Review of Icarus (2010) by Ben F — 27 Jul 2011

After "Command Performance", I really thought that Dolph Lundgren was heading in the right direction in terms of...well...direction. He really proved to me that he was able to make an ALRIGHT movie. But this is a complete disappointment, and why am I surprised! I thought that after that movie, he would slowly but surely get better and better, but this is definitely not the way to go. "Icarus" or "The Killing Machine" was absolutely horrible, for it's absence of plot, sense, quality, aesthetics, and overall necessities for a good picture.

Lundgren plays a guy who used to be in the KGB but now he lives in the United States. It seems that his past has come back to haunt him, and now it's threatening his family's safety. So there is only one thing to do. Kick some ass. The problem with the plot was that it wasn't introduced in a way for me to actually care about the characters. Lundgren's character's introduction was mind-numbing and dull, so what happened was, an hour through the film, I honestly didn't really care about what was going on. I guess that's what happens when you can't develop your story enough.

The acting, was horrible, as expected. The lines were atrocious. I don't know if Dolph wrote them, but it sure sounds like it, because it has a complete absence of basic human qualities. Everything seems to contrived and manifested. There is absolutely nothing real here, everything is so fake, and the bare grasp that we had on any relation with any character is completely erased once the movie dives deeper and deeper. It's outrageously aggravating.

Here's just a little bit of information. This movie obviously wasn't released theatrically in the United States because it would have bombed critically and of course financially, but I think it was released in Europe. I'm pretty sure the film's budget was over a million dollars, and the film made less than 100,000. That's just...horrible. I know that doesn't have to do with the quality of the picture, I'm just saying.

But it's no wonder that the movie did so poorly because it's content is THAT poor. There is absolutely nothing good about it. Unlike "Command Performance", I felt no excitement, no commitment, no attachment...all I thought about was hoping that the movie would end. It pains for me to say it, but Dolph Lundgren is NOT going in the direction that he needs to go. He needs to get better, not worse. This movie is horrible.