Ice Road: Vengeance

This is the type of stuff that made all the rounds of Cinemax, HBO, Showtime... and the second tier movie theaters back in the 80's. The early to mid 80's really... and I absloutely ate them up. Yes they were terrible... you don't realize just how bad until you try and rewatch them as an adult.

Bad plots, some mediocre acting and dialogue... completely unreal situations. It has it all! And just like back then, I enjoyed it for the most part.

I would never bother to watch it again, it really doesn't have anything that would get me to do that. Back when I was a teen, they just showed the same movies multiple times a week... you watched out of sheer boredom at nothing else being available.

They really pushed the "bad " French woman... all 5'1" of her! She reminded me of "Grumpy Cat" on the internet! I have no problem believing a woman can be dangerous, but not weighing 90 lbs and fighting a 6'4" 220lb guy...even if he is ancient.

An attempt to shoot a B-movie? It makes no sense for Liam Neeson to want to be remembered for such bad films, but if he keeps making them, I guess this is how he'll be remembered! Once again, we're subjected to an extremely weak script and the 'White Savior' trope being shoved in our faces. The same old conflict with greedy power brokers and forced, unconvincing scenes.

Lifeless Action and Flimsy Logic: Illogical character choices, poor pacing, and fight scenes devoid of impact-sometimes unintentionally making the film's tone comedic.

Aging Action Star Syndrome: Neeson clearly wants to prove he's still formidable, but he no longer has the agility needed for believable fight scenes against younger opponents.

Overall, a waste of time! With one exception: the breathtaking visuals of Nepal's countryside... But hey, it's not even shot in Nepal!

I love Liam Neeson, even his rehular predictable fare after Taken 1 and 2. Here he growls his way through another revenge mission, this time set against the stunning backdrop of the Himalayas. But Ice Road Vengeance barely escapes the avalanche of its own clichés.

The plot: a frozen road, some dodgy mining conspiracies, a dead relative (naturally), and a long drive toward payback. It wants to be Taken on Ice, but ends up somewhere between a forgettable TV movie and a rejected episode of Ice Road Truckers: Nepal Edition.

The real letdown? The glaring lack of authenticity. Nepali politicians speaking English in a speech to the local crowd, not a single notable local actor in the main cast, and cultural details that feel as deep as a Lonely Planet summary. It's Hollywood exoticism on autopilot... all scenery, no substance.

That said, the cinematography deserves credit. The icy roads and mountain vistas are easily the film's best performers. But even Neeson's stoic charm can't steer this one out of the ditch.

Verdict: A missed opportunity: half-hearted action, surface-level storytelling, and a setting wasted on stereotypes. Watch only if you're stuck indoors with bad Wi-Fi and no popcorn left.

5/10.

Well, to start positively: This movie offers nice action with buses, the scenery of Nepal is beautiful, and it has a well-picked and capable cast with Liam Neeson as the lead, and I like Liam Neeson; always did.

But that is not enough to call this a good movie. Everything is just a vehicle for action. That may have worked twenty years ago, but nowadays that's not enough. It's just too superficial and predictable. The character development and their relationships have too little space to allow me to build up any attachment whatsoever. There are some interesting side characters with potential, but they all get killed way too soon. And I'm not talking about the antagonists, which have no depth at all.

So all that remains is the action. It's solid but not overwhelming. There are quite some logic issues that spoil the fun, and the editing is way too fast-paced, sometimes confusing.

This is a routinely staged action movie with superficial characters, with questionable editing and without any surprises.

Liam Neeson's output has been pretty bad lately. It's a shame, since he has the acting chops and great screen presence. He is aided here by Fan Bingbing who makes a welcome comeback to the screen. And while the two of them are good, they can't elevate the material.

There are a few things to like about the film. The plot is minimal. Neeson travels to Nepal to scatter his brother's ashed on Mt Everest. On the busride there, a group of European mercenaries enter to kidnap a kid who's family refuses to sell an evil developer land. Fan Bingbing mentions that kidnappers in Nepal leave no witnesses: Liam Neeson springs into action and does his thing.

Until that point, the movie is actually pretty entertaining. Neeson and Bingbing have chemistry, some of the urn jokes land, and the first action scene is pretty damn good, as is the plot twist afterwards.

And then it all falls apart. The pacing grinds to a halt as the chase continues through CGI generated himalayas and the laws of physics and logic go straight out the window.

The plot is so stupid, it needs a helmet. For one, nobody speaks the correct language in the film. Nepalese are portrayed by Indians speaking Hindi, Fan Bingbing seems to be wearing brownface to portray a Tibetan, the bus driver is an old Aussie surfer and the villains are a mix of East Europeans and a tiny French woman working for a pony tail wearing bollywood looking bad guy. It's hilariously bad.

A rusty old bus somehow survives a broken axle (twice), crashing into a boulder and flipping on its side, and several other increasingly stupid action scenes.

Plot holes abound. The villain controls the police, who could have easily stopped the bus and picked up the target as a criminal. But no, they had to send a European and an African mercenary to hijack the bus and kill everyone aboard... on the middle of a highway.

Ice Road 2 never hides what it is. It's no brain low budget action. But if you don't mind that, you can do a lot worse. It's perfectly fine on a rainy afternoon or watching while you're doing chores.