Liam Neeson’s starrer film, The Ice Road, is about a rescue mission to save miners trapped in an underground mine. The actor gears up as a truck driver traveling through the coldest regions of North America. But the path isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. Three heavyweight trucks ride over frozen man-made lake roads that are less than 30 inches thick. In short, this trek is not only dangerous but could be described as a suicide mission. Will the protagonist be able to save the miners trapped in the Katka Diamond mine? Let’s see-through
Plot Summary
Inside Katka Diamond’s mine (432 miles below the arctic circle), a methane pocket explodes. The tunnel collapses, thereby trapping the 26 miners inside. The miners can not be rescued until the methane gas is drilled and capped. The mine owners deduce that to drill and cap a methane pocket, they need a 30-ton gas wellhead. But such heavy machinery cannot airlift, and there is no runaway at Katka to land a cargo transport plane (C-130). Payloads of such nature have to go by truck.
In North Dakota, Truck driver Mike McCann (Liam Neeson) and his mechanic brother Gurty (Marcus Thomas) struggle to find a permanent job. Gurty is an ex-war veteran suffering from Aphasia (injured during the Iraq war). Due to Gurty’s illness and attitude, Mike often lands into bouts with others to safeguard his brother. Unemployed, Mike learns about Jim Goldenrod’s truck payload to Katka, and without wasting a moment, reaches Winnipeg.
Charmed by Gurty’s skills, Goldenrod hires Mike and Gurty for the job. Goldenrod arranges three trucks loaded with 18feet long and 25 ton heavy wellheads. Each gig has tactical redundancy. In simple words, even if one truck reaches Katka before the oxygen in the mine exhausts, then the miners’ lives will be saved.
But to reach Katka mine, they need to cross the ice roads in April (summer), which means the ice road can thaw anytime. The three trucks throttle towards a suicide mission to rescue miners from the Katka Diamond mine.
‘The Ice Road’ Ending Explained
The manager inside the mine discovered that the miners purposely shut down gas sensors. They cut the sensors because the owners pleaded that the new-quotas were heavy on their pockets and couldn’t afford a shutdown. The management convinced the miners that there was no chance of gas pockets this far north. They even paid 100 dollars per man per month to keep the work inflow and keep miners’ mouths shut.
Tom Varnay from Katka International joined the three trucks headed to Katka mine. On the journey, he sabotaged the rescue mission. Firstly, he filled Goldenrod’s truck with gasoline that seized his engines. A sudden halt on the frozen lake thawed the ice below, swallowing the truck to the depths of water. Varnay falsely blamed Tantoo for the act, and Mike took the bait. Varnay left with a shackled Tantoo. Mike’s fleet got destroyed as well, but fortunately, he saved the truck.
Katka International deliberately sabotaged the mission because if the miners would have come out alive, then there would be an inquiry. An investigation would have revealed their corrupt practices, thereby shutting down the mine and the company.
In a chase and run action sequence, Mike successfully delivered Tantoo’s payload to Katka mine. But in the journey, Mike lost his beloved brother, Gurty. The miners’ lives were saved, and Katka International was exposed for its crimes. The media and ministers finally discovered that Katka International paid the miners to shut off their sensors to increase productivity at the expense of human lives.
Mike was paid the promised amount for the successful delivery of the payload. 3 months later, Tantoo took over Jim Goldenrod’s truck workshop and started working there. Mike bought a brand-new Kenworth truck from Katka’s payload check. He finally got rid of punching time clocks and odd jobs and became his own boss. Mike dedicated his truck to his late brother, Gurty, by naming it “Trk Trk Trk” (the name suggested by Gurty during their Katka mission). Goldenrod had suggested that the truck’s name should be sacred, and for Mike, nothing was more sacred than his late brother.
The Ice Road is a 2021 Action Adventures film written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh. It stars Liam Neeson in the lead role.
