THE ICE ROAD | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Jonathan Hensleigh (12, 109 mins)
A cross between The Wages Of Fear and tv show Ice Road Truckers, with a dash of miners trapped underground for added peril, The Ice Road is enjoyably cheesy fun. Liam Neeson stars as Mike, rugged trucker and carer for his brother war veteran Gurty (Marcus Thomas), who suffers from aphasia after serving in Iraq. The brothers are down on their luck, fired from their last trucking job because of Neeson not liking his bro being bullied by others – but hope arrives in the shape of a ‘suicide mission’: driving trucks over a thawing ice road to a mine.
Miners under the leadership of a solid Holt Mcallany (Mindhunter) are trapped underground after a methane explosion and running out of air. They need heavy wellheads to get fresh air to them and enable their rescue. Unfortunately, there’s corruption at the top. A general manager, played by Matt McCoy, is ready to let the miners die to avoid responsibility after making them turn their gas sensors off, and setting the disaster in motion.
Laurence Fishburne, the man tasked with getting a team together, finds that feisty but capable Native American Tantoo (Amber Midthunder) – whose brother is one of the miners trapped underground – is the only person willing to risk the journey alongside Neeson and his mechanically minded sibling. A dastardly ‘insurance man’, in the shape of Benjamin Walker, is also along for the ride, out to sabotage the mission and possessing Michael Myers levels of unkillability.
It’s nonsense: peppered with groan-inducing dialogue at times, particularly between Neeson and his brother, who has a pet rat who will of course save the day later. It does retain a Boys’ Own sense of adventure however, with some well-staged action across slippery roads, outrunning avalanches, pressure waves in the ice, crossing crumbling bridges and close quarter fisticuffs in truck cabins. Neeson anchors it all as usual with some gravitas, and Fishburne is likeably effective for an extended cameo. An 80s throwback, this could have been a lot better, tighter and more layered with suspense, but it still remains effective and enjoyable under Jonathan Hensleigh’s direction.
Out now via Amazon Prime
words KEIRON SELF