Taken star Liam Neeson is back in the driver’s seat for the action thriller sequel Ice Road: Vengeance. But it sounds like the Hollywood icon should have left this particular franchise in park. The reviews for Ice Road: Vengeance have now emerged, with the action outing being met with a chilly reception from critics, despite Neeson’s continued success as everyone’s favorite aged action hero.
Starting with the hardest hitters, M.N. Miller of FandomWire gave Ice Road: Vengeance just 2/10 and wondered whether the lackluster effort was part of some sort of elaborate fraternity prank or blackmail.
Is Neeson part of an elaborate fraternity prank? Blackmail? A fan of career suicide that borders on professional masochism? Ice Road: Vengeance is a mind-numbing, atrocious, and utterly ridiculous piece of trash cinema—a true embarrassment of humiliation.
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Next up, and just as harsh, is Robert Kojder of Flickering Myth, who warns that the Ice Road sequel “makes no impression and, for nearly two full hours, offers up one question: Where the hell are the ice roads? Maybe it’s a 4-D chess distraction from how pointless and bland this all is.” Even Neeson might not be tough enough to stay standing after a hit that hard.
The criticism continues courtesy of Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter, who believes Ice Road: Vengeance is now “Destined to be quickly forgotten even by fans of its predecessor, Ice Road: Vengeance proves as generic as its title.” These sentiments are echoed by NYC Movie Guru, who calls the action movie “A pedestrian, bland and lackluster B-movie.” So, while not enough reviews have yet emerged to give Ice Road: Vengeance an overall rating on Rotten Tomatoes, expect a big, green splat to adorn your screen at some stage.
It’s Not All Bad for the ‘Ice Road’ Follow-Up…
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But we’re big fans of Liam Neeson around here, so we can’t help but finish with some positivity courtesy of Brian Orndorf of Blu-ray.com, who found Ice Road: Vengeance to be another enjoyable action B-movie led by the ever-reliable Neeson…
“There’s roughly the same mix of passable excitement and B-movie silliness to provide an entertaining sit, and while Neeson may be on autopilot at this point, he remains an enjoyably gruff action figure.”
Picking up after the events of The Ice Road, which itself was met with pretty scathing reviews and 43% on Rotten Tomatoes after being released by Netflix back in 2021, Ice Road: Vengeance sees director Jonathan Hensleigh (The Punisher, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Armageddon) once again take the helm as he brings Neeson’s intrepid truck driver Mike McCann back for more action thrills. Led by Liam Neeson, the rest of the cast includes Fan Bingbing and Marcus Thomas. Ice Road: Vengeance was released in select theaters in the U.S. on June 27 and became available via VOD on July 1. You can check out the official synopsis for the action thriller below.
“On the road to Mt. Everest, big rig driver Mike McCann (Liam Neeson) takes on ruthless mercenaries to protect a busload of tourists and save a village on the brink of destruction.”
Source: FandomWire, Flickering Myth, THR, NYC Movie Guru, Blu-ray.com
Release Date
June 27, 2025
Director
Jonathan Hensleigh
Writers
Jonathan Hensleigh
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