Grenades play a central role in ‘Pursuit’, starring John Cusack and Emile Hirsch as father and son. If the prospect of those actors intrigues you, pull the pin on your curiosity. In an earlier era, this action thriller directed by Brian Skiba would have gone straight from post-production to a bargain bin in a dilapidated video emporium in a dark alleyway where rats scurried.
As the movie begins, Rick (Hirsch), a hacker, stares at a computer screen. He tries to find his wife, who has been kidnapped by a drug cartel, a cartel with which his father, Jack (Cusack), is associated. Looking for answers, Rick turns off the monitor, grabs his submachine gun and hits the cartel where it hurts. Obviously, he’s not your average hacker, but one with facial tattoos and a skill acquired as the son of a crime boss. When he raids a drug purchase, he becomes a nemesis of Mike Breslin (Jake Manley), an NYPD detective who was confused.
The action soon moves to Arkansas, where a cartel boss orders his only son to hunt Rick. Detective Breslin has also gone to Arkansas; his pregnant wife was a cartel victim, and he and Rick struck a deal.
There will be good cops, bad cops and a foxy sheriff’s deputy. There will be blood spatter. The grill that Jack always turns steaks on will be one of the victims. And, with its themes of grieving husbands, bad fathers and twisted sons, “Pursuit” will try to look like real thought has been put into the screenplay.
Pursue
Rated R for gun violence, drug use, and killing a perfectly good outdoor grill. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. In theaters and for rent or sale on Google Play, Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV providers.