Icarus

Dolph Lundgren is one of those actors that either makes a hit or miss type of action film. Now I do like him, although growing up I didn't seek out his movies, I was more interested in Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan and Jean Claude Van Damme, but Dolph is one of those actors that have a likable quality at least I feel is appealing and charming, even if he's in films that are sometimes over the top.

This was the best film he made in awhile and surprisingly he directed it himself. The film is your typical hit-man with a family, that gets caught up in his dangerous life type. But Dolph made it fun and at least a little fresh.

The body count is satisfying as well as the action scenes, and decently paced. The story is what you've seen before but I feel Dolph made it fun with some OK twists here and there. There are one liners Dolph says but kept to a minimum, because it's more of a serious movie than a tongue-in-cheek one. I originally seen this back in 2013 and I loved it, I was like finally a good Dolph Lundgren movie, because before I had only seen him in some crappy films that were forgettable and they really sucked, you know, really disappointing.

Overall a good film from start to finish and very re-watchable as well. I give it a 5/10. If your an action fan or a Dolph Lundgren fan, honestly check it out. Highly recommended.

Businessman Edward Genn (Dolph Lundgren) is actually a former KGB agent who defected to the US just before the Soviet Union collapsed and has been making his real living as a hit-man-for-hire. Naturally, he didn't tell his ex-wife (Stefanie von Pfetten), who he has a daughter with. But she finds out soon enough when her family is in the crossfire of a mob war led by Eddie's old comrade Vadim (Bo Svenson). This is Lundgren's sixth effort as a director and, surprisingly, it is his worst effort behind the camera so far thanks mostly to a lame script and that pesky jittery camera work. The prospect of Dolph teaming with fellow Swede Svenson is enticing, but they really only have 5 minutes on screen. There are lots of fights/shootings but Dolph films them all terribly, which is strange given his penchant for well-shot action displayed previous to this. The worst is he has fallen into the Hollywood cliché of shaky-cam/crash zooms, even during quiet dialog scenes. Not as bad as Stallone did with THE EXPENDABLES, but still annoying.

When I picked up and read the DVD box for this Dolph Lundgren movie, my heart sank when I saw it was being distributed by Cinetel Films. For those who don't know, Cinetel Films makes extremely cheap genre movies padded out with stock footage from big-budget Hollywood movies. Actually, the production values for this movie are somewhat higher. It is clearly a low budget movie, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't look as cheap as usual. (And there's no stock footage.) Other things good about the movie are some decent action sequences and Dolph giving another likable, charismatic performance. And it's nice to see a Canadian movie actually set in Canada (for the most part), though the use of Vancouver is so generic the movie could have been set anywhere.

Unfortunately, the movie still has some serious problems. There are a few poor special effects. Some dialogue is hard to make out. The camera-work for the movie is awful - it always seems the camera is jiggling or in someone's unsteady hands. In fairness to Lundgren (who was also the director), he was reportedly given less shooting time than usual, and also was constrained considerably by the producers. So I don't blame him for the movie's faults. Still, the movie is probably only for die-hard Lundgren fans, and they should probably wait until it appears on cable so they won't feel ripped off when watching it.

Surprisingly good movie, but not box office material.

Decided to watch this over the weekend out of boredom and was semi-impressed. Not going to waste time over-analyzing an obvious B+ movie like some of the other reviewers.

Its like watching Family Man mixed with some assassin for hire type movie. Action isn't bad, good blood spatter. Actresses were deliciously beautiful. Some human elements in the film. Again, if you're looking for sophisticated plot, not the best place for a movie of this grade. The film does make a reasonable attempt at a story. Just enjoy the action film.

Sad to say that I had initially set my expectations low for this movie. Why? Well, it is a Dolph Lundgren movie after all, both starring and directed by the hulking Swede. But I am surprised at how good this movie was, so a big thumbs up to Lundgren on his achievement here and for blindsiding us with this movie. I am not saying that his movies are usually bad, they just tend to be a replica of the movie that came before. So you know what you would get already.

The story in "Icarus" was actually quite good, and it managed to grasp the audience in a tight grip - or by gunpoint - and take them on a roller-coaster ride full of action.

The acting in the movie was quite alright. Dolph Lundgren is, of course, right at home in this genre, but his co-stars were doing good jobs as well.

"Icarus" is definitely a bright moment in the movie history of Dolph Lundgren, and it is well-worth watching regardless if you are a fan of him or not.

So this surprise of a movie is getting a six out of ten stars rating from me.