlixPatrol, Cold Pursuit has arrived as the sixth most-watched movie on the streaming service’s global charts, by virtue of gunning down a Top 10 spot in 21 countries, 19 of which saw it secure the number one spot. Neeson remains a draw on-demand, then, even if he’s spent years searching for his latest hard-boiled outing that doesn’t end up getting thrashed.
