Sarah´s Oil

The oil industry have proved to be a very successful business for many different oil companies worldwide. Not only do we need oil for our cars, trucks, industrial machinery but we also need oil to make manifacturing tools to function properly. Even though times are changing and they develope new ways to construct cars without oil, we will still neeed it to function in society. It is possible in the future we may not need oil as much if they keep developing other products that´s better for the environment? I am all for a positive change if we can help the environment. If we look back in history though the oil industry have been very important helping a lot of families to survive. People were able to have jobs, have a paycheck they could survive on and were able to buy homes. The oil companies themselves were making a lot of money and the so called black gold industry was blooming during the early 1900´s. When it comes to movies that talk about the oil industry there are several titles to choose between. One of my personal favourite films regarding the oil industry was released back in the year of 2007 and is called Syriana. Directed by Stephen Gaghan this film takes place in the Persian Gulf kingdom, where a U.S. energy giant Connex Oil is losing control of key old fields, ruled by the Al-Subaai family. The Emirate´s foreign minister, Prince Nasir Al-Subaai ( Alexander Siddig ), has granted natural gas drilling rights to a Chinese company, greatly upsetting the U.S. oil industry and the U.S. government. Connex Oil have a plan though to fix this, by using a smaller oil company as help to guarantee a succesfull deal. The question is can they pull this off? Syriana is a very well made political thriller that really digs deep inside the oil buisness and how much money they are dealing with worldwide, while everyone may not follow all the rules as they are meant to be used. Fantastic casting with actors such as George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Amanda Peet and Christopher Plummer among others and i have to say the whole cast give really good acting performances. Worth a watch on streaming or even on physical media. Speaking of oil i read last year about a drama film coming out telling the story of a little black girl named Sarah Rector, who was the first black girl who was allotted 160 acres of land. I have not heard of this story before so i was definetely fascinated watching a biographical film telling her story as a very young woman. Not knowing much else about this story i decided to rent Sarah´s Oil on VOD. Is this a drama film you should see or should you go watch the 2007 film Syriana instead?

Sarah Rector ( Naya Desir- Johnson ), a descendant of the Creek Freedmen, who is granted 160 acres of land in Oklahoma through a federal allotment program.  Considered useles and unfit for farming, the land was expected to yield nothing. Guided by a deep personal conviction and her faith, Sarah insist there is oil underneath the ground. After her family leashes the land, an oil gusher produces over 2,000 barrels a day, making her incredibly wealthy over night. Some big names within the oil industry find out about this and is determined to take Sarah´s land, but she´s not going down without fighting for what is rightfully her acres.

When it comes to faith based drama films i have personally been struggling with some of the American faith based movies that have hit cinemas worldwide. For example the God´s Not Dead franchise, i would say that the first film is ok while the other films struggled with a lot of issues. Thankfully we did have a good one known as War Room from director Alex Kendrick that became very successfull on physical media, selling over 40 million DVD copies in America alone. So when i went into Sarah´s Oil knowing this was a faith based film based on a true story i did have my doubts. Would this film have at least descent acting and a interesting story compared to some of the God´s Not Dead films? And i will be honest and say this is one of the better faith based drama films i have seen so far. Not just because this is a very fascinating story regarding the first black girl who was granted 160 acres of land in Oklahoma, i think this film is interesting from a historical perspective as well in the oild industry during the early 1900´s. As we all know back in those days there was still a lot of racism across America, so for a girl like Sarah to be able to pull this through in difficult times is actually incredible. Sarah´s Oil manage to tell this story in a realistic way while giving us a chance to get to know Sarah better. She seemed very intelligent for her young age and clearly wanted to learn about the oil industry. The acting from young actress Naya Desir-Johnson as the main character Sarah Rector is really good. I have seen many young actors in a lot of films over the years and i have to say, considering her young age and acting this good already im positively surprised. I look forward to see her act in future releases. I also enjoy her screen chemistry with actor Zachary Levi ( who plays superhero Shazam in the DC comics inspired films ) as the character Bert Smith. It´s almost like Bert becomes not only a business partner to Sarah but also a father figure, making sure she´s not put in any danger because of her skin color This film manage to portait how greedy the oil industry can be, who don´t care about human life as much as making money. Even though this is a faith based film you don´t really feel like they are pushing faith on to you, that this is important for Sarah and her family but they treat everyone equal. I find the costume design matching with the early 1900´s and the same thing regarding different locations manage to capture the time period well. Sarah´s Oil could inspire many young women worldwide to follow their dreams, because if a black young girl in the early 1900´s could buy a property ( when racism was a big issue ), then other young women can follow their dreams in modern days as well. Sarah´s Oil is a beautiful looking film, with solid acting performances and should fit well with families of different ages. Director Cyrus Nowrasteh ( who directed the 2008 powerful drama film The Stoning Of Soraya M. ) proves once more why he is so good at telling dramatic stories and this is a worthy watch.

