Icon (2005) (TV)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Charles Martin Smith

Writers (WGA):

Frederick Forsyth (novel)
Adam Armus (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

30 May 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

A former US Operative (Patrick Swayze), who lived in Russia in his earlier years and had been married there with a child...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Patrick Swayze	...	Jason Monk
Patrick Bergin	...	Igor Komarov
Michael York	...	Sir Nigel Irvine
Annika Peterson	...	Sonia Astrova
Ben Cross	...	Anatoly Grishin
Jeff Fahey	...	Harvey Blackledge
Joss Ackland	...	General Nikolayev
Steve Speirs	...	Viktor Akopov (as Steven Speirs)
Niko Nicotera	...	Andrei Kasanov
Valentin Ganev	...	Vladimir Tonkin
Barry Morse	...	Josef Cherkassov
Tom Wlaschiha	...	Mercedes Driver
Jay Benedict	...	Carey Jordan
Theodor Danetti	...	Leonid Zaitsev
Marta Kondova	...	Elena

Also Known As:

Frederick Forsyth's Icon (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

UK:166 min (DVD release) | Brazil:190 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Ireland:12 | UK:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Moscow, Russia

Company:

Hallmark Entertainment

Trivia:

Final acting project of Barry Morse.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Monk shoots at the assassin's van in the park, the window on the side door breaks completely. In the shots that follow, however, the window is broken only at the top.

Quotes:

Jason Monk: How many children have to die because of your greed?

It's a shame

Frederick Forsyth's books are always so intricately plotted, with twists and turns, and usually a great surprise ending. This adaptation had none of that.

So much of what was great in the book (the history of Monk and the betrayed agents; the plot to influence the outcome of the Russian election) were completely missing in this adaptation. Instead, there's this completely new plot about bio-weapons that was a yawner.

Forsyth's protagonists always operated in the shadows, forever just slightly beyond the reach of the antagonists. The joys of his books have always been the machinations of carrying out their mission. This film resigned itself to gunfights and car chases early on.

Swayze's Monk might as well have hung a sign around his neck saying "I AM A SECRET AGENT" for all the attention that he called to himself during the film. And with all of that attention, the amount of time that it took the bad guys to catch up to him was surprising.

Granted there was some energy to this film, which is why I'm giving it a "3" instead of a "1". It was also great to see some underutilized pros like Patrick Bergin, Ben Cross, Michael York, and Barry Morse.

I hope that someday, someone will once again do justice to a Forsyth film adaptation like "Day of the Jackal" did.