Delitto per passione

"A Passion For Murder" (or "Black Ice", as it is listed on here) is pretty much a neo-noir road-movie, which means it should add up to something like a mystery thriller. But it doesn't. Throughout the film there's no suspense to speak of and the plot is hardly anything intriguing. The film just hums along without many problems, really, and as mentioned before, Michael Nouri, Joanna Pacula & Michael Ironside manage to carry everything just fine with their three leading performances.

Nouri plays Ben Shorr, a cab driver/aspiring writer. One night he picks up Vanessa (Joanna Pacula) who's gotten herself into a heap of trouble, demanding that Shorr should drive her all the way from Detroit to Seattle. All this while being chased by the cold-blooded Quinn (Michael Ironside), who has a score of his own to settle with Vanessa.

Ms. Pacula brings a lot of sex appeal to the table (and gets very naked early on in the film, during an extended sex scene). Nouri is convincing enough and Ironside is always entertaining as the bad guy. The rest of the supporting cast gives inferior performances. Only Mickey Jones is worth mentioning, as the taxi company owner.

In the end, the climax boils down to a very dull shoot-out between the threesome. Something you can predict from the moment their chase begins. People say they're FBI or CIA, wave a badge and all, but in the end, who cares? "A Passion For Murder" is nothing special, but at the end of the ride I can't bring myself to flunk this little movie. It's not a badly made film or anything and it's an okay form of distraction from every day life for 90 minutes long. The main purpose of most pulp fiction, anyway.

What you get with "Black Ice" is Michael Ironside, one hot sex scene, and some "Fargo" like weather. What you don't get is a script that could be believed. There is absolutely no police action, although there is at least a bunch of dead bodies. Ironside seems to show up with no logical explanation of how he got there at just the right place, at just the right time. Essentially this is really a road trip to nowhere, since the audience is kept in the dark as to motivation . Michael Nouri is the innocent cab driver who is along for the ride with the long suffering audience. Even for Michael Ironside fans who like his evil bad guy performances, this will test your patience. Also, I was completely underwhelmed by the big reveal ending. - MERK

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.

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.

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.