Icon

Plot synopsis:
During the 1999 Russian Presidential elections, the two leading candidates are Igor Komarov (Patrick Bergin), a former Colonel of the KGB, and a retired General Nikolai Nikolayev (Joss Ackland). When a car bomb explodes outside one of Komarov’s pharmaceutical companies, and a virus is stolen from inside, an investigation by the FSB ensues. Heading the investigation are FSB agents Sonia Astrova (Annika Peterson) and her colleague Andrei Kasanov (Niko Nicotera). They come up against obstruction from the director of the FSB, Anatoly Grishin (Ben Cross).
A British Embassy worker from Moscow, Sir Nigel Irvine (Michael York), travels to southern Spain to try to find Jason Monk (Patrick Swayze), a former CIA operative, who ran double agents in the Soviet Union. Irvine tries to convince him to go to Moscow and investigate the Komarov Industries bombing. Eventually, after much persuasion, including the promisee of help in finding his Russian daughter, Monk agrees to go.
Once in Moscow, Jason finds an old friend, Viktor Akopov (Steve Speirs), whose brother Sergei, a double agent of Jason’s, was personally executed by Komarov. Viktor agrees to hide Jason from Komarov’s men. Pretending to be a friend of Sonia Astrova’s father, he gains access to her office and steals a sample of residue from the bombing, which he gives to another friend of his, Vladimir Tonkin (Valentin Ganev), a former scientist. Tonkin finds that the explosive used was Semtex H, with a direct traceable link to the FSB. When he tells Jason about his findings, he is killed by Vladimir Dorganosov (Tom Wlaschiha), the man who attacked Komarov industries and stole the bioweapon, who has since been released into a Muslim village in Dagestan.
Outgoing Russian president Cherkassov (Barry Morse) wants the biological situation in Dagestan to be dealt with internally, but later on, after much persuasion from Komarov and Grishin, he sends out an international alert to identity and contain the outbreak.
Sonia and Andrei locate Leonid Zaitzev (Theodor Danetti), a cleaner who worked at the Komarov Industries plant and saw Dorganosov steal the virus. He has gone on the run after his home was ransacked. As they question him, Grishin appears, arrests Zaitzev and fires Sonia and Andrei. Zaitzev is later killed by Dorganosov while in custody. Sonia goes home to find Jason waiting for her, and agrees to help him access the FSB network. However, they are shot at by Dorganosov, and a car chase ensues, with Dorganosov tracking them by using Sonia’s phone, until she discards it. They go to Andrei’s house, where they find him already dead.
After the chase, Dorganosov demands the rest of his payment from his contractor, who is none other than Anatoly Grishin. While they are arguing, Komarov himself arrives and orders Grishin to kill Dorganosov.
While at Viktor’s apartment, Jason and Sonia come to realise that Grishin knew about the bombing in advance, and they raid his house for information. Jason is injured and, while he is unconscious, Sonia locates his daughter Elena (Marta Kondova) and brings her to him.
While trawling through the information gained from Grishin’s computer, they come across a photograph which reveals that Grishin and Komarov are old friends; there is also a secret manifesto written by Komarov, which tells of his plans to unleash genocide on any "undesirables" in Russia. Jason realises that the bombing and the theft of the bioweapon were planned by Komarov from the beginning. The virus was released to look like a terrorist attack, allowing Komarov to be elected President, as the only candidate with an anti-terror campaign. It is also the beginning of the genocide.
Jason and Sonia go to Komarov’s Presidential opponent, General Nikolayev, who stages a press conference and tells of Komarov’s involvement in the bombing at his own facility. However, Grishin arrives and introduces Komarov, who tells of his coincidental ownership of vaccines to every virus in his facility. The move boosts Komarov’s popularity, and leads to his election.
Jason and Sonia confront Komarov’s American electoral hacker, Harvey Blackledge (Jeff Fahey), who tells them of a facility outside Moscow. Blackledge is subsequently killed by an assassin posing as a taxi driver. Jason and Sonia travel to the facility, and find that Komarov’s famous speech of "sun rays spreading across Russia" refers to his plans for genocide, with different viruses each targeting different ethnic minorities within the country. After battling to escape from the facility, Jason and Sonia find Victor dead in his apartment. Jason then travels to Elena’s house, where he is captured by Komarov’s men. After being interrogated by Grishin, he escapes with the help of Elena, and Sonia. Sonia kills Grishin and takes his phone, which allows them to locate the FSB agents spreading the viruses. After Jason secretly hands Grishin's phone to Sir Nigel, he orders the arrest of the rogue FSB agents. Komarov’s plan is revealed publicly, and riots ensue in the streets, calling for his resignation. Komarov, hidden from the public, instigates martial law. When he is spotted, he orders his men to fire into the crowd trying to get to him. Before they can fire, however, Nikolayev arrives and commands them to lower their weapons. The crowd storms the building; however, Komarov escapes down an alleyway, where he is confronted by Jason Monk and Sonia. As he tries to kill Jason, he is shot, and the crowd rushes in and kills him.
