Ice Road: Vengeance (2025)    Vertical/Action    RT: 114 minutes    Rated TV-14 (intense action and violence, torture, some language)    Director: Jonathan Hensleigh    Screenplay: Jonathan Hensleigh    Music: Michael Yezerski    Cinematography: Tom Stern    Release date: June 27, 2025 (US)    Cast: Liam Neeson, Fan Bingbing, Marcus Thomas, Grace O’Sullivan, Saksham Sharma, Bernard Curry, Geoff Morrell, Mahesh Jadu, Amelia Bishop, Shapoor Batliwalla, Monish Anand, Shivantha Wijesinha, CJ Bloomfield, Michaela Banas.    Box Office: N/A

Rating: ***

 What they say about sequels not being equals is often but not always true. Once in a blue moon, we get one that’s better than the original (e.g. The Godfather Part II, Superman II, Aliens). Other times, we get one that more or less measures up to the first movie. That’s the case with Ice Road: Vengeance, a decent sequel to the 2021 Liam Neeson actioner The Ice Road, an action-oriented take on Henri-George Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear (1953). It’s by no means a classic, but it makes for a passable action flick. I feel the same about the sequel.

 Jonathan Hensleigh, returning as writer and director, puts Neeson in a Cliffhanger/Under Siege 2 situation in Ice Road: Vengeance. Okay, so no points for originality. Who cares? It’s kind of fun and that’s what really counts, right? The story pits veteran trucker Mike McCann against a team of armed baddies in Nepal. He’s gone there to scatter his dead brother’s ashes on Mt. Everest. His guide, a plucky type named Dhani (Bingbing, The 355), takes him to his destination on a tour bus called “The Kiwi Express”. En route, a couple of mercenaries hijack the bus with the intention of kidnapping a young man named Vijay (Sharma). Naturally, Mike intervenes and foils the crime. What is it they say about out of the pan and into the fire?

 Mike’s heroic actions put him in the crosshairs of the main villain Rudra Yash (Jadu, The Witcher), a corporate creep in charge of a dam construction project that would negatively affect the people of Kodari. Most of the villagers oppose the project, the most vocal being Ganesh (Batliwalla), the one leading the charge against the company behind it. Vijay is his son. As one would expect, Rudra keeps coming after Vijay with only Mike and a few others to stop him and his goon squad.

 Mike’s group includes Dhani, a fierce fighter as well as an expert climber; American professor Myers (Curry, Home and Away); his spoiled teen daughter Starr (O’Sullivan, Neighbours) and Aussie bus driver Spike (Morrell, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power). They are a force to be reckoned with under the leadership of a total tough guy like Mike.

 There’s been a lot of hate directed at Ice Road: Vengeance, but it isn’t deserved. It’s not that bad a movie if you go in knowing what to expect. It’s a silly action flick meant to be enjoyed at a weekend matinee. It’s goofier than its predecessor, but I don’t recall anybody asking for realism. There’s no better way to ruin an action movie than to try and inject realism into it. These things are inherently silly. Look no further than Die Hard (1988). It’s the opposite of realistic. Hensleigh understands this and follows suit with these Ice Road films.

 Hensleigh does do something unexpected in Ice Road: Vengeance. He tries to add depth to Neeson’s character. As the movie opens, we learn that Mike is suffering from survivor’s guilt in the wake of his brother’s death in the first. He engages in risky behavior like free-solo climbing a la Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 2 (2000). Going to Mt. Everest to fulfill his brother’s wishes is therapeutic. Neeson, pro that he is, makes it work. Thankfully, he’s more about action than self-healing. He kicks some serious ass here.

 Bingbing makes a great sidekick. This is a woman not to be underestimated. She’s as game as Mark in taking down the bad guys. She also has a soft side in how she teaches Starr to fight. In the role, O’Sullivan does okay. She’s a typical American teen girl. You should see the look on her face when one of the mercs throws her phone out the window. Morrell adds comic relief as the bus driver who might very well be kin to Crocodile Dundee. Jadu makes a reasonably effective villain.

 I’m not going to attempt to convince you that Ice Road: Vengeance is high art. It’s a Liam Neeson actioner. That says it all right there. It’s the same as saying “it’s a Charles Bronson movie”. You know exactly what to expect. It has plenty of well-executed action scenes including a chase near the end that involves the heroes crossing a gorge that has no bridge. In the end, it gives action junkies exactly what they want. It’s a little creaky at times, but it still works.