Rating: DDD

Coyotes

Sometimes you come across an actor that you remember from a certain film, where the actor or actress made a certain impact on you. It could the way that person acts infront of a camera or have a certain looks that matches well with the character. One actor that comes to my mind is the actor known as Justin Long who have made quite a lot of films over the years. However, when i think about Justin Long i have a personal favourite film simply because it is so bizarre and very entertaining. And that is the 2014 horror comedy known as Tusk from director Kevin Smith. This has to be one of the most bizarre cinema releases of the year of 2014, and let me be honest and say this is not a film for everyone. This is a really weird story about a podcaster named Wallace Bryton ( played by Justin Long ) who see a very bizarre advert and decide to visit the man who wrote it. The man is called Howard Howke ( played by legendary actor Michael Parks ) who seems to have lived a life full of adventures around the world. This will be a perfect story for Wallace to tell on the podcast as he prepare to interview this older gentleman. What he doesn´t know is that Howard have a completely different plan than just an ordinary interview. Tusk is one of those films that will divide people because it is so bizarre. I personally love bizzare horror comedies and this turned out to be a very positive surprise. I feel that this is one of the films i enjoyed actor Justin Long most in his filmography and his screen presence together with actor Michael Parks. If you love bizarre movies just like me you have to watch Tusk, no matter if you rent it on digital, buy a physical copy or watch it on streaming. If you do buy a physical copy of Tusk listen to the commentary track by director Kevin Smith. Over the years i noticed that Justin Long have been in several films i have not checked out yet, so last year his latest film called Coyotes was released at Fantastic Fest 2025 in Austin, Texas. I did not visit the festival ( i would like to at some point ) but i did rent Coyotes on digital instead. Since i am a fan of old school animal horror films is this worth or watch, or is Coyotes not a film that turned out to be that good?

Scott ( Justin Long ) with his wife Liv ( Kate Bosworth ) and their teenage daughter Chloe ( Mila Harris ) is living a good life in their Hollywood Hills home until a big storm breaks out, shuts down all elecrticity and a big tree fall over their car. That might seem like one big issue, but their biggest problem is that coyotes are spreading across Hollywood Hills looking for food.

I have seen a lot of animal horror films over 30 years in everything from animal horror comedies to more traditional horror films with animals included. I appreciate the effort using animals if the film itself have a fun plot or at least good characters. In the case of Coyotes i can say this film is a bit of a mixed bag for me, and there is especially one detail i feel doesn´t work at all. Let´s get to the positive first and i do feel that the characters of this film manage to work, especially the chemistry between the three main characters Scott, Liv and Chloe playes by actors Justin Long, Kate Bosworth and Mila Harris. Considering this is supposed to be a family i feel that the acting performances feel natural within a family portrait. Even if you know that this family doesn´t always get along i think this is good, not showing a fake image of the perfect American family. The coyotes themselves doesn´t look competely terrible considering they are CGI animals. Trust me, i have seen terrible CGI animals in the past ( anyone remember The Asylum animal horror film Battledogs ? ) and when it looks bad you lose interest in the film. So the fact that these coyotes doesn´t look too bad is actually positive. If you are going to make an animal horror film you have to make the animals look descent at least to work with the horror story. I do like the character of Julie playes by actress Brittany Allen ( who you might recognize from TV series Dexter: Original Sin ) and her wild personality. I have to mention actor Keir O´Donnell as the rat killer Devon, at least have some charming scenes. Ok, so we have to talk about one big issue with this film and that is the attempt of comedy scenes. This is not a funny horror comedy at all and i did not laugh much at all, which i feel is a failure if you planned to make a funny horror comedy. What actually works in Coyotes is the horror scenes, so on that part of the film i can´t really complain. At the end of the day this is actually what made me enjoy this film for being a simple but effective animal horror film. Does this film have flaws? Yes, but i can actually look past this and just enjoy this film for what it was trying to do bring back old school animal horror films. Director Colin Minihan ( director of the great sci fi horror film Extraterrestrial, worth checking out ) have made a simple yet effective horror film if you just want something easy to watch. If you love animals and if you love horror movies combined, Coyotes could be something you might appreciate.