Nikolayev becomes the acting President, and Sonia is appointed head of the FSB. Jason moves back to Spain with Elena, and resumes his job hiring out a fishing boat.

Tags: suspenseful, murder, violence

Review:
I'd like to point out some positive things about ICON - the lead review here at IMDb pounded this telefilm pretty hard!
Looked realistic to me, not unlike the sequence in the recent 'Quiet American'.There were good actors: Barry Morse (still alive?) and Ben Cross.
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.
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).
So, watch it for fun -- and then read the book for the real thing..
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.
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..
At first i decided to pass it but after seeing swayze's name on the cover i thought to myself that it would be fun to see him in an action movie again.
Well to be honest it wasn't that bad of a b-movie (mini series?) and it also wasn't that good.
It at least seemed they filmed the movie in Russia which they probably did since i live next door to the country and I'd say it was pretty authentic.
Action scenes with swayze were as good as the movie got.
If you like Patrick Swayze go rent this.
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.
I had just finished reading the book, and was really looking forward to seeing this TV adaptation which was broadcast on the Hallmark Channel on Monday night (5/30/05).
It's too bad because this film had great production values and a good cast, but isn't the idea of turning a book into a movie (TV or film) to get the people who read the book to be part of the audience.
I just have watched Icon on DVD and despite being a great book, the movie is a weak substrate from it.
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..
I was really looking forward to it since the book Icon is one of the best spy thrillers I have ever read.
The plot only loosely resembles the one in the book, the characters are completely miscast and there's some appalling acting.
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.
It's just some stupid anti-Russian propaganda, with a completely BS plot, not in any way related to the book.
It looks like the production team got more money from the people who ordered the movie, than they will ever be able to get from selling the movie.
The plot of the movie includes references to some of the real recent events in Russian and other parts of Eastern Europe, but puts them in such way that has nothing to do with reality.
It looks like the movie is a brainwashing instrument, which helps to portray Russia as a place populated by evil people that always dream about killing someone.
An of course there are hundreds of stupid mistakes like using the map of USSR instead of Russia when running news reports, showing a crowd with Ukrainian flags and commenting that it's Russian elections, etc.
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.....
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.
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..
I did not read the book but are they ever true to the novel?The cast is great.
i don't know who write scripts for movies like this one, but i would definitely love to meet one of them and talk to him a little bit.
or they just don't give a damn and write everything that they think it's interesting.a great and everlasting formula with mad dictator + 1 lonely hero (an American of course) might seem like a good idea, but come on?!
much better impression would be if he just did it in cold blood, like the real monsters do.the list of nonsense is too long, but the funniest thing is: no matter how many national TV stations there are in Russia, Russian president watch American SNN (CNN) news??
I just finished reading Forsyth's novel 'Icon'.
I acquired a DVD version of the book starring Mr. Swayze.
OK, let me first point out that to fit a decent adaptation of the novel into 2.5 hours film time would of been impossible, so I understand the teams reason to sway from the book version and differ.
Forsyth's novel was so good and real and altered the facts of reality instead of exaggerating them..
If you haven't read the book then expect a decent TV movie with a good acting cast, if you have read the book then try and forget it when watching this..
Patrick Swayze plays Jason Monk, who is an ex-CIA agent.
Patrick Swayze does a good job, but in some scenes he looks very old.
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.
It's a shame that Patrick Swayze has to play in such a low budget movies.
I haven't read the book Icon, but I understand it's quite different from the film.
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.
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?
The sound track was as genuine as one of a porn film.After this, we may dare to watch "Dirty Dancing" and groan for Patrick The author also wrote: Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File and The Dogs of War. PLEASE tell me that Hallmark didn't produce these!.
I have not seen and heard the original version.I am no Russian, but I am learning right now.I also have no preferences for Russia, Bulgaia, the US etc.But what I have to mention is:In the German synchronisation in the whole film all Russians speak with Russian accent.
I was hopeful when I saw that FF himself was the Exec Producer but very quickly saw that the only real way that the TV movie and the book were similar were in the name and the character names only.
In my personal opinion, Mr. Swayze could have portrayed a valid Monk, however I think that in order to do the movie justice, it would have been a far longer movie, and I don't think Hollywood itself would have gone for the plot of discreditation by subterfuge.
