Hans Petter Molland’s 2014 Norwegian revenge drama, In Order Of Disappearance (a.k.a. Kraftidioten), was one of the most smartly-directed films I’d seen in the last several years. It drew the interest upon learning that Molland was vying for the director’s chair following the announcement of Hard Powder, a remake that would have seasoned thesp Liam Neeson taking the mantle held previously by Stellan Skarsgård.
The role stands certainly to be one of his exiting action roles to date, if not the last one, and with it, he has more than enough reason to go out with a bang. It tells the story of a relatively well-liked Colorado ski-town snowplow driver who finds himself at a precipice when his son is found dead. Believing it to be more than just a suicide and armed with a only a snowplow and sheer will, he ultimately sets out to methodically weave his way into the off-set of a turf war with only one goal in mind: Find his son’s killer.
That’s the brunt of the film we’re getting when Lionsgate/Summit opens the film on February 8, 2019, and with a principal cast that thusfar lists Laura Dern, Shameless series star Emmy Rossum and actor Tom Bateman, with Wind River co-star Julia Jones, and actors William Forsythe and Aleks Panouvic also starring.
If this is to truly be Neeson’s last action film as much as it’s been hyped to be, I hope this one is good enough to truly put him at the forefront of box office reception. Normally January and February are the crummiest times for movies due to typically low turn out, although that hasn’t been the case for all films during Winter as of late re: Den Of Thieves.
The original film, In Order Of Disappearance, is still available in the U.S. from Magnet Releasing and I very much recommend you check it out as a precursor to Hard Powder. It’ll definitely be a useful move to compare the two, and you’ll also get a kick out of watching Skaragård unhinge with an ample body count in his wake.
Read more at Deadline.
Featured photo: Taken 2 (20th Century Fox)