Watching the ice road was like watching a movie in slowmo. The fight scenes were terribly coordinated and dragged out. For such a simple objective the actors spent a lot of time standing around and bumbling about. The script was poorly written and the plot was thin. Shaky science and lame CGI. A poorly made mess.

The Ice Road is an updated version of the classic Wages of Fear. Unfortunately not as good as the French classic or its later US remake The Sorcerer.

Mike McCann (Liam Neeson) is a trucker who has problems holding down a regular driving job. This is because his mechanic brother Gurty (Marcus Thomas) is a war veteran who suffers from PTSD and is teased a lot.

When some diamond miners are trapped after a methane explosion in Northern Canada.

He teams up with veteran trucker Jim Goldenrod (Laurence Fishburne) who has organised the rescue mission and rebellious Native American Tantoo (Amber Midthunder) whose brother is one of the miner's trapped.

They have to haul heavy equipment across dangerous icy roads but as it's April, some of the icy paths across rivers are thawing. It's also a race against the clock. The trapped miners will run out of oxygen.

The movie is more than three trucks battling the natural elements. When Goldenrod's truck breaks down, it seems sabotage is at play.

Maybe one person wants to take the whole of the bounty which is $200,000 if the mission is successful. It might just be that the mining company were cutting corners regarding safety.

That might be the reason why an insurance actuary Tom Varnay (Benjamin Walker) is also accompanying the crew. The question no one asks is why does a corporate suit taking such risks?

Of course Mike realises a bit too late that Varnay is he baddie. His job is to make sue that the mission does not succeed.

At best The Ice Road is moderately entertaining with a below average script. It is a B movie that relies on Neeson using his action man persona. Walker seems to be the indestructible bad guy who seems to survive all kinds of hazards.

Another modern day action thriller with plenty of bad reviews. I'm convinced that audiences only care for superhero and comic book adaptations these days. In any case, THE ICE ROAD is influenced both by reality TV shows such as ICE ROAD TRUCKERS and the Friedkin classic SORCERER in the story of a convoy of trucks racing to rescue some trapped miners in an icy north Canadian province. A grizzled Liam Neeson heads the small cast, with the welcome Laurence Fishburne in support, and the acting is generally better than expected across the board. The film is over reliant on some slightly repetitive action scenes towards the climax (shades of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) and has some very dodgy CGI at times, but otherwise it works quite well. It's fast-paced, character-focused, and has plenty of twists and suspense scenes which make it an amiable watch. Not a patch on SORCERER but not bad for a modern flick.