Just what I expected

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This film basically takes the hypotheses as to what can happen when the northern icepack melts and runs with them. We are already post 2020 and the rising temperatures in Southern Europe have already made those areas uninhabitable, sparking massive migration northwards (sound familiar?). And out of fear that services and resources will be overwhelmed, drastic immigration controls are imposed in the UK. So the Artic region is already under threat and to exacerbate this the Halo energy giant intends to drill to supply the world's spiraling energy demand. Richard Roxburgh warns that the drilling will speed up the melting and dump millions of gallons of cold fresh water into the North Atlantic, with dire effects on the Gulf Stream that warms the region. Sam Neill can only see things from his limited global energy perspective and employs talented lawyer Frances O'Connor to maintain the status quo. But in good ole 'big business' tradition, when she also starts getting suspicious, the fight gets dirtier. Being a hands on guy who limits the number of people allowed to be in on the dirty tricks, Neill is on the rig when the inevitable happens. The icepack cracks and melts, dumping all the fresh water, the Gulf Stream breaks down and a new Ice Age hits Northern Europe. Very ironically, the northern Europeans now have to migrate south, where the drought devastated lands will presumably be more amenable to human habitation once more. Amid the chaos, Roxburgh and his new ally O'Connor, hasten to reunite with his family, who have gone to London to free his wife, who was carted off by the immigration authorities (presumably at Neill's instigation). We have environmentalists who are studying polar bears and come to the rescue, London thugs who have armed themselves to exploit the situation, and a grandfather who makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the rest of the family. All in all it presents a convincing picture of 'what if' that is comparable to the film "The Day After Tomorrow", though arguably a lot more realistic, as it doesn't depend on abnormally extreme weather for its action, but simply a natural chain of events that have catastrophic consequences.

Leave your thinking-cap off. Whoever wrote the screenplay didn't have much of a clue about cold weather. As a Canadian, I doubt that these characters would be so immune to the cold on the Greenland Ice Cap and in "minus 40" (Celsius) weather, when London gets frozen over with ice.A family struggles to get together, (by sheer coincidences, in most cases), with a crisis every ten to fifteen minutes, (for TV commercial breaks), and mindlessly finds a way to escape every peril, (whether an airplane crashes or a building collapses). It's "The Day After" and "Earthquake" and every other disaster movie, with every trope played out by a half dozen characters, again and again.It's "green" propaganda at its worst. An oil company drilling rig searching for oil in Greenland knocks the Ice Cap into the ocean, stops the Gulf Stream Current, and begins a rise in the ocean level. Millions will perish, (as environmental disasters already have wiped out a few countries, by 2020); but, the important thing is this "family" being reunited. Oh, yes, and the polar bear researchers; let's not forget about them, (as, by coincidence, they come to the rescue, and provide an airplane, to keep this roller-coaster going), 'cause polar bears are an important part of the environmental propaganda.SPOILER WARNING.After two episodes, or one very long watch, one understands why roller-coaster rides only last a few minutes; it's not the need for toilet breaks, but the tedium that sets in after rounding the same track,again and again and again. Mercifully, (spoiler), there wasn't a family pet that needed to be rescued, (again and again); so I'll give this frozen turkey one star.

Well, with this being a TV movie in mind, then "Ice" wasn't actually all that bad. But it was no "The Day After Tomorrow" either, although it essentially is the same.Storywise, then "Ice" did prove to be entertaining enough, although the movie was somewhat suffering from being predictable and stereotypical. But take it for what it is, and the movie is fun and enjoyable in itself.Effect-wise, well then "Ice" doesn't impress. The CGI were adequate enough, but what made the movie suffer was the horribly fake movie snow that was used in almost all scenes that involved snow, and the equally fake ice walls shown in the crevasse. It was so fake that even a blind person would point a finger and laugh. Seriously, despite being from 2011, the effects were better than such even back then.As for the people on the cast list, well they did good enough jobs with their given roles. People brought a good amount of enthusiasm and energy to the movie and their characters, which made the movie turn out to be more enjoyable.A lot of the scenes towards the end of the movie was starting to become too much, especially the amounts of snow that apparently had fallen in record time, and the degrees that they said were outside, yet the main characters were able to withstand that cold in thin clothing, and not a single hint of ice on their bodies. It was like time was running out and they had to wrap up the movie fast and efficiently. And that just made it seemed rushed and not believable in any way."Ice" does manage to raise something interesting to think about, such as man's constant quest for fossil fuel, man's disregard for the ecology of the world in which we live, and the heartless nature of the corporate giants. If you are one of those environmental concerned people, then this movie does manage to plant a seed for thought. So "Ice" does entertain and leave you with something once the end credits start to roll.

It's too bad that Ice fails so miserably on all fronts when it comes to being in any way convincing. The resources and the potential was there, but were so terribly misused.While watching it tonight I found myself registering unrealistic scenarios and situations rather than watching it as the environmental thriller it was supposed to be. It seems to have had nice resources and both sets and effects are actually OK. Acting isn't great, but on the other hand not worse than seen in many other of these mini-series.But the disaster and its results? A true disaster!One single oil drill puncturing hot vents under the inland ice, which then melts in a matter of hours? Really? Has anybody ever looked at the amount of energy it takes to melt ice? The inland ice on Greenland being kilometers thick and the size of... well, Greenland. I'd say decades rather than hours, even with hot vents.The inland ice cracking like an eggshell. Really? Again... it's kilometers thick. It doesn't crack like inch-thick ice on your local lake.The legal consultant constantly being in the lab and on the drill rig in Greenland and not in some nice, warm office in the center of London? Really? A paper-pusher and desk jockey like her would never need to go there to do her job.The boss of all bosses trying to drive the giant rig on belts out of the danger zone? Really? He might go there to be present during the crisis, but being able to operate the rig... hardly.The professor and the legal consultant examining the ice (what's she doing there at all?) and then swimming under the ice to a nearby hole, and not only surviving that, but also being able to fight off the armed guy wanting to kill them, survive a fall over a cliff on a ski-doo AND walk back to the station through the snow storm at night. And the only damage is a pair of frost-bitten fingers - which get saved by an Asian scientist who BTW is miraculously present with a colleague and rescues them as they crawl "over the edge" of the inland ice. Really?And that's only in the first episode.In the second and final episode London freezes to minus 40 deg. C in a matter of hours and our heroes fly out of the Arctic and to England in a small one-engine plane in a constant blizzard, crash land (conveniently near the M1 just outside London) and crawl out of the shattered and burning plane - unharmed of course - all while the professor's family frees his wife who has been imprisoned in London for being an illegal immigrant, as an American citizen married to a Brit. They of course get trapped under the glacier forming as a result of the "instant ice age". Over them it threatens to flatten the whole building and covers it several floors up, while the same snow leaves the rest of London as a snow covered fairytale landscape with all houses visible. Of course they manage to burn their way out by breaking the gas pipes and setting fire to the gas - using the broken bulb in a flashlight. Really?Meanwhile the professor and the lawyer are walking through snow covered London (in full arctic gear AND snowshoes. They crashed with a plane just before, remember?). The only people they meet shoot at them for no obvious reason. Really?And finally the family slides down the snow on the side of the tall building, chased by an avalanche, but winds up right in Dad's arms. Happy reunion, all alone in London, the 7.5 million Londoners mysteriously gone. The clouds part, the sun breaks through. Let's go south. Really?Really!?Ice is simply so stupid, so exaggerated, so unlikely and so unrealistic that it makes no sense! The only reason I watched it to the end was to get most possible details for this review.Too bad as I said... the resources were there, but were so terribly wasted. Save yourself the agony. Watch something else.