Liam Neeson has been riding a late career resurgence in action movies since Taken in 2008. However, the novelty of watching Neeson kick ass isn’t quite as powerful as it once was.
Neeson’s latest action flick, Ice Road: Vengeance, is the sequel to his 2021 action thriller The Ice Road. Except this time, the film largely skipped theaters.
But if anyone was going to use this as an excuse to write off Neeson, note that Ice Road: Vengeance just debuted at No. 1 on Netflix‘s movie chart.
Netflix subscribers clearly know what they like. Now, Watch With Us is sharing three reasons to watch Ice Road: Vengeance on Netflix.
Liam Neeson Is Fun to Watch Even in a Bad Movie
It’s safe to say that Ice Road: Vengeance won’t be getting much attention during awards season with its 17 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. To be fair, the vast majority of Neeson’s action movies have gotten bad reviews. That’s never stopped people from flocking to see him kick butt, and he does it again here. Neeson’s fight scenes are more limited in this flick, likely owing to his age. But there are some enjoyable driving action scenes where he’s once again behind the wheel and facing danger.
The film does attempt to give some depth to Mike McCann (Neeson) as he mourns his brother, Gurty, and attempts to honor his last wishes by spreading his ashes in the Himalayas. There’s even some unexpected humor when Mike is forced to transfer Gurty’s ashes to a more TSA-friendly package. Neeson is the one who makes this film enjoyable, even if it’s far from his best film in the genre.
Costar Fan Bingbing Has Some Good Action Chops
Amber Midthunder didn’t return for this sequel, but Neeson does get a new leading woman to play off in the form of Fan Bingbing‘s Dhani Yangchen. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the movie is that Bingbing has to carry some of the action by herself, and she does a great job in the role.
It does feel like Dhani was added to this story to lighten the load on Neeson. Fortunately, Bingbing has engaging charisma of her own. This isn’t Bingbing’s first action flick, and she had a role in The 355, which is also streaming on Netflix. She’s already hugely popular in China, but this film feels like it could potentially open more doors for Bingbing in America.
‘Ice Road: Vengeance’ Gives Neeson’s Character Emotional Closure
There aren’t a lot of ice roads in Ice Road: Vengeance, but there should be enough action to satisfy genre lovers. What’s more interesting to me, however, is the way the movie ends. The climax of this story isn’t about Mike dispatching yet another villain or saving innocent people. He already did that earlier in the film.
Instead, the story gives Mike the emotional closure he needed to let go of his grief and possibly set aside any need for future fighting. If Neeson is winding down his action career in favor of comedies like The Naked Gun, then there may not be many action flicks like this in his future. The actor and the character get the ending they deserve here, and that may be Ice Road: Vengeance‘s most-redeeming feature.
Ice Road: Vengeance is streaming on Netflix.