Ratin: DDD

Frankenstein

It was early January of the year 1995 and i had just bought my ticket for the Swedish premiere weekend of Mary Shelley´s Frankenstein film, directed by Kenneth Branagh. I had been reading about this film in movie magazines in 1994, with very detailed interviews with director Kenneth Branagh himself and he explained why he was so passionate telling this classic story. I even remember a TV special by MTV At The Movies talking about this film. Based on the novel Frankenstein by British author Mary Shelley, the 1994 movie adaptation of the book is one version of the classic book but visually a bit different. The film tell the story of scientist Victor Frankenstein, who is obsessed by the idea that you can bring life into a dead body. While he is trying to figure out how he could possibly use a dead human and create a whole new life through his medical knowledge, he uses one man´s body while giving this body another person´s brain to be able to bring back this body to life. He experiement of bringing new life succeed and he have created a new beast, but things does not go as he have planned. The beast escapes and nothing will ever be the same again. I remember enjoying this film adaptation back in 1995 and what i especially enjoyed was the performance of legendary actor Robert De Niro as The Creature. Looking back at this film today i might feel differently about it, because i remember the last time i watched this film on DVD about 10 years ago i did feel that it has not aged well. There are parts of the film i remember enjoying, while there are some details i feel could have been improved. If you do want to watch this film in a special release, you should get the 4kUltraHD release of Mary Shelley´s Frankenstein from Arrow Video that includes some nice special features. Well known horror director Guillermo del Toro, who directed films such as Mimic, The Devil´s Backbone, Blade 2, Hellboy and others, had talked about making a film version or Mary Shelley´s Frankenstein all the way back in 2007. In 2023 he was finally able to get the project of Frankenstein revived by Netflix. So, late last year the Netflix film Frankenstein finally landed on the streaming service and being a huge fan of director Guillermo del Toro of course i had to see this film. Is this the best movie adaptation so far of the classic horror novel or did they fail not delivering what fans of the novel was hoping for?

In 1857, Horisont, a Royal Danish Navy ship sailing to the north pole, becomes trapped in ice. Alerted to an explosion in a distance, Captain Anderson ( Lars Mikkelsen ) and his men discover a gravely injured Victor Frankenstein ( Oscar Isaac ). Upon bringing him aboard, the crew is attacked by an uknown creature who demand to see Victor. Captain Andersson manage to get the creature sinking on the ice, but Victor warns that the creature will return. It is on board this ship that Victor tell the story of how he created this beast.

I had a feeling that this version of Frankenstein would be unique considering the previous brilliant work of director Guillermo del Toro, and that feeling turned out to be true. This is exactly what i was hoping a classic story should be told. This is a very majestic film with really beautiful cinematography by Danish cinematographer Dan Laustsen ( who also worked on films such as the 2006 horror film adaptation of Silent Hill ), amazing costume design by Kate Hawley ( who worked as a costume designer on two previous film of director Guillermo del Toro ) and the fact that this film uses practical make up effects is without a doubt one of the true highlights when we see the creature being created. If you are going to tell a classic story such as Frankenstein you have to do it with a lot of passion for the source material. And that is something i can tell that Guillermo really wanted to tell his vision of Frankenstein while keeping some classic ingredients. The acting is just as powerful as you might have expected and lead actor Oscar Isaac ( who you should see in the 2014 gangster crime drama film A Most Violent Year ) as the scientist Victor Frankenstein. The way that Oscar portrait this character is fascinating to see. Some might call him a complete maniac being so fascinated in death, but at the same time he is clearly very intelligent within medical knowledge. His relationship to The Creature really capture the essence of the classic story where actor Jacob Elordi portrait the creature really powerful. You may ask yourself should we experiment with death or accept the ways of nature? Actress Mia Goth does another really solid acting performance as Lady Elizabeth and have such a smooth screen presence. The creature design is really well constructed by practical make up effects and matches really well with the storyline. If you love classic horror stories but appreciate the previous work of Guillermo del Toro then you will definetely not be disappointed. He really knows how to tell such a classic tale in his own unique way adding his magical touches of film making. Frankenstein from director Guillermo del Toro is the best version i have seen so far of this classic horror story and will hopefully inspire film makers to work more with practical make up effects in the future. A must watch on Netflix.

