One of Liam Neeson’s Lowest-Rated Action Sequels Has Finally Found Redemption on Streaming
Liam Neeson in Ice Road: VengeanceImage via ShivHans Pictures
Not long before Liam Neeson made a return to box office success after an eight-year-gap with The Naked Gun, he headlined an action sequel that has quietly been delivering the goods on streaming. The movie Ice Road: Vengeance received a token theatrical release earlier this year, before being launched on the PVOD and streaming markets. The film was directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, who also helmed the first The Ice Road, which debuted in 2021 and grossed $7.5 million in limited theatrical release. It was because of the first film’s popularity as a home video title that the follow-up was made. According to FlixPatrol, Ice Road 2 was among the most-watched movies on the global Prime Video charts on December 23, when the leader board was topped by Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans’ Christmas-themed action-adventure movie Red One. Featuring Neeson as a highly skilled big rig driver, Ice Road 2 beat out the recent Prime Video original movies Merv, Guns Up, and Playdate. This recent surge in popularity is due mainly to the movie’s release in South America and Central America; Ice Road 2 has spent 110 days in total on the Prime Video charts this year, having confusingly been sold to Netflix for domestic distribution. It has achieved this despite being universally panned. The movie holds a 15% critics’ score and a 24% audience score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. By comparison, the first film scored a relatively respectable 43% on RT. But it was released at a time when Neeson was starring in movies with titles such as Retribution, Memory, and Blacklight.
The Year 2025 Marked Liam Neeson’s Much-Awaited Return to Mainstream Success
This year, Neeson bounced back as a critically and commercially successful star with The Naked Gun reboot, which made over $100 million globally against a reported budget of $42 million. The slapstick comedy film, directed by Akiva Schaffer and co-starring Pamela Anderson, earned terrific reviews. It’s now sitting at a “certified fresh” 87% score on RT, where the critics’ consensus reads, “With Liam Neeson’s gravelly gravitas proving to be a perfect fit for Frank Drebin’s deadpan buffoonery, The Naked Gun revives the original trilogy’s daffy sense of humor like it never went out of style.” You can watch Ice Road 2 at home, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Release Date
June 27, 2025
Runtime
113 minutes
Director
Jonathan Hensleigh
Writers
Jonathan Hensleigh
Producers
Al Corley, Bart Rosenblatt, Eugene Musso, Lee Nelson, Shivani Rawat, David Tish
Fan Bingbing
Dhani Yangchen
Grace O’Sullivan
Starr Myers
Publicado: 2025-12-23 16:06:00
fonte: collider.com
