If there’s one factor that each viewers member has an affordable proper to demand from a film with “Ice Street” within the title, it’s ice roads. That’s in all probability why “The Ice Street” succeeded sufficient to advantage a sequel within the first place. Jonathan Hensleigh’s 2021 movie starred Liam Neeson in certainly one of his off-the-rack late-career motion performances as a grizzled trucker who agrees to drive throughout a frozen lake to rescue a gaggle of miners from a collapsing mine. However Hensleigh’s new sequel, “Ice Street: Vengeance,” doesn’t reside as much as the branding fairly as effectively.
Save for one temporary mountainside drive, “Ice Street: Vengeance” doesn’t include practically sufficient ice roads to fulfill anybody who has been itching for extra slippery chase scenes since 2021. The movie does provide greater than its fair proportion of vengeance, so there’s actually no grounds to say false promoting. However the sequel’s divergence from the very factor that made its predecessor notable is extreme sufficient to boost the query of why they wanted to be linked in any respect. “Vengeance” principally quantities to an excessively lengthy standalone Neeson motion flick that simply barely clears the bar of adequacy. There’s in all probability an viewers for it, however anybody hoping for a much bigger and higher model of the primary movie can be higher off drowning their sorrows by bingeing previous seasons of “Ice Street Truckers.”
Like “The Ice Street” earlier than it, the emotional core of this movie lies within the relationship between Neeson’s Mike McCann and his military veteran brother Gurty (Marcus Thomas). Whereas a lot of the primary movie revolved round Mike attempting to guard the PTSD-addled Gurty from a world that was decided to be merciless to him, the sequel picks up with Mike attempting to make sense of life after his brother’s loss of life. Gurty didn’t reside lengthy sufficient to realize his lifelong dream of climbing Mount Everest, however he made Mike promise to scatter his ashes at its summit to make sure he may get there in loss of life. A dutiful brother till the very finish, Mike buys a one-way ticket to Nepal and reluctantly agrees to pack his ashes in a TSA-approved container.
Upon arriving in Katmandu, Mike hyperlinks up with Dhani Yangchen (Fan Bingbing), an area information with whom he strikes an immediate connection. However as they take a tour bus to the bottom of Everest on the notorious “Street to the Sky,” the bus is attacked by mercenaries. As a result of Liam Neeson apparently made a take care of Devil to make sure that none of his cinematic alter egos ever know a second of peace, Mike finds himself on the coronary heart of a battle between a Nepali village and the corrupt politicians and builders who’re decided to destroy its ecosystem by constructing a brand new hydroelectric dam. Mike is initially pressured to drive the bus and combat off dangerous guys to protect his personal security, however his connection to the locals grows till he has one thing larger than himself to combat for.
By itself phrases, “Ice Street: Vengeance” shouldn’t be a horrible film. Neeson’s mediations on discovering methods to grieve with out placing your whole life on maintain provide extra emotional depth than you’re more likely to discover in any direct-to-VOD motion film with “Vengeance” in its title. Bingbing’s character serves the same operate to Amber Midthunder’s Tantoo from the primary film, and the Chinese language star enhances the movie with a offered mixture of compassion and badass fight expertise. The movie is much too lengthy with out providing sufficient spectacle to justify watching Neeson half-ass his means by way of yet one more crusty motion position, however he’s actually been in worse.
Probably the most befuddling factor about “Ice Street: Vengeance” is the truth that it’s branded as a sequel to “The Ice Street” within the first place. The one actual connective tissue between the movies is the continuation of Mike’s grief journey, but it surely’s onerous to argue there was extra to discover within the “Liam Neeson performs a grizzled previous man with a coronary heart of gold beneath the tough exterior” archetype that we didn’t see in each different movie the actor has launched prior to now 4 years.
The movie’s existence appears to depend on a wager that somebody on the market was dying to see a couple of extra minutes of Gurty flashbacks. If that’s you, you’re in for a fantastic weekend on the films.
Grade: C
A Vertical launch, “Ice Street: Vengeance” opens in theaters on Friday, July 27 and on VOD on July 1st.
Need to keep updated on IndieWire’s movie opinions and demanding ideas? Subscribe right here to our newly launched publication, In Evaluation by David Ehrlich, through which our Chief Movie Critic and Head Opinions Editor rounds up the most effective opinions, streaming picks, and provides some new musings, all solely accessible to subscribers.