Rating: DDDD

The Elixir

If there is one genre within the horror community that struggles coming up with new ideas it is without a doubt zombie horror films. I have seen so many different kinds of zombie releases over the years that it´s hard too remember certain films. The ones i usually don´t remember is because they look very similar to classic zombie films and have no bigger surprises to offer, but then we have films that actually manage to bring in something different to the story. It could be a completely different location, inside a very unique building or even inside an airplane up in the sky. Zombie films have really explored many different stories and sometimes you get a very unexpected surprise that proves this genre still have much to deliver. And that is exactly whay the South Korean zombie horror film Train To Busan did back in 2016, directed by Yeon Sang-ho ( who is also the director of the animated prequel Seoul Station ). What made Train To Busan such a effective horror film ( outside the brilliant acting performances from the cast ) was the set up of how to deal with a zombie outbreak on board a train. Now, if you love lots of blood and lots of zombies, let me tell you that this is definetely the film for you. Train To Busan manage to show respect to zombie classics from the past while adding some refreshing details that this genre needed. In some ways you could call this the zombie version of the 1995 action film Under Siege 2 - Dark Territory but without action star Steven Seagal, much better action scenes plus much better acting as well. Definetely worth picking up on physical media or rent this film on VOD unless it is streaming somewhere. Last year an Indonesian zombie horror film called The Elixir was released on Netflix which i discovered thanks to the YouTube movie reviewer Sinister Cinema Reviews. Since i am a fan of zombie films in general i thought this could be interesting to watch. Is this one of the horror films you should watch in early 2026 or is The Elixir nowhere near as good as i was hoping it would be?

A brand new herbal medicine that is just being tested is said to make you look younger, until the owner of one of the factories producing it tries it on himself. It may make him look younger for a short moment of time but it will actually transform him into an infected dead savage.

If you for any reason don´t like zombie horror films then i can tell you right now, you will not like this film at all. This is a very traditional zombie film in several ways, but what makes it stand out a little bit is that these zombies were infected by someone who used a new herbal medicine that is supposed to make you look younger. I think this is a good idea considering we don´t know what some medicines really contain out there, we may not get all the right information always. The fact that this herbal medicine causes a zombie invasion turns out to be effective into the plot of this film, especially surrounding a family fighting against each other. Now, when it comes to the zombies themselves i will say they do a pretty good job. They look creepy, you get to see them eat human flesh with practical effects ( quite gory scenes which i really appreciate ) they run really fast and how they react when is raining is interesting. I don´t think i have ever seen a zombie film where we see zombies standing in the rain like it makes them feel relaxed. The plot of The Elixir is pretty simple, this is basically a film that gives a clear message of how important it is to care for each other in your family, because you never know when the time comes when we have to say goodbye. The acting in general is actually pretty good and i especially like the screen chemistry between female actors Mikha Tambayong and Eva Celia as the characters Kenes and Karina, who used to be best friends. There are some well made horror scenes in this film where we get to see zombies attack from different locations and different buildings. If i have to mention something negative i would probably say this film could have used the herb medicine story more effectively, and digged deeper into it´s background. We do find out a little bit, but for some reason it feels like this part of the story wasn´t developed that much. In general i would say The Elixir is a well made horror zombie film and should please you if you enjoy this genre. Director Kimo Stamboel ( director of the 2009 Indonesian horror hit Macabre ) clearly knows what fans of this genre want and have made a good looking zombie film. If you just want a simple horror film on Netflix, this could be a great choice and The Elixir is without a doubt worth checking out.

