Review: Liam Neeson's back, fighting on thin ice (literally)

He's mastered trains, planes, snowplows — and now Liam Neeson is back as a long-haul trucker in “The Ice Road,” the latest in the actor's vehicular canon

It's intriguing to imagine Liam Neeson's management team, contemplating his next film. Perhaps “Uber Express”? Maybe “Lyfted Up”? There’s just something symbiotic about Neeson and vehicles — not only cars, but planes (“Non-Stop”), suburban commuter trains (“The Commuter”), even snowplows (“Cold Pursuit”). And now in “The Ice Road,” this durable action hero improbably pushing 70 is at the wheel of a big ol' truck — not your normal truck, but a 65,000-pound rig. And not on regular roads, of course. On ice roads, meaning frozen lakes or oceans, where the spring thaw brings treacherous conditions and one wrong move sends you straight into the freezing abyss. Luckily, Neeson has a way of lending his rough-hewn dignity to even the most perfunctory of plots — because this one, it must be said, is perfunctory. All you need to understand are three elements: Good guys, bad guys — no subtlety here — and the fact that ice is very slippery, very cold, and has a tendency to melt in sunshine. Got it?