It can sometimes be difficult to predict which new releases on Netflix will have the biggest impact on the service’s top 10 list, but maybe we should’ve guessed that an action movie with Taken star Liam Neeson would take off. Shortly after hitting Netflix last Friday, The Ice Road shot straight up to the top of the charts and remains there as of Monday afternoon. If you want to know what exactly everyone is talking about at work, you might want to stream it this week.
Liam Neeson’s star has waned somewhat since his impressive run in the late 1990s through the mid-2010s, during which he took on a series of iconic roles such as Qui-Gon Jinn in the Star Wars prequels, Ra’s Al Ghul in Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, and Bryan Mills in Taken. Still, he keeps popping up in an action thriller every year or so, and The Ice Road is 2021’s entry.
You can watch the trailer for the movie and read the plot synopsis from Netflix below:
After a remote diamond mine collapses in far northern Canada, a ‘big-rig’ ice road driver (Liam Neeson) must lead an impossible rescue mission over a frozen ocean to save the trapped miners. Contending with thawing waters and a massive storm, they discover the real threat is one they never saw coming.
Written by Jonathan Hensleigh — who also wrote Die Hard with a Vengeance and Armageddon — The Ice Road is just the third feature film he has ever directed. The other two are 2004’s The Punisher, starring Thomas Jane (a few years before Marvel Studios existed), and 2011’s Kill the Irishman.
In addition to Liam Neeson, the movie also stars Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix), Marcus Thomas (Kill the Irishman), Amber Midthunder (Legion), Benjamin Walker (Jessica Jones, Traitors), Martin Sensmeier (Westworld), and Holt McCallany (Mindhunter).
The reviews are rather tepid, with a 46% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.5/10 on IMDb, but it is clear that millions of subscribers are watching the movie, especially now that it’s sitting atop Netflix’s charts as people prepare to take some time off work for the Fourth of July.
