Sorry, this movie sucks

A Disappointing Continuation

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I haven't read the book Icon, but I understand it's quite different from the film. One of the reasons may be because it was a TV movie and didn't have a budget for the grand finale that was described in one of the reviews; another reason may be because most TV movies are not written to the same level as feature films. Given some feature films I've seen, that's pretty scary, but there we are.Icon is the story of a retired US Operative, Jason Monk (Patrick Swayze) who comes out of retirement to return to Russia and bring to justice Komarov (Patrick Bergin), an enemy responsible for the death of Monk's fellow operatives years earlier.Komarov is now running for President in the new Russia. Working with a member of the Russian police force (Annika Peterson), he discovers Komarov's true agenda, which includes wiping out ethnic groups using biological warfare.Monk has an additional reason for returning to Russia - he has a daughter there and has learned that his wife died of cancer. He hasn't seen his daughter since she was a little girl; she's now 17.This was a solid, if not overwhelmingly thrilling, miniseries that held my interest. And the cast was solid: Barry Morse, who was something like 88 when he did this miniseries; Ben Cross, Jeff Fahey whom I always think of as my elevator buddy; and Michael York.Now, why do I call Jeff Fahey my elevator buddy? About 30 years ago, when he was on One Life to Live, we were on an elevator together. Around 2000, I went to an opening of some kind, and as I walked onto the elevator to leave, Jeff Fahey entered.Anyway, this was pretty good. Sad to see Patrick Swayze, gone too soon.

This is the perfect example of how a great book is turned into a poor film. The direction just gives the impression that the film was made up as they went along and Patrick Swaze is so wooden you can almost see the puppet strings on his body.Spy Vs Spy films are not - or should not - be about car chases and shootings, the bad guys in this movies are really bad shots and miss the main characters even when at point blank range.Even the action shots are just a cliché with the usual mounting sidewalks and crashing through tables and chairs - yawn.I got half way through and switched off - completely bored.

Its gonna be hard to make this fill 10 lines.... But ill give it a try (just to prevent others from making the same mistake as i did - to watch this (awful and boring) movie.I like Patrick swayze - he did a excellent performance in films like Ghost - Dirty Dancing - Point Break - North & South (TV series), but in this movie..... ARGH....This movie is so booooooring, the acting is awful - the script sucks - well.. i cant even find ONE good thing, nothing, absolutely NOTHING. I was watching it with 2 other friends and we all agreed that this was one of the most boring films we had ever seen, and the fact that it lasts for more then 3 hours (which we didn't know) - when part 1 was over and it said "to be continued", we almost cried "nooooooooooooo, do we have to watch 90 minutes more of this movie!!!!".Its painful to see this movie: At no time do you get the impression that the actors are Russians, the action scenes are extremely bad. The ONLY good scene is when the truck explodes in the beginning of the movie! The rest is CRAP! GO clean your toilet, instead of watching this movie (and don't come running, crying if you do see this movie - you were pre warned!) Personally i would recommend Patrick Swayze to call his agent and have them recall this movie - its that bad.

First of all, I want to say the shots of Russia, with it's beautiful fairy tale like palaces are absolutely breathtaking. It's a nice bonus. Even if you don't care for this mini-series, you'd enjoy looking at the wonderful views of Russia.This mini-series is kind of mediocre story-wise, but the great performances of all the actors really blew me away. I think Patrick Swayze makes a great action hero star and I'd like him to make more films like this. He still got a great body, but he has aged a lot. He looks kind of lean and hungry and he is perfect in this role of the spy coming out of retirement to investigate the theft of a horrific virus from a chem lab in Russia. Patrick Bergin makes a terrific villain! His eyes were absolutely icy looking and he looked psychotic and evil. Ben Cross plays the usual cool bad guy and Jeff Fahey, surprisingly plays against type, he plays a wimpy publicist to the evil Kamarov.This is a film where the good guys are very, very good and the bad guys are very, very evil! There are no shadings of Gray to confuse the audience. There is however, a lot of great action scenes and a great musical score to go with these action scenes! The ending is absolutely cool with the masses rising up against the tyranny of the president. As a matter of fact, it's a revolutionary's dream! This is a great "B" mini-series and the whole family can watch it because even though it is violent, it is not too graphic.I like this a lot, the film kept me engrossed and entertained, and some times, that's all one ever wants in an action film!