Movies…with a little bit of obscure culture and sports mixed in
“After a remote diamond mine collapses in far northern Canada, a ‘big-rig’ ice road driver must lead an impossible rescue mission over a frozen lake to save the trapped miners.” […]
“After a remote diamond mine collapses in far northern Canada, a ‘big-rig’ ice road driver must lead an impossible rescue mission over a frozen lake to save the trapped miners.”
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh
Writers: Jonathan Hensleigh
Staring: Liam Neeson, Marcus Thomas, Laurence Fishburne, Amber Midthunder
Release Date: June 25, 2021
I am happy that Liam Neeson is getting the bag. He really is making a shit ton of money before he finally hangs up his acting cleats. With that being said, Neeson is on a real cold stretch in terms of quality, and The Ice Road is adding to the slippery slope of his IMDB filmography.
The Ice Road is a slightly too long action/adventure set in the the icy tundra of Northern Canada. Mike McCann (Liam Neeson) is a veteran trucker who goes from job-to-job with his mentally handicapped brother Gurty (Marcus Thomas). With vibes at an all-time low, old friend Jim Goldenrod (Lawrence Fishburne) comes to the pair with a job that is important and hasty. Mike and a crew of truckers must drive across the ice road to deliver airs to miners who are trapped underneath the earth. The trek across the frozen tundra has more hurdles than just the weather. Backstabbers, corrupt company men, and alternate motives keep Mike and Gurty on their nearly frostbitten toes.
There are couple shocking moments in The Ice Road. First off…Mike hits his brother in an argument and berates him ruthlessly. It is honestly disconcerting. That moment is when i hopped up and focused up the most because it was just so jarring. I don’t think anyone could have predicted that coming. Oh, and then Gurty gets dragged down into the depths of the icy water and almost dies, and then he DOES eventually die in the sobering moment of film’s climax. Gurty is thrown through the ringer and it is just not expected at all.
Listen. There is not much redeemable about The Ice Road. I should have listened to my girlfriend’s brother when he said to get high before watching this movie. That would have made me enjoy it a lot more.
The worst aspect of this movie is the screenplay. We can get past the bad special effects because it is a low budget movie. What we cant get past is horrendous dialogue and a plot that is beyond predictable from the jump. It is not great the only twists come at the behest of the character that is mentally handicapped. In particular, the worst scene of the movie comes when Tom Varney (Benjamin Walker) is convincing the McCann’s that Tantoo (Amber Midthunder) is not to be trusted. It is forced and just outright bad. What makes it worse is that at the end of the movie it is all sunshine and rainbows between the pair and they literally hug it out. Blahhhhhhh it is just so forgettable. This whole entire movie.
The Ice Road is written and produced by Jonathan Hensleigh, who does some some works that I am fond of. I will say it, I really enjoyed The Punisher (2004). I thought it was cool as shit for its time. The man has also written many well liked movies like Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995), Jumanji (1995) and Armageddon (1998). Now, these more well know moves are two decades old…so maybe that should say something.
The last movie that Liam Neeson was in that I actually enjoyed was Cold Pursuit (2019), which is set in a very similar climate as The Ice Road. The year before that was Widows (2018) and The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (2018).. After the blistering adventure, there was a bad Men In Black remake, the worst Star Wars movie ever made, and four straight sub pair adventure movies. Let’s get back to the Neeson of class and quality, please!
STANKO RATING: D- (1.0/5 Stars)
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