Pursuit is directed by Brian Skiba and stars Jake Manley, Elizabeth Faith Ludlow, William Katt, Emile Hirsch and John Cusack. Pursuit will be available on iTunes, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Virgin, Sky and Rakuten.
Synopsis
Undercover Detective Mike Breslin (Manley) is embedded deep within a ruthless drugs cartel, hunting for his wife’s killer. But as his deadly pursuit forces him ever higher through the gang’s ranks, he must forge an uneasy alliance with a reckless hacker to reach the top, and get his man.
Review
On most occasions I do like a good action film normally the cheesier the better, think early 90s Van Damme then you’ll be on the right track. I had high expectations going into Pursuit, the synopsis and trailer made the film look like a film that was definitely up my street in terms of what I normally look for in a film. From the out set the film didn’t quite hit the mark the story itself it starts of promising big things with legendary hacker, Rick Calloway (Emile Hirsch) who is racing against time to find his wife and all roads are pointing to drug baron and Rick’s father Jack Calloway (John Cusack) who Rick suspects has got something to do with his wife’s kidnapping. Entwined in this story is the story of Detective Mike Breslin (Jake Manley) who is desperately hunting the person responsible for his wife’s brutal killing this crosses paths with the Calloway’s as Rick claims to know the names of the killers. This is where the film loses itself for me as the film feels like it needs to choose which path you need to go on but none are really explored.
The story holds so much promise, a son on a vengeful quest against his drug baron father and a cop desperate for revenge but the two stories kind of fall flat as rather than head towards an epic shoot out finale the different veins of story just seem to peter out. The bulk of the film is a big nod to the action films of the 80s and 90s which are my favourite decades for action films, but although I liked the nostalgic feel it did make the film feel and look dated with some of the visual effects obviously simulated making some of the action scenes funny rather than impactful.
In all honesty I’m not saying that the film is completely bad it’s more of a action cheese-fest, Brian Skiba has brought together a film that does have incredible potential but just doesn’t quite hit the mark for me, I would liken the film to a straight to dvd title you used to find on the bargain shelves. John Cusack plays a great bad guy but I felt his role could’ve been so much more in the film, it would’ve elevated the film more had Cusack been a bigger villain with more clout but again the character didn’t quite hit the mark for me.
Overall I thought the plot of the film started off well but seemed to fizzle out in the latter stages, there were scenes in the film that were good and lots of good over the top action that I did enjoy I just felt the story had the potential to be bigger than it was.
Verdict
I didn’t dislike the film and did enjoy elements of it just felt the overall story lacked depth and didn’t quite hit the mark. If you see it available on one of the streaming services it’s definitely worth a watch I maybe wouldn’t rush out to grab a copy.
⭐⭐
