ICARUS / THE KILLING MACHINE (Dolph Lundgren, 2009)

[Jox]

It is Switzerland release,not Germany.

Yes 99% of the time, the distributor and release are the same so I assume it is in that case.

I don`t like the Cover,because it is always the same.Dolph with a gun in his Hand.

I know what you mean but at least this one is a little different and more classy, these kinds of monochrome and grayish colors are trendy these days and here they went for a TAKEN-like style.

[Travis]

I think its a great cover and looks like a cool, new kind of movie for Dolph.

[MikeR]

Killer cover!!!! No cheesiness intended Jox... Hope the US/UK cover looks like this, but somehow I doubt it. It's very classy and definately looks "different" for a Dolph movie. Even though you have the action elements he looks suave and well dressed on the front, instead of the usual barechested/dirty clothes Dolph carrying the biggest weapon they could fit on the cover.

UK release?

You are joking aren't you? Don't you know we're the pariahs of the movie world - we're not allowed to watch Big D movies unless we break the law and import them (illegal because they haven't been certified for UK eyeballs) or pirate them (illegal because then movie moguls can't have private jets).

We should set up an appeal like Band Aid where people in more fortunate countries can send ridiculously violent movies to the beleaguered Brits.

M.

[Nathan]

I know there's no sign of Direct Contact or more importantly Command Performance. Lionsgate were meant to distribute both...could they be waiting for The Expendables to surface and the hype to increase...hope not.

[Tom]

Cool cover. I like that one. I really liked the Taken inspired cover too, but I suppose this is a little different. It seems cover wise, Icarus can't go too wrong, as long as they use shots from the film, and not a shot from a previous DL flick.

[bomaz2]

This cover is indeed really good.

[Jox]

DVD and BD from Germany expected to be released by HMH.

http://www.hmh.de/produkte/ansicht/p/Icarus_Blu_ray/
http://www.hmh.de/produkte/ansicht/p/Icarus/

And check out the new longer trailer!

[Tom]

I didn't even notice the trailer! Holy crap! I wished they'd put a bit more effort into it though. Poor trailer. The film looks cool though, but that's not how you should cut a trailer. Plus, there still not using proper sound on it either.

Looks like some interesting stuff in this one though. It'll be interesting to see how a neo-noir film turns out shot docu-style on HD cams. Given the time and budget, they could never have done it justice visually, on film, if trying to film it very slick. Dolph's going for something similar to Mann with Public Enemies I think. I like it. Gives the film an interesting vis for something that budget. The key will be watching it after full post and in 2.35.

[Nathan]

Looks like there's some cool action and shootouts in this one as well as some kick ass dialogue. That's a fantastic cover too, if the US/UK cover looks anything like that I'll be really impressed. Doubtful though. I hope some of those shots in that trailer were put in there before full post-production was completed and colour correction...

[Jox]

I didn't even notice the trailer! Holy crap! I wished they'd put a bit more effort into it though. Poor trailer. The film looks cool though, but that's not how you should cut a trailer. Plus, there still not using proper sound on it either.

Who knows this might an intermediate one, might have done another one; or else I'm sure other distributors will cut their own.

[Travis]

Looks way better than Command Performance.

[lhz]

For this new movie directed by Dolphy, he sounds more dark than every movie already done by D.man. The character looks like to Cherenko in THE MECHANIK.
So I'm part of people who think that Icarus will be better than COMMAND PERFORMANCE. By the way, I hope the french DVD will be the same perfect quality than our french version of COMMAND PERFORMANCE edited by Seven7 with exclusive bonus again

[Jox]

Better or not, the two films are very different (just like THE DEFENDER is hardly comparable to THE MECHANIK).

[Tom]

Icarus is a more budget friendly idea I think. The trouble with a Die Hard type of film, is you really do need 1 or 2 big set pieces, which they couldn't really include in CP. They were limited with the stunt work too, where-as Icarus seems to have more diverse action, and some good stunts (the old classic high falls, and some car stunts, and someone get blown through a window). It looks as if Dolph will use his martial arts in this one too. Action wise there seems more freedom in Icarus, mainly because of the story line and character and the location is confined to the limitations of one building.

This to me looks like it could be Dolph's coolest film in ages. Where this one might fall flat is post production. A lazy sound job, and poor editing could ruin it. Hopefully Dolph had enough power to make sure it didn't happen. The cast looks better than the Nu Image crew. You tend to get a reasonable standard working in Canada. More so than working in Eastern Europe or on very low budget American action films like MM. The trailer didn't have Bo Svenson, but he promises to be a good DL villain I think.

[Jox]

Hopefully Dolph had enough power to make sure it didn't happen.

Hummm... I'm gonna go into the details yet but he sure didn't have enough power on this one, he had less pull on this one than any other and the end product is likely to be far from being "his" film.