{"id":218798,"date":"2025-06-27T14:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T14:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/218798\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T14:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T14:18:11","slug":"ice-road-vengeance-review-another-dull-liam-neeson-action-flick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/218798\/","title":{"rendered":"Ice Road: Vengeance Review – Another dull Liam Neeson action flick?"},"content":{"rendered":"

PLOT<\/strong>: Mike travels to Nepal to scatter his late brother\u2019s ashes on Mt. Everest. When Mike and his mountain guide encounter mercenaries on a tour bus, they are forced to fight to save themselves, the passengers, and the local villagers\u2019 homeland.<\/p>\n

REVIEW<\/strong>: I\u2019m not sure many of us expected there to be a sequel to 2021\u2019s The Ice Road, but here we are, in the land of sequels. Liam Neeson<\/a> continues his action career in a way that we\u2019ve seen time and time again: he ends up in a deadly situation, and has to fight his way out to survive. In Ice Road: Vengeance, Mike McCann has lost his brother and honor his last wishes and spread his ashes on Mount Everest. But when he helps prevent a kidnapping, he realizes there\u2019s something sketchy going on and bands together with others to stop it. With his trucking skills. <\/p>\n

In a lot of ways, this feels like a story from the 80s with its clear good guy\/bad guy dynamics and town in peril plot. But you really have to shut your brain off with all of the boneheaded character decisions. The entire movie would be over in five minutes if there were just one critical thinker in the bunch. The kidnapping target, Vijay, is one of the dumber characters out there. Despite knowing he\u2019s being tailed, he doesn\u2019t even notice the people who are aggressively following him. He has to actively try to avoid eye contact so he doesn\u2019t see them looking him with those \u201cHey, I want to kidnap you\u201d eyes. <\/p>\n

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At this point, Neeson just can\u2019t move well enough to make the action believable. While it may have worked in Taken, it gets progressively less believable the more he ages. Especially when he\u2019s fighting guys so much younger than him. At least give him someone comparable to fight. But at least Neeson is still great with the human moments and those more subtle aspects. Bingbing Fan<\/a> picks up some of the slack, but it\u2019s all pretty basic. There isn\u2019t a single action set piece that even stands out.<\/p>\n

The dialogue exchanges are really off, particularly the flashbacks between Neeson and his brother. Not to mention how unnecessary those flashbacks feel. Exposition seems to be harder and harder to get across, and it\u2019s infuriating. Much like The Final Reckoning, we don\u2019t need everything so over-explained. In terms of stuff I actually enjoyed, there\u2019s a section of the film where they have to DIY the bus and fix stuff in order to get down the mountain. Gives the side characters a little more agency and makes them feel less pointless. I\u2019m not sure why they felt the film needed an angst teen character, but they have to check some boxes.<\/p>\n

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The green screen is shockingly bad at times. I\u2019m still amazed that, in this day and age, that it\u2019s even possible with these kinds of releases. Between this and the absolutely baffling character decisions, there is some so bad it\u2019s good fun to be had. I mean, I laughed in this movie more than I did during most comedies. That\u2019d be fine if that\u2019s what they were going for but it was clearly not intentional.<\/p>\n

I really didn\u2019t enjoy my time with Ice Road: Vengeance. It was completely lacking in excitement or interesting characters, more often than not just reveling in mediocrity. Neeson constantly finds himself off to the side of the action, yet no one manages to stand out. Here\u2019s hoping that next month\u2019s The Naked Gun will get Neeson back on track, where he doesn\u2019t have to make stuff like this anymore. Although I\u2019m sure Grandpa\u2019s everywhere would be glad if he kept up with them.<\/p>\n

Related
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\n Liam Neeson takes the wheel for another out of control thrill ride in the Ice Road: Vengeance trailer <\/a><\/p>\n

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