Icon

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.

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.

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 recently rented this promising mini series, I didn't even know they had adapted it for television. I was really looking forward to it since the book Icon is one of the best spy thrillers I have ever read. What a disappointment it was. The plot only loosely resembles the one in the book, the characters are completely miscast and there's some appalling acting. A shame really. The story behind Icon is perfect for the silver screen, but I think television budgets just aren't big enough for a decent adaptation of this spectacular book.

Forsyth deserves much, much better than this. Avoid and stick to the book, which is a must-read.

"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