“Okay. Okay,” the assassin said as beads of cold sweat rolled down his forhead. “I’ll talk. Something big is coming in tonight.”

“More smack to push on the kiddies?” The Revenging Manta asked, ready to cut the assassin’s jugular. 

“Nah, man. The Goose Lord is waiting on a weapon. He plans to light this place up so he can take over after everything goes to hell.”

The assassin produced a crooked grin before screaming, “Everyone’s going to die!”

—To be continued. 

Tonight’s movie is 2025’s Ice Road: Vengeance from director Jonathan Hensleigh. It is the sequel to 2021’s The Ice Road from director Jonathan Hensleigh. Funny enough, I never reviewed The Ice Road, the movie where Liam Neeson plays Mike McCann, a tough as nails trucker williing to travel the ice road to save some trapped miners. Naturally, some corporate terrorists try to stop him by shattering the ice road and sinking him to a watery grave. But I’m not covering that The Ice Road tonight. That time has passed. Time for the sequel!

Our movie begins with our hero, Mike McCann, climbing a mountain in one of the Dakotas. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but there are some bad CG rocks falling on poor Mike. Undaunted, Mike removes his safety harness and creams like a cave man when he reaches the top of the mountain! Back home, Mike reads the last will and testament of his late brother. His brother’s last wish was to have his ashes scattered on top of Mount Everest. Mike books a flight and it’s off to Nepal.

Meanwhile, bad things are afoot in Kodari, a small village nestled in the mountains of Nepal. A wealthy industrialist named Rudra Yash wants to build a dam to power his hydroelectric power grid, but the villagers don’t care for the idea of making iPhones for rich Europeans and drinking sludge water. The respectable Rai family opposes the dam so Rudra orders his henchman to run the bus with the grandpa Rai and other passengers off of Mount Everest. You see the bus bash into the mountain on the way down too. No survivors there. 

So Mike meets up with a young woman named Dhani who promises to lead the way to Mt. Everest. They board a tour bus called the Kiwi Express and it’s driven by a crusty old man from New Zealand named Spike. Also, on the bus are Professor Evan Myers and his daughter, Starr. And wouldn’t you know it, a young man named Vijay Rai boards the bus. And then two professionl kidnappers board the bus, hoping to grab the youngest member of the Rai family. One of the kidnappers is a French woman. 

These kidnappers are so mean. They threaten the passengers with guns and steal their smartphones. Then they throw the smart phones out the window. Dhani informs Mike that kidnappers in Nepal don’t leave witnesses. Look, you know the score by now. Dahni will use some fancy kung fu on the French woman and Mike will beat up the other guy with some Irish street fighting. They subdue the kidnappers, call the local police, and Mike goes up Mount Everest with Dahni to scatter his brother’s ashes.

Except the local police are corrupt and working for Rudra. Professor Myers gets blown away after threatening to expose Rudra’s evil scheme to the United Nations or a similar organization. Spike gets shot in the gut leaving Mike as the only one who can drive the old Kiwi Express up Mount Everest to get Vijay to safety while corporate terrorists are in close pursuit. We know Liam Neeson will save the day and that the bad guys will get what’s coming to them. But hey, it’s all about the journey, not the destination. 

Jeff Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, episode 284, episode 441, episode 442, episode 443, episode 444, episode 450, episode 477, episode 491, episode 492, episode 493, episode 495, episode 496, episode 545, episode 546, episode 547, episode 548, episode 549, episode 575, episode 596, episode 597, episode 598, episode 599, episode 642, episode 643, episode 644, episode 645, and episode 670) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.