WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Ice Road, now streaming on Netflix.
In The Ice Road, Liam Neeson’s Mike is faced with many obstacles in trucking rescue equipment across Canada to a Manitoba mine. The trapped workers are running out of oxygen after an explosion and cave-in. However, it gets even more complicated because apart from the freezing terrain cracking apart, he’s got the sinister Varnay (Benjamin Walker) trying to sabotage the mission. As Mike combats these threats, a few plot holes develop that derail his journey.
Culling the Miners
The company, Katka, bribed workers to turn off methane sensors as they didn’t want to stop drilling, even in dangerous territory. When the truth comes out, civil war erupts. This encourages one of the sinister workers to propose killing the injured ones. It’ll offer them more oxygen, so he clangs on the pipes to send an SOS up top. However, other rescue workers, not just the man who paid them off, hear this plan, so it defeats the purpose of it being kept secret. Once a genocide leaks out, it should tip over all the dominoes. That said, the good rescue workers don’t even send a message back to stop the madness down below.
Varnay Frames Tantoo
Varnay wants the trucks to fail, so the miners die, and Katka’s secrets are kept. Ergo why he pushes the narrative that Tantoo sabotaged Goldenrod’s rig and caused his death. He even brings up her criminal past, which causes Mike and his brother, Gurty, to radio the base to find out if she actually has a brother named Cody trapped in the mine.
Varnay, though, shouldn’t have allowed this as Goldenrod’s dispatch team would know the truth. Goldenrod already vouched for her as she’s like a daughter, plus her mission has been public since she was hired: save Cody. This should have been corroborated on the spot by dispatch. Had they been patched through to Katka one time, Varnay’s plan would have been shot.
The Explosive Ice Road
When Varnay realizes Mike and Gurty may get word back about Tantoo’s brother, he locks them in their rig as they go looking for equipment to push the stalled rigs alone. He leaves dynamite to explode before speeding off in Tantoo’s truck, only for the brothers to break out. Although, instead of cutting the wick, they toss it away. However, it’s tossed onto the already cracking ice road. When it blows up, nothing happens, even though it’s stated before that the road is fragile. The bomb should have opened up more cracks per what Goldenrod said prior.
Varnay Keeping Tantoo Hostage
Varnay knows Tantoo’s an ex-criminal and a dangerous one at that, yet he keeps her up front, where she could easily have fought back. The fact she’s awake and seeing him meeting conspirators later on basically sells his plans out even more. He already knew where to toss Mike and Gurty, so this would have been more consistent with Varnay’s methods. It’s all done to facilitate an easy escape once she goes free, which inevitably occurs.
The Rescue Mission
Katka’s drilling team wants the equipment from the truckers so wellheads can be used to cap the methane pocket. Then, they can blast in and rescue the trapped workers. However, there’s a major issue with this. If the sensors were switched off all this time, Katka would only know about this one pocket. Therefore, they could encounter new pockets while drilling and cause new explosions. The purpose of the sensors was to create a map where to venture, but The Ice Road magically has the rescue team not needing to know where other potential methane pockets could exist for the sake of plot convenience.
The Teleporting Varnay
When Varnay and Mike fight on a rig in The Ice Road‘s finale, Varnay’s left hanging on the side of the truck. However, there’s no grating to hold onto. As Mike watches him in the side mirror, it should be a matter of seconds before he falls off. Yet, Varnay appears on the other side in the blink of an eye, trying to get through the passenger window.
There’s no way Mike wouldn’t have seen him climb over the top. The fact it’s done in seconds on a rig moving at a decent speed could only be achieved if Varnay has teleportation powers. What’s even worse is that Mike doesn’t see his enemy on the move while looking into a giant mirror.
Starring Liam Neeson, Marcus Thomas, Amber Midthunder, Benjamin Walker, Holt McCallany and Laurence Fishburne, The Ice Road is now streaming on Netflix.
About The Author
