The Ice Road - A Rescue Mission Story with Some Neeson Style Action

This new movie was released only yesterday. Despite not knowing what the movie was all about, but as it starred one of our favorite star Liam Neeson, my wife and I decided to see this immediately. It was convenient for us as it was easy to access & also played in theater near our home. OK, I'll dive right to it then.

Brief Story Line

When a diamond mine exploded in Canada, some miners including René Lampard (Holt McCallany - Wrath of Man, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back etc) and Cody (Martin Sensmeier - The Magnificent Seven 2016 remake etc) were trapped inside. Sickle (Matt McCoy - Jack Ryan TV series etc) who was the GM of Katka that operated the mine, sought for help to save the miners. As the equipment was too big and heavy, it required to be transported by trucks which must be delivered through long dangerous icy roads. 

Jim Goldenrod (Laurence Fishburne - John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum, The Matrix etc) together with young truck driver Tantoo (Amber Midthunder - Legion TV series etc), and brothers Mike McCann (Liam Neeson - The Marksman, The Commuter etc) & Gurty (Marcus Thomas) were hired to do this rescue mission. Accompanied by Katka's insurance actuary Varnay (Benjamin Walker - Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, In the Heart of the Sea etc), they began their long journey to the mine location and must do so in limited time.

So how would the story conclude? Find them all in this action thriller movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Well the story was unlike what we have seen in most Liam Neeson's movies in the past few years. Usually his recent films would be filled with many action sequence where he had to fight against multiple bad guys, but in here we got to see a different side. This time his focus was to do a rescue mission while at the same time taking care of his younger brother. Their relationship was the highlight for me and my wife as it was quite unexpected but nice to see.

The movie itself was filled with some familiar faces. The big names obviously would be Liam Neeson himself and Laurence Fishburne, while rest were in support roles with few having more screen presence than others. What surprised me though was the fact that the story developed into something more than just rescue mission, although at the end of the day it became rather typical Neeson's movie. But we did enjoy it though as the suspense were felt in certain scenes with some having very strong intensity. The duration of 108 minutes was pretty long which resulted to a tiring feeling of the long journey to the location, especially due to so many hardships along the way that felt like never ending (like my wife commented). Btw, there was no mid or post end credit scene here.

This film was written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh (prior credits included directing The Punisher, Kill the Irishman and writing for Next). I thought his directing style was OK, though in certain scenes they looked to be not detail enough or focusing on parts that I personally felt less crucial than others. The actions were pretty standard, not spectacular, while the special effects were so so. The background music was all right. 

So if you want to see a bit of variety of Liam Neeson's movies at least in term of story, then you are welcome to see this one. It is currently available only in 1 cinema chain in Indonesia. Oh, in case you are wondering why there was the words "A Netflix Film" on the poster, it was because Netflix acquired the rights to distribute this movie in US & Canada only, which would explain why it was not available on Netflix in Indonesia. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars