Directed by: Jonathan Hensleigh
Starring: Liam Neeson, Benjamin Walker, Laurence Fishburne, Marcus Thomas, Matt McCoy, Amber Midthunder
With a few exceptions, I could copy and paste reviews of the post-Taken Liam Neeson movies and only change the character names and a couple other plot developments. That wouldn't be the right thing to do, so I'll labor over The Ice Road review, which features grizzled Neeson leading a potentially deadly trucking rescue across a miles-long ice road somewhere in Canada. An explosion occurred in a Western Canadian mine. Roughly one dozen miners are trapped and will run out of oxygen within 48 hours unless Neeson and company can truck the necessary equipment to the site to rescue the miners.
Neeson's troupe consists of two other truckers (Fishburne and Midthunder), his PTSD-ridden Iraq war veteran brother (Thomas), and an insurance man (Walker) representing the company financing this haul going along for the ride to keep an eye on the investment. Uh huh. Walker may as well be wearing a sign. Ice Road is surely inspired by the reality television series Ice Road Truckers, but to my dismay, there are hardly any scenes of trucks sliding perilously down icy paths and steep slopes. The action takes place in April, so the ice is rather thin in these parts.
A glaring plot hole goes as follows: The mine collapse makes worldwide news. Neeson is in North Dakota when he hears about it. So you're telling me the only thing which may possibly save the miners' lives is a three-truck team traveling with equipment from hundreds of miles away? The Canadian government isn't sending in expert teams to unbury the miners? No representatives from any branch of the Canadian government is there to investigate within hours of the explosion? We're waiting on Neeson to deliver the goods?
A Neeson movie wouldn't be complete without fights, gunplay, and wrestling in the truck cab trying to gain control of the steering wheel before it crashes. They're all here and they are tiresome. The Ice Road lacks even modest energy. Amazingly, Neeson still jumps into the fray with all he is worth, but he can't carry this absurdity for too long. Neeson recently stated he is tiring of action movies and at his age should try comedies. If you figure how nutty a typical Neeson movie is (not counting the good ones like Run All Night, Cold Pursuit, or Non-Stop), you would assume he was already making them.
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