Icon

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.

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.

"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

I'd like to point out some positive things about ICON - the lead review here at IMDb pounded this telefilm pretty hard! lol. There were several decent action sequences (by 'decent', I mean much better than those silly ones on '24' where the good guys show up with tiny pistols and no flak-jackets or radio-gear). Lots of flash and bang - a truck blows up early in the film, which is sort of a launching point for the plot. Looked realistic to me, not unlike the sequence in the recent 'Quiet American'.

There were good actors: Barry Morse (still alive?) and Ben Cross. Swayze (Jason Monk) is OK, but maybe miscast in this one - he doesn't have the right face. I thought the Russian urban scenes were impressive - it's a beautiful country, you know. I liked 'the Saint', 'Hunt for Red October' and 'Russia House' - films with insight into the Russian culture - and problems. That's why the book 'ICON' and this DVD appealed to me.

However, I don't know why the writers chose to stray from Forsythe's super novel, which is in my top-10 favorites. I thought the basic novel plot was a natural screenplay: the ICON's grim political manifesto - and how it falls into Western hands. Also, Monk's early career unfolds as the CIA loses to the Russians in the spy game before the Cold War ends. This gave us some insight into Monk's skills, espionage background and disillusionment, but the screenplay follows a different track. The writers added a pretty female agent, and an ex-family for Jason Monk.

Up here in Canada, PG-13 'Action' films are hard to come by ('Munich' was just released as 18-A). This film has no sexual scenes or profanity. So, watch it for fun -- and then read the book for the real thing.