But judging by what you said about it not being like the book, it might be disappointing for you and all the other readers.
It was a good mini series and throughout the film, you always want to see what happens with the Villain at the end.The storyline is great and you always want to find out more.
I certainly got into this film quite a lot and like I said, I wanted to see how it all ended up.
Patrick Swayze was excellent as usual in this and anyone who takes a film based on acting and storyline and not comparing it to a book, you should check it out..
First of all, I want to say the shots of Russia, with it's beautiful fairy tale like palaces are absolutely breathtaking.
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.
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!.
Icon is an absolute B movie if not because of the budget for any other reason.
If nothing else Icon is a great Russian film.
I have not seen any other film that embraces modern day Russia with a great respect and treats it as good as a political thriller in the US would treat America.
The story is good enough although a little confusing at times with some scenes that are unnecessary and a little complex, most notably the opening scene which I am still a little confused about.Patrick Swayze takes the lead role as Jason Monk, an under cover operative, who is former CIA and is coaxed back into Russia with the promise of being reunited with his estranged daughter who he hasn't seen she was a little girl.
It still pains me to see Swayze look so old in the face but the guy can still move, he is in great shape and plays the action role just fine.
His acting is a little campy at times but it really is the writing and the film that is at best B quality.
He certainly shines in the role (I thought) and I think Jason Monk is a marketable character for sequels but they have a lot to change.
Joss Ackland as the reclusive Presidential candidate General Nikolayev is good in his scenes and very convincing as a Russian dignitary, Patrick Bergin is fantastic as the evil "Icon" of Russia who wants the Presidency and is behind the plot to poison different races of Russians in Hitler style.
Michael York, who unfortunately is best known as Austin Powers' boss Basil plays Swayze's boss and you can't help but remember him as Basil which kind of ruins his role.
All of them play Russian quite well and I know many complain about the cheesy accents and the fact that barely anyone actually speaks Russian when they would in reality but it's a movie that has to be done in English so to me it was just a matter of assuming they would be speaking Russian normally but in order for us to watch the movie without subtitles...it's English.
The cast is absolutely not the issues with the film but rather the reason to watch it.
The special effects and stunts aren't bad but it seemed like the production of the film and the DVD got some poorly budgeted effects which does effect your experience.
I had read the Book twice before finding out that there actually is a Mini Series on this.
If you have not read the book then you will surely like this one.
What I did not like at all was when the agent provocateur (sp ?) of Forsyth was turned into modern day James Bond.
Patrik's not bad its the role he had to do.I didn't like the Ending when Jason shot Igor.
I'd have expected the FSB agent to do it as a foreign national shooting an elected President would have been a diplomatic Faux Pas.All in all Not a bad Yarn especially if you have not read the book..
Bad Adaptation, Decent Film.
Patrick Swayze fits the role of Jason Monk perfectly and bares quite a resemblance to the character in the novel.
But the best acted part in the film has to go to Micael York for his role of Sir Nigel Irvine.
Joss Ackland also gives a good performance as the underused Russian General turned presidential candidate.Also on the plus side,the production values are high.
The locations look real and are obviously not faked and the score is one of the best i've heard recently for TV movies.Ont he downside, the film's plot and its length are a downside.
The addition of Monk's daughter and the female FSB agent are also added on to the novel's plot and are often irrelevant to the main part of the story.
The novel featured Komarov's and his army launching an attack on Moscow leading to a battle that would have been great on screen Instead it is replaced by simply having Komarov chased out by protesters and being shot by monk.
I watched the TV Movie, "Icon," from a self-video tape tonight (06-07-05)-- it was very good -- thought Patrick Swayze did an excellent job --with a "meatier" role for a change.
Whilst Swayze is still a bit wooden, he has that weary look of an old dog which is good for the part.
Another joy was the slick Jeff Fahey, love those old blue eyes.Whilst it didn't follow the book, I still rate it as an enjoyable TV-movie.
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..
A good secret agent effort from Patrick Swayze.
I have recently become a fan of Patrick Swayze after first watching him in 'Dirty Dancing' a few weeks ago.
He seemed in great physical condition for a man his age.I have not read the novel 'Icon', so I had no preconceived notions about what direction the plot should take.
The opening sequence of the film showed his failure to extract an agent after his cover was blown.
A list of CIA agents had fallen into KGB hands, yet that list apparently did not contain the cover name of Jason Monk.3.
She had features that could easily have been Russian, so casting did a great job.The plot had Sonia taking a huge chance of capture to look up daughter Elena when Monk's nerve failed.
I expect Patrick Swayze will be back as Jason Monk in the near future.