The Ice Road
Yet another sleepwalker from Liam Neeson.
A remote diamond mine collapses in the snowy tundras of remote Canada, and a number of miners are stuck underground. Trapped underground, they desperately need a huge steel cap to seal off the latent gases before they can safely be dug out and rescued - but the roads are icy and dangerous, and few drivers would be willing to risk the commute. Cue up Mike McCann (Liam Neeson) and his brother Gurty (Marcus Thomas), who join a team led by Jim Goldenrod (Laurence Fishburne) and including Tantoo (Amber Midthunder) to help trek three of these up to the remote mine site. They’re joined by a representative from the insurance company, Tom Varnay (Benjamin Walker), who is more than he seems. As it becomes clear that the mining company doesn’t want these men saved, and will do anything in their power to stop the rescue, Mike and Gurty have to dig deep to save lives.
The Ice Road is a truly confounding piece of cinema. On the surface level, this is largely garbage - a plot that could be haphazardly guessed correctly by an 8 year old who has just downed a whole freddo cake at a McDonald’s, acting that could reasonably be improved on by a first-script-read take from Mark Zuckerberg, and a visual flair unequalled since the latest NRMA commercial.
The confounding part is the sheer amount of wacky decisions on display here. 90% of the film feels like a commercial for one specific trucking company that sells long haul trucks. The visual effects and where they are placed are shocking, but more importantly is why you would choose any of those set pieces as set pieces; it feels like they are out of reach of the production, but chosen by someone who really fucking cares about trucks and the dangers these drivers go through and wants to educate the populace.
The villainy on display is crazy, and the idea that a big mining company would ever think they could get away with effectively murdering 80 plus people is insane. The performances from the cast are so one-note it is embarrassing, and you lament the involvement of some favourites like Walker, Fishburne and, of course, Neeson.
But when the credits roll and you see how heavily funded by the local Canadian government and this specific trucking company this film must have been, there is undoubtedly a part of you that respects this picture. Some people on the production had a very specific goal in mind; a cautionary tale. Does the film succeed in delivering that cautionary tale? Absolutely not. But the fault lies with the lacklustre acting, terrible script and poor VFX - not with those who approached this with the best of intentions. come to light. By no means is it unenjoyable; just cripplingly undercooked.