Rating: DDD

The Job

As long as i can remember i have always been a fan of short films. For example when i visited Film Fest Sundsvall 2020 ( a film festival in the city of Sundsvall in Sweden ) i got to see Swedish short films of director´s i have never heard of. What´s exciting about this is that you get to see film makers telling many different stories, and introduce actors who you have not seen before as well. Since this film festival was supposed to be in March in that year because of the pandemic it was moved to September and they still managed to pull this off following certain rules. At this film festival i decided to watch the Swedish short film Var Är Vargen? ( Where Is The Wolf? ) from director Jonathan Norberg. This turned out to be a very interesting short film telling the story of a grandmother Gunilla ( really well acted by actress Riitta Nilsson ) spending time with her granddaughter Sofia ( Lowa Jonsson ). You get a sense that Gunilla may have some problems with her memory and seem kind of lost at times, could she have dementia? One day she decides to leave Sofia at her house watching the dog, so she can go to a graveyard and bring flowers to a specifc grave. When she drives back she suddenly hit something with her car. It looks like she hit her granddaughter Sofia with her car. Completely devastated not knowing what to do, she have to figure out what she should do from here. Var Är Vargen? ( Where Is The Wolf? ) is a very well directed short film by director Jonathan Norberg and what i especially enjoyed about this short film is that you have to figure out yourself what is true or not regarding the granddaughter. Did she really die or did something else happen during this time period? This short film was actually filmed not that far away from where i live here in the north of  Sweden so that made this short film fascinating, capturing the beautiful nature around these areas. You can watch this short film on Vimeo if you want to check it out. Not that long ago i was asked by a respected film producer in America if i could review a short film called The Job. Of course i never turn down when someone ask me to review something special, and to be honest i have not seen a lot of short films since last year ( mostly full feature films ). Is this a short film you should take the time to watch or is The Job not as good as i was hoping it would be?

While going for a job interview, Todd ( LeJon ) is dealing with a lot of personal struggles in his life. As he arrives to the location where the job interview will be held, he discover that this is no ordinary job interview.

Since i didn´t know anything about the plot of The Job before i watched it, that made everything a little bit more exciting not knowing any details. This is basically a short film that tries to show us how AI can make us aware of our own fragility. How would you react if you find out that AI pretty much know everything about your life, and tries to tell you what you should do during a job interview using a completely unrealted method than we are used to see? Very different concept than i have seen before for a short film story and this is definetely a science fiction story that should let the viewer ask several questions. Should we accept that AI know this many details about our privacy? Should we allow AI to operate job interviews instead of a living human being? There are a couple of other questions that came to my mind while watching this fascinating short film, but let´s get into the characters for a bit. Actor LeJon playing the character known as Todd is a man who clearly struggling from trauma dealing with a lot of pain, while he really needs to get a job. I feel that LeJon manage to capture the personality of Todd in a realistic way, how someone in his life situation might react. The AI bot Athena 42.0 is played by actress Dawna Lee Heising ( who i have seen in several full feature films and short films, i did review her short film Down And Out In Vampire Hills in this blog ) is a fascinating character. Dawna manage to portrait this AI bot character that makes it feel like this is not a human being talking, this feels like a bot but almost seems programmed to know exactly what to say. I feel that the screen chemistry between LeJon and Dawna Lee Heising works well and you get a sense that this is how a futuristic job interview could look like. Director Craig Railsback have made a good looking short film with The Job and bring some interesting subjects worth discussing. If you love intelligent told science fiction stories, this should definetely be a short film you would be interested in.

