THE ICE ROAD

Beginning in North Dakota, THE ICE ROAD stars Liam Neeson as Mike, a truck driver who's taking care of his adult-aged, mechanic brother Gurty, who is mentally disabled. In a mine shaft in Winnipeg, there's a methane explosion that traps 26 miners. With 30 hours worth of oxygen left for the miners and having been fired from his previous job (not to mention a sweet payday from the Canadian government upon delivery of emergency supplies he's hauling), Mike and Gurty decide to teamup with Goldenrod (played by Laurence Fishburne) and Tantoo (Amber Midthunder) to make the arduous journey north. The only problem is, in order to reach the miners in time, they need to take their extremely heavy trailers on a shortcut known as the ice road, which during the winter time due to the extreme cold, the lakes freeze and truckers use them as roadways. However, this story takes place during April when the ice is ready to thaw. All I can say is after watching this, Neeson and Fishburne better have gotten paid some serious money for attaching their names to this dumpster fire. The story opens with the miners getting trapped and the audience doesn't have any connection to them. Throw in Mike's at times unpleasant and short tempered attitude with Gurty, Fishburne who's in maybe 20% of the movie, sloppy editing, obvious low budget production quality, and you have a recipe for a terrible film. With movies like this, it's obvious Neeson's losing a step. I only hope he can rebound, and quickly, from the bad taste this will leave in your mouth. 3/10