Rummage around the straight-to-video bin long enough and, amid the multitude of cheap Nicolas Cage vehicles and Bruce Willis paychecks, another distinct genre will emerge: thrillers where John Cusack can’t be bothered to change out of his clothes from home for his two days of shooting. Have a look at the latest such picture with the trailer for Pursuit. Cusack forgot to bring a little ball cap for this one, and his Sharpie-black hair has gotten weirder!
Emile Hirsch stars as a hacker who also seems to be a SoundCloud rapper. He’s got tattoos all over his face but, presumably due to budgetary constraints, shirtless scenes reveal that those are his only tattoos. Don’t see that too often, huh? John Cusack is his dad, who he seems to communicate with via some sort of ’80s computer terminal. He’s a hacker! While Cusack doesn’t bother doing anything here but grill and use his phone, it’s implied he’s some sort of crime guy who’s involved with abducting Hirsch’s wife. Cusack has a bounty on his son’s head, but also his son has an even bigger Bitcoin reward for just getting his wife back. Both payouts would seem to be far higher than the film’s price tag. Pursuit comes from a director who pretty much just did Lifetime/Hallmark TV movie fare before this, and it looks it.
It will be in select theaters (gotta get that awards contention!) and of course on-demand February 18.
