Icon (film)

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Icon
Distributed by Concorde Home Entertainment
Hallmark Channel
Directed by Charles Martin Smith
Produced by Brian Gordon
Robert Halmi Jr.
Larry Levinson
Nick Lombardo
Michael Moran
Written by Frederick Forsyth
Adam Armus
Nora Kay Foster
Starring Patrick Swayze
Patrick Bergin
Michael York
Annika Peterson
Ben Cross
Jeff Fahey
Music by Mark Kilian
Daniel Licht
Cinematography David Connell
Editing by Craig Bassett
Country USA
Language English
Release date May 30, 2005 (2005-05-30)
Running time 173 min.

Icon (or Frederick Forsyth's Icon) is a Hallmark Channel original television film directed by Charles Martin Smith and based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth. The film premiered on the network May 30, 2005. It is set in the period 1985 to 1999.

Plot

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). An investigation by the FSB ensues when a car bomb explodes outside one of Komarov’s pharmaceutical companies, and a virus is stolen from inside. Heading the investigation FSB agents Sonia Astrova (Annika Peterson) and her colleague Andrei Kasanov (Niko Nicotera). They come up against difficulty by 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 and find Jason Monk (Patrick Swayze), a former CIA operative who ran double agents in the Soviet Union, and tries to convince him to go to Moscow and investigate the Komarov Industries bombing. Eventually, after much persuasion, including help to find his Russian daughter, Monk agrees to go.

Once in Moscow, Jason finds an old friend, Victor Akopov (Steve Speirs), whose brother Sergei was a double agent of Jason’s, who was personally executed by Komarov. Victor 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 same man who attacked Komarov industries and stole the bioweapon, who has since released it 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 locates Leonid Zaitzev (Theodor Danetti), a cleaner who worked at the Komarov Industries plant and saw Dorganosov steal the virus, who has gone on the run after his home was ransacked. While questioning him, Grishin arrests Zaitzev and fires Sonia and Andrei. Zaitzev was later by 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 fired 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 Victor’s apartment, Jason and Sonia come to realise that Grishin knew about the bombing in advance, and 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, and a secret manifesto written by Komarov, which tells of his plans to unleash genocide on any “undesirables” from 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, he being the only candidate with an anti-terror campaign. It was also the beginning of the genocide.

Jason and Sonia go Komarov’s Presidential opponent, General Nikolayev, who stages a press conference and tells of Komarov’s involvement in the bombing at his 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. Afterwards, Blackledge was killed by an assassin posing as a taxi driver. Jason and Sonia travel there, and find that Komarov’s famous speech of “sun rays spreading across Russia” means his plan for genocide, with different viruses each targeting different ethnic minorities within the country. After battling to escape 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, who 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 arrests 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 of people trying to get to him. Before they can fire, however, Nikolayev arrives and commands them to lower their weapons. The crowd storm the building, however Komarov escapes down an alleyway, where he is confronted by Jason Monk and Sonia. As he tries to kill Jason, however, 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.

Cast

References

    External links

    Films directed by Charles Martin Smith
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