Rating: DDD

Black Phone 2

When i have discussions with horror fans over the world online, you can tell how different opinions people have regarding certain films. And i love that we don´t have to agree on everything, it is ok that we have different opinions regarding horror films. I remember specifically back in 2014 i was having a discussion about a horror release known as Mr. Jones from director Karl Muller. Why we brought this specific film up was because this film seemed to divide so many horror fans. Some really enjoyed it while others felt like it was a missed oppurtunity for an interesting found footage horror film. Personally i enjoyed the film, especially the strange wooden figures in the film that keep showing up in certain scenes and the mystery regarding Mr. Jones. In some ways i wonder if director Karl Muller found himself inspired by the 1999 found footage horror classic The Blair Witch Project while making Mr. Jones. Either way worth a watch if you are a fan of this genre. Speaking of horror films one director who have really made a positive impact in the horror community is the director known as Scott Derrickson. With really good horror films such as The Exporcism Of Emily Rose and of course his most beloved film Sinister, he have really found his fan base through excellent films. Deliver Us From Evil turned out to be a good film as well and i really enjoyed the special features on the blu ray release. Such a great commentary track where they tell very important details regarding the making of this film. It was in 2021 when director Scott Derrickson really surprised me with his film The Black Phone, a film that was highly praised by both movie critics and audiences as well. I did not see this film in cinema but i did rent it on digital when it was released. A very well made psychological horror film set in the 70´s with a brilliant performance by actor Ethan Hawke as The Grabber. What made The Black Phone so different from most horror films this year was how we got a look inside the mind of a very disturbed individual, while the film also captured the feeling of how vulnerable children are in very disturbing scenarios. A must watch if you have not seen it. After the success of the first film it was announced a sequel was going to be made. So here we are with a sequel and director Scott Derrickson did direct this film as well. Considering how good the first film turned out to be, is this sequel almost as good or is this just a desperate cash grab to sell tickets in cinemas?

In 1982, four years after Finney Blake ( Mason Thames ) killed the Grabber ( Ethan Hawke ), his sister Gwen ( Madeleine McGraw ) begins having dreams where she sees murders that happened at Alpine Lake Camp in 1957. During one, she recieves a call from her mother Hope ( Anna Lore ), who at the time of the 1957 murders was having similar dreams. Gwen convinces Finney and Ernesto ( Miguel Mora ), the brother of the late Robin Arellano, to travel to Alpine Lake Camp to investigate what Gewn´s dreams might mean. On the second night, Finney recieves a call on the camp´s dead payphone, this time from the Grabber. Speaking from death, the Grabber vows revenge.

Making a sequel to a film such as The Black Phone was not going to be easy. It was on my list of the best films of the year 2021 so my expectations were pretty high if im being honest. Now, i already knew we were going to be in good hands since director Scott Derrickson returned to direct this film. And i can happily say this is a solid horror film, but is it as good as the first one? Im going to give you my own opinion and say:- Not exactly as good as the first one but still good. So let me dig deeper into what i feel about Black Phone 2 and what makes this film work. The time period of the 80´s is captured well in this film. Everything from costume design to the decortated homes that we see, it feels like we are in the 1980´s and im grateful they tried to capture this through certain details. To me this is very important if you make a film set in the past, you have to be able to make it feel like they make it look like the right time period. One thing i noticed with this sequel is that this film really feels inspired by A Nightmare On Elm Street, in the sense that we get dream sequences that reminded me of Freddy Krueger ( played by iconic horror legend Robert Englund ) and how he was able to attack his victims. These scenes are cleverly constructed into the plot and they do look good as well, We do see The Grabber ( played once more with another really strong performance by Ethan Hawke ) return and i have to say in this film we get a whole different perspective on this character. I think this was a good idea not repeating the first film too much and go in a different direction. The actors Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw both give strong performances in Black Phone 2 and i do love their chemistry on the big screen. The one thing i feel that this film may not have as the first film is the same strong psychological horror level, you can feel it but it does not feel as powerful as it did in the first film. With that said this is still one of the better horror releases of 2025 and should be seen on digital or physical media. Black Phone 2 show that you can make a great sequel if you know how to tell a disturbing story, in a fascinating way. Im definetely getting a physical copy and so should you.

