Black Ice

Ben Shorr (Michael Nouri) is a taxi driver full of debts and aspiring writer. One day, he drives the gorgeous Vanessa (Joanna Pacula), who is the lover of the imminent senator Eric Weaver (Arne Olsen), home. Vanessa and Eric have a serious argument; they fight and she accidentally kills him. Vanessa is indeed an agent from the government, with a mission of get inside information and compromise the future senator with her agency. Quinn (Michel Ironside), a government killer working for the same agency, is in charge of eliminating her. Vanessa hires Ben, trying to go to Seattle and leave USA through her contacts in that area. However Quinn is hunting them down.

"Black Ice" is not a bad movie, but gives the sensation that something is missing in the screenplay and the ambiguous conclusion. It is a low budget movie, but Joanna Pacula, Michael Nouri and Michael Ironside are great actors and have good performances. Joanna Pacula's character is very beautiful, sexy and erotic. Michael Nouri's character is nasty and is not charismatic; therefore it is very difficult for the viewer identify with Ben as the 'hero' of the plot, who will end the story with the Vanessa. And Michael Ironside performs the role he does better, a maniac killer. The plot has many flaws: for example, there are shootings in many places and no police arrives. In many movies, the police arrive instantaneously, but not in this one. maybe there was no budget to complement of the cast. "Black Ice" would be a good movie with some improvement in the screenplay. But anyway, it entertains, and it is worthwhile seeing Joanna Pacula in some sexy scenes. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Paixão Assassina" ("Assassin Passion")

Note: On 02 January 2016 I saw this film again.

Strong performances from Joanna Pacula, Michael Nouri, and Michael Ironside overcome a weak script. Other pluses are the beautifully photographed winter scenery, and the haunting score from Amin Bhatia. There is a lack of suspense in this movie, but the performances of the three leads held my attention.

I watched this movie just a little while ago and I found that this movie was terrible! It moved very slowly and was hardly entertaining!

Sorry for all those that liked it.... this is only my opinion!

Considering this is supposed to be something of an intriguing mystery thriller, it raises little in the way of suspense. So, it's a little surprising that the film has the capacity to hold your interest until the end, which is disappointedly bland.

Anyway, the film stars Joanna Pacula as an undercover agent of some sort, who contrives to accidentally kill her target after having sex with him. Hitching a ride in Nick Mancuso's taxi, she arrives at the airport only to find her boss (Michael Ironside) has received orders to kill her, as to leave no trace of the crime.

This TV movie hangs on the fact that Mancuso doesn't know who or what Pacula is until late on, although the viewer knows fairly quickly. Still, performances are more than adequate and Ironside gets to repeat his cold-hearted bad guy routine once again.

Good and strong performances from the three leads, holds up a rather weak script. This is certainly no thriller, but more like a chase movie. The fanciful plot, or lack of it, needed a bit more construction on the bones. It just could have been a lot better.