From director Russell (Highlander) Mulcahy comes a thriller that reminds one of a throwback to the spy flicks of yesteryear. With Michael Caine in the leading role, and a supporting gallery that contains the likes of Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Alun Armstrong and Sean Young, you'd be right to expect something quite good of Blue Ice. But sadly the movie emerges a dispirited and bewildering mish-mash of action, sex and violence that is quite unworthy of the talents involved. Caine and famous producer Martin Bregman set up their own production company to finance this film, calling it M&M Productions - the idea was to start a series of films featuring the Harry Anders character. The critical and commercial indifference that met Blue Ice meant that no sequels were made, and the production company never released another film. (Which tells you all you need to know!)
Ex-secret agent Harry Anders (Michael Caine) now runs a jazz club in London. One day he is involved in a minor car accident with Stacy Mansdorf (Sean Young), wife of the American Ambassador. The two of them hit it off and soon embark on a passionate affair, with the older Harry finding himself falling uncommonly hard for this sizzling young temptress. Stacy learns about Harry's past life as a secret agent, and begs him to help her with a problem she has. Seems a former lover of hers is threatening to ruin her reputation, and she thinks Harry might be able to straighten him out. But the seemingly innocuous job is riddled with danger, and before long Harry find himself up to his neck in betrayal, murder and international arms dealings. The trail leads to Harry's old MI6 boss, Sir Hector (Ian Holm), and as the bodies start piling up the aging hero finds himself once more playing the sort of deadly cloak-and-dagger game he thought he'd left behind for good.
Mulcahy throws in his usual visual flourishes (he was formerly a music video director), but no amount of fancy camera angles and moody lighting can disguise the lack of a coherent plot. Caine lends the hero an air of self-humouring charm, but it's not really one of his finest roles simply because the haphazard script doesn't allow for the development of a memorable character. The sex scenes are unintentionally funny - 59 year old Caine looks somewhat out-of-shape, yet the camera glides slowly, lovingly over his body while he is locked in a naked embrace with Young. One can't really blame the actor; it's more the fault of the director and editor for thinking (unwisely) that they can bring geriatric sex appeal to these scenes. There are flashes of competent action throughout the film - explosions, gunfights, car chases and so forth. Hardly a moment of it hangs together meaningfully and there's little sense behind most of what goes on, but at least the action is put together in a solid professional manner. Blue Ice is generally a disappointing spy thriller, never quite so bad that it reaches the level of "unwatchable" but not good enough to be worthy of recommendation.
Ex-secret agent Harry Anders (Michael Caine) now runs a jazz club in London. One day he is involved in a minor car accident with Stacy Mansdorf (Sean Young), wife of the American Ambassador. The two of them hit it off and soon embark on a passionate affair, with the older Harry finding himself falling uncommonly hard for this sizzling young temptress. Stacy learns about Harry's past life as a secret agent, and begs him to help her with a problem she has. Seems a former lover of hers is threatening to ruin her reputation, and she thinks Harry might be able to straighten him out. But the seemingly innocuous job is riddled with danger, and before long Harry find himself up to his neck in betrayal, murder and international arms dealings. The trail leads to Harry's old MI6 boss, Sir Hector (Ian Holm), and as the bodies start piling up the aging hero finds himself once more playing the sort of deadly cloak-and-dagger game he thought he'd left behind for good.
Mulcahy throws in his usual visual flourishes (he was formerly a music video director), but no amount of fancy camera angles and moody lighting can disguise the lack of a coherent plot. Caine lends the hero an air of self-humouring charm, but it's not really one of his finest roles simply because the haphazard script doesn't allow for the development of a memorable character. The sex scenes are unintentionally funny - 59 year old Caine looks somewhat out-of-shape, yet the camera glides slowly, lovingly over his body while he is locked in a naked embrace with Young. One can't really blame the actor; it's more the fault of the director and editor for thinking (unwisely) that they can bring geriatric sex appeal to these scenes. There are flashes of competent action throughout the film - explosions, gunfights, car chases and so forth. Hardly a moment of it hangs together meaningfully and there's little sense behind most of what goes on, but at least the action is put together in a solid professional manner. Blue Ice is generally a disappointing spy thriller, never quite so bad that it reaches the level of "unwatchable" but not good enough to be worthy of recommendation.