Rating: DDD

Ice Road: Vengeance

During the winter of 1990 i had a Patrick Swayze night at the home of The Robertsson family in my hometown. The father in this family named Janne had rented 2 of Patrick Swayze´s film on VHS which was Road House and another film called Next Of Kin. Road House i had already heard about on MTV and i believe a group of school girls from my class used to have posters of Patrick Swayze film Road House on their locker. We did watch this film first and we enjoyed it. It is a very simple film to be honest but if you enjoy 80´s action with a good sense of humour then this film bring some enjoyable moments. When it comes to Next Of Kin i had never heard about this film before. It turned out to be a completely different film compared to Road House, i guess you could call this film an action drama thriller combined. It was alright for being a Patrick Swayze film, but what really made this film stand out was the rest of the cast with names such as Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, Adam Baldwin, a very young Ben Stiller and especially Liam Neeson. This was actually the first film i watched ever with Liam Neeson before i saw him in Darkman ( which is a brilliant 90´s action horror film ). Since then i have seen a lot of films with actor Liam Neeson over the years in everything from action, thrillers and drama films. Of course ever since his 2008 action film Taken he have made a lot of similar movies in this genre, or at least made lower budget action films. While some of the films are entertaining there are some films that are pretty forgettable. One film that worked though is called The Ice Road from director Jonathan Hensleigh which was released during the pandemic. The story is very simple, truck driver Mike McCann ( Liam Neeson ) takes care of his brother Gurty McCann ( Marcus Thomas ), an Iraq war veteran suffering from PTSD and aphasia. Mike is in need of a new job and get an oppurtinuty when another trucker, Jim Goldenrod ( Laurence Fishburne ), decides to accept a job driving to a mine in Manitoba, Cananda. 26 miners are trapped in there and they need wellheads to the mine. They decide to drive through the most dangerous road known as The Ice Road. What could have been a smooth mission is about to become much more complicated. This is a traditional action film in the same spirit of the 1998 truck action Patrick Swayze classic Black Dog, except lots of snow and ice instead. If you just want an old school action film i think The Ice Road is completely fine. I had no idea a sequel was coming out last year but here we are, and Liam Neeson returns as well in Ice Road Vengeance. Is this a solid sequel to the first film or is this a desperate attempt just to cash in money on the name of Liam Neeson?

Ice-road trucker Mike McCann ( Liam Neeson ), who unfortunately lost his beloved brother Gurty McCann ( Marcus Thomas ) on his mission on The Ice Road a couple of years ago, is struggling to function in ordinary day life. The final wish his brother Gurty had was he wanted his ashes to be scattered on the top of Mount Everest. Mike decides to travel to Nepal to make his brother´s last wish come true. While he arrives and get on a tourist bus, little do the passengers know that they are about to have a very rough ride up into the mountains.

Those who have followed my movie reviews over the years may remember i have pointed out several times, if you are making a sequel to a film try and do something different than the original film and that is actually the case of Ice Road: Vengeance. While the first film was more about a work mission regarding trucks, this sequel is more like a kidnapping action film that includes buses and cars instead up in the mountains of Nepal. The fact that they choosed to make this film in another country is of course positive, instead of just making a sequel taking place in the same environment. I also appreciate seeing the main character Mike McCann ( once again played by actor Liam Neeson ) in a completely different scenario than the first film. When it comes to the acting of Ice Road: Vengeance it is about as exciting as hearing certain actors saying dialogue like watching a snail crossing the road. Liam Neeson may not give a powerful performance but he is the highlight of this film. It is too bad they didn´t attempt to try making several other characters more interesting. I swear once you have seen this film there are not many characters you will remember, simply because they leave no impact at all. The most positive i can say is that some of the action scenes have a few fun moments. The rest of the film is a very basic action film as if they wanted to do something similar to VHS action movies of the 90´s. With stronger characters and a little more effort into the dialogue this could have been a fun film. What we are left with is an action film that you don´t feel have much to offer, unless you love a very simple plot and don´t care about the acting. Ice Road: Vengeance is not as terrible as it could have been, i appreciate the effort trying to make a sequel that looks different. Too bad director Jonathan Hensleigh didn´t focus more on certain details for this sequel, because i actually enjoyed The Ice Road that he directed in 2021. If you are a fan of the first The Ice Road film you might still have fun with this sequel, as long as you don´t have too high expectations. Liam Neeson is a solid action star, but he can´t make this film good enough with his screen presence when other details causes problems.

Rating: DD