The Ice Road (2021)
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A team of truck drivers must navigate treacherous frozen roads to deliver a critical component to a collapsed mine.
The story
Following an explosion at a mine in Manitoba that traps 26 miners, a team of truck drivers is hired for a high-stakes mission. Mike McCann and his brother Gurty, a veteran with cognitive disabilities, join a group of drivers to transport wellheads across dangerous ice roads to the remote site. They are joined by a young woman named Tantoo and an actuary. The mission is fraught with peril as they navigate the unstable frozen terrain to reach the trapped workers, while the internal dynamics of the team are tested by the extreme conditions and the urgency of the rescue operation.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After an explosion traps 26 miners in a Manitoba mine, Mike McCann and his brother Gurty are hired by Jim Goldenrod to deliver wellheads across treacherous ice roads. The team includes Tantoo, a young woman, and Varnay, an actuary. During the journey, Goldenrod's truck breaks through the ice, and he is left behind; the others continue but face a massive pressure wave. Varnay, who is secretly sabotaging the operation, attempts to frame Tantoo for the accident. After a series of dangerous maneuvers and a confrontation with Varnay, who is revealed to be working with the mine's management to eliminate witnesses, Mike and Gurty manage to survive his attempts to kill them. In the final stages, Mike and Tantoo face off against Varnay in a high-speed chase. Mike eventually causes Varnay's truck to fall off a cliff. Gurty is tragically killed during a bridge crossing, but Mike and Tantoo successfully deliver the wellheads to the miners. Three months later, Mike and Tantoo are shown together, with Mike now working as an independent contractor.
- First release year
- 2021
- Runtime (minutes)
- 109
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Jonathan Hensleigh
- Writers
- Jonathan Hensleigh · writer
- Cast and characters
- Liam Neeson · Mike McCann; Laurence Fishburne; Benjamin Walker; Amber Midthunder · Tantoo; Marcus Thomas; Holt McCallany; Martin Sensmeier; Matt McCoy; Matt Salinger
- Genres
- action; thriller
- Themes
- sacrifice; brotherhood; survival
- Tone and mood
- tense; action-packed
- Setting
- Manitoba and North Dakota during winter.
- Premise and plot tags
- trucking; rescue mission; winter survival
- Source material / true-story basis
- The Wages of Fear (1953 film)
- Franchise connections
- Ice Road
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising Liam Neeson's performance while others criticized the plot's predictability and the visual effects.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 44% · scale: approval rating · review count: 89; Metacritic · score: 42 · scale: 100 · review count: 24
- Production trivia
- The film was the most-streamed film on Netflix in its debut weekend.; The movie was influenced by the 1953 film The Wages of Fear.; The soundtrack was produced by Big Machine Records.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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