Liam Neeson is back to his revenge-havin’ ways, albeit with a twist. Summit Entertainment has released the first trailer for the upcoming thriller Cold Pursuit, which is a remake of a 2014 Norwegian thriller called In Order of Disappearance. Neeson plays a mild-mannered, well-liked family man who drives a snowplow and lives a nice life with his loving wife (played by the incomparable Laura Dern). But his very nice life is suddenly upended when his son dies of a heroin overdose—or at least that’s the story. Neeson’s character becomes embroiled in a drug cartel as he seeks revenge for his son’s death, kickin' ass and takin' names.

While that sounds familiar given Neeson’s post-Taken output, the trailer actually does offer something of a unique twist: this movie is funny. Indeed, there appears to be an undercurrent of dark humor running throughout the film, made perfectly clear by the striking use of Blue Oyster Cult in this here trailer. If you want to see Neeson back in a meaty dramatic part check out Widows later this year (it's great), but while Cold Pursuit teases his return to the action-thriller genre, at least he’s doing it with a sense of humor. Moreover, the film is directed by Hans Petter Moland, who helmed the Norwegian original.

Check out the Cold Pursuit trailer below. Written by Frank Baldwin, the film also stars Emmy Rossum and Tom Bateman. Cold Pursuit opens in theaters on February 8th.

Here’s the official synopsis for Cold Pursuit:

COLD PURSUIT, an action thriller infused with irreverent humor, stars Liam Neeson as Nels Coxman, a family man whose quiet life with his wife (Laura Dern) is upended following the mysterious death of their son. Nels' search for justice turns into a vengeful hunt for Viking (Tom Bateman), a drug lord he believes is connected to the death. As one by one each of Viking's associates "disappear," Nels goes from upstanding citizen to ice-cold vigilante, letting nothing - and no one - get in his way.

cold-pursuit-liam-neeson
Image via Summit Entertainment