Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (April 6, 2022)
15 years ago, Emile Hirsch looked like an up-and-coming star with a big future ahead of him. Now he’s stuck in generic direct-to-video thrillers like 2021’s Pursuit. It’s a living, I guess.
Rick Calloway (Hirsch) operates on the shady side of the law in his gig as a computer hacker. Matters take an even darker turn when someone kidnaps his wife Rachael (Shelby Yardley).
This leads Rick on a desperate quest to save his wife. Along the way, he butts heads with NYPD Detective Mike Breslin (Jake Manley) and his own crime boss father Jack (John Cusack).
Given the presence of Hirsch and Cusack, you’ll find actual name talent here. Throw in aging veterans like William Katt and Andrew Stevens – who also produced/co-wrote the film – and Pursuit comes with a moderate pedigree.
None of them help. This turns into an assembly line action flick with more unintentional laughs than true thrills.
A primary flaw stems from the surprisingly awful acting. Actually, Cusack brings a little depth to his role, so he fares better than the rest.
None of the others makes a positive impression. Manley underplays his role to the point of stiff inertia, whereas Hirsch plays his role as a bizarre riff on Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.
That’s where we find a lot of the unintentional laughs. Ledger’s iconic turn as Joker worked wonders in the world of Batman, but Hirsch’s uber-quirky, wild-eyed performance here just seems silly and out of nowhere.
Even without the weak performances, Pursuit would flop due to its borderline incoherence. Insanely, four people earned credits for screenwriting here.
I suspect each one wrote isolated pages, they threw these in the air and then collated them into this illogical and meandering “story”. Little ever makes real sense, and scenes connect without logic or purpose.
Director Brian Skiba works constantly, as even during a pandemic, he made four movies in 2021, and he has at least three on the schedule for 2022. With such a heavy load, he must bop from project to project without much down time – or much room to actually put real effort into these projects.
That leaves Pursuit as a flick with no style or flair on display. Basic filmmaking elements feel rudimentary, with flat photography, static editing, bargain basement visual effects and no real verve.
I’m sure I’ve seen worse thrillers than Pursuit, but that doesn’t act as an endorsement. This turns into a borderline amateurish project with no substantial positives I can discern.
And the ending hints at a sequel – kill me now.