Icon

Adapted from a Frederick Forsythe's novel - entertaining but nothing more - this TV movie is entertaining, not really boring, rather well made and also faithful to the book - as far as I remember - but because the book was not that exciting, I can't imagine the movie being better than the book, especially if it is faithful to it. Follow me? Anyway Frederick Forsythe's best novel will always remain his first DAY OF THE JACKAL, period. For the rest, the main good thing with him is that it is so well researched in terms of accuracy and details, which you don't feel in a film, no matter the directing and acting obvious skills. And also suspense always kept tight in Forsythe's material.

FREDDY FORSYTH has come up with a storyline which will suit the mood of the West's suspicions about Putin's Russia. Forsyth installs a nasty guy as the Ruski president who wants to return the country - not so much to Stalin's Communism but more to Hitlerian Fascism. In fact, his Political Manifesto could have come straight out of Mein Kampf rather than Marx. And, the loon has the latest weapons of biological destruction to achieve the ethnic cleansing pogrom of the Russian Federation. American mercenaries connive with the Russian Prez to realise his fanatical, genocidal dream, but then enter Dirty Dancing's Pat Swayze...and,yep,things get really down and dirty. He's a former US operative-turned-drifter,Jason Monk, who is enlisted by the British Government to see what the Russians are up to. As a corny sidebar, Swayze's character who is no Monk (!)has sired a Russian beauty Elena (played by the gorgeous Marta Kondova) on his previous missions to the former Commie state. Hardman Swayze does a passable job in setting out to defeat the evil Russians. But young unknown actress Marta Kondova steals the flick as his nubile, 18-year-old Russian daughter Elena who helps dad root out the terror threatening her beloved Mother Russia.

Right, well I stumbled upon this 2005 TV movie titled "Icon" by random chance. And I opted to sit down and watch it, given the fact that it was something that I hadn't already seen.

I am not overly much a fan of Patrick Swayze, but he does have some good enough movies and TV shows to his name, so I figured that a movie that ran for 3 hours and 10 minutes might have potential.

Writers Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster managed to put together a good enough storyline here. Sure, I am not familiar with the book or books written by Frederick Forsyth, so I have no idea how close "Icon" is to the source material. But while "Icon" was adequately entertaning, it just wasn't a particularly outstanding movie experience. And I assume that the phrase "Patrick Swayze is CIA agent Jason Monk" is supposed to have a meaning, but then again, I didn't read the books.

For a movie that ran for 190 minutes, then it was somewhat of an ordeal to sit through, as the movie was way too long. The editing could easily have trimmed down the movie quite substantially in my opinion. And the fact that the script was bland, just didn't really help much to make time go by quicker.

The movie does, however, have a good ensemble of actors and actresses, with the likes of Patrick Swayze, Michael York, Ben Cross, Jeff Fahey, Annika Peterson and Joss Ackland.

Ultimately then "Icon" was watchable, but it turned out to be too long and just downright too mundane and bland in comparison to other action thrillers of the same kind.

My rating of the 2005 TV movie "Icon" lands on a five out of ten stars.

I just have watched Icon on DVD and despite being a great book, the movie is a weak substrate from it. Those responsible for the writing should be banished to Siberia. Why they maul the great story with all kind of C-film subploys which are totally irrelevant to the story is totally beyond me.

Yet the filmmakers and cast do there best to make something out of it, but at the end the film was not satisfying at all.

Can someone please make a decent movie out of this to show how it is done. I'm sure that the crowds will rally for such a masterpiece novel turned into a book, not into a cheap C-movie.

"Icon" was a fun, if long, miniseries. Patrick Swayze plays Jason Monk, who is an ex-CIA agent. As usual, he's roped into one last case. Here, it's by Nigel (Michael York). His assignment is to take down presidential hopeful Igor Komarov (Patrick Bergin). Igor wants to rule the world. I'm not kidding.

Thankfully, the movie is full of action. Patrick Swayze does a good job, but in some scenes he looks very old. Patrick Bergin goes over the top. I think he perfected his Russian accent by watching Natasha on "Rocky and Bullwinkle". Michael York is his usual professional self. The standout performance is by Jeff Fahey as a presidential aide.

In the end: If you don't mind the 3-hour running time, it's worth watching. If you can, take a look at the foreign trailer! For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com