Sexy cat burglar Ellen Reed (Traci Lords) and her husband Charley (Phillip Troy Linger) are hired by an insurance company to retrieve a cache of stolen diamonds worth sixty million dollars from powerful mob boss, Vito Malta (Jorge Rivero). But after Ellen pulls off the robbery, Charlie reveals his intention to keep the diamonds for themselves. With the police on their tail and Malta gunning for revenge, Ellen's resourcefulness and kick-ass moves keep them ahead of the game until Charley makes the fatal mistake of bringing her no-good kid brother, Rick (Zach Galligan) in on the deal.
Following on the heels of A Time to Die (1991) and Intent to Kill (1992), Ice was another direct-to-video offering from PM Entertainment Group promoting former porn star Traci Lords as an action heroine. Fans tend to rate this one highly, partly due to an especially intense and charismatic turn that showed she was a genuinely accomplished actress though one suspects also because she played to her early strengths with a scene of steamy shower sex. In this instance however, only her male co-star went topless. Like a lot of PMEG releases this sports a glossy look inspired by TV shows like Miami Vice along with an abundance of gun battles, explosions and car stunts. However, with the exception of a mildly memorable shootout at a hockey rink, the action is flatly staged and the direction by Traci's then-husband Brook Yeaton is capable rather than inspired. The pair met on the set of the John Waters musical Cry-Baby (1990), Traci's first real breakthrough into mainstream film where Yeaton was working as a set dresser. He went back to his day job after this sole directorial effort.
Although not a movie for anyone who has trouble believing a petite, pouty ex-porn starlet can snap necks and beat up mobsters twice her size, as a quick-fix of fast-paced, cheesy B-movie action, Ice gets the job done and proves surprisingly amiable. Where the film proves especially interesting is in drawing an allegorical parallel between Ellen's attempt at finding a better life and Traci's own transition from pornography to semi-respectability as a legitimate actress. Throughout the film and indeed most of Traci's DTV action efforts, the heroine admits to having an unsavory past yet refuses to apologise for choices she felt were necessary at the time. All she wants is the chance to prove herself. In this instance, Ellen was once a cabaret singer (interestingly, the film features the same song “Stand Tall or Fall” showcased in Intent to Kill) and sympathetic Detective Little (Jaime Alba) tries to steer her back onto that path.
Ice was scripted by producer-screenwriter Sean Dash who penned a handful of DTV action flicks but went on to devote his talents to making a string of extreme nature documentary television shows, most notably Deadliest Catch. He also directed the gimmicky B-thriller Breakaway (1996) starring infamous figure skater-turned-saboteur and tabloid hate figure Tonya Harding. The heart of the screenplay really ought to be the strained sibling relationship between Ellen and Rick but as an actioner, Ice is all business leaving much of the emotional filler down to Traci's admirably impassioned acting. Elsewhere cult film fans will find Argentinean matinee idol Jorge Rivero, whose career ran the gamut from working with John Wayne on Howard Hawks' last western Rio Lobo (1970) to Lucio Fulci on deranged sword and sorcery film Conquest (1983). Here he plays a two-fisted, exotically-accented villain with crazy New Wave hair. Former Gremlins (1984) star Zach Galligan is miscast as a fast-talking small time crook-cum-race-car driver, though the cynical final sting-in-the-tale packs a punch that is again down to Lords' commitment.
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