Cold Storage Could Have Stayed Stored
*minor spoilers ahead*
Here’s the thing, I will always watch a Liam Neeson movie, but I’m not afraid to criticise the things said movies could have done better. When it comes to Cold Storage, I do believe the movie ends up flopping, and doesn’t actually deliver a storyline that fans are interested in or want to see more of.
Before diving into the things that went wrong, let’s talk about what it got absolutely right. First and foremost, the chemistry between Neeson and Lesley Manville is beautiful. Even though their scenes together are short and few, the chemistry is very palpable. There is a camaraderie there from years of these characters working together and having gone through a life-changing, traumatic event. In the end, Manville shows up to save the day, and without her, none of the characters would have made it out alive.
Teacake (Joe Keery) and Naomi (Georgina Campbell) are an unlikely duo, but their connection works to actually make them the heroes we first meet. Even though they have no fungus experience (who does, really?), they are able to quickly catch on to what this fungus is doing and to stay away from it. We are sure that even if Neeson and Manville’s characters hadn’t shown up, they would have found a way to survive. They become likable characters we root for, but not even that is enough to make this a rewatchable movie.
Vanessa Redgrave shows up to do what we would expect of her: be a legend. Her storyline could have been completely erased, and the story would still make sense, but seeing her adds a touch of dignity to an otherwise crazy movie. But there is one character who, unlike Redgrave’s, cannot be erased without changing the storyline profusely: Abigail/Ishani (Ellora Torchia). She is Neeson’s light in the darkness, guiding him exactly where he needs to go to save the world.
But the truth is that Cold Storage falls short. It delivers a storyline with certain characteristics that make it a camp movie, but others that try to make it a believable sci-fi film. It feels as if the movie doesn’t know where it belongs or how to show itself to the viewers.
Every time the film shows us how the fungus acts, it looks fake. It happens when we see Doctor Hero (Sosie Bacon) get infected and die. Then with the cat, the rats, the deer, and every human the fungus comes in contact with. It even happens when the movie explains how the fungus escaped its containment through a cockroach that ate it. Those scenes, rather than intensifying the movie's message, remind the viewer that everything is fake and stray from being a serious movie. Nevertheless, it doesn’t have enough in it to be camp or to mock sci-fi movies.
While there is a seemingly happy ending, the viewer can’t trust that the fire killed the fungus and stopped its spread. Even more so, these doubts grow when we see the final deer vomiting over the camera. Once again, this scene makes us second-guess the nature of the movie and what it was actually trying to do.
Cold Storage is now available on digital.
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