After riding a wave of popularity throughout the 1990s, big name action stars like Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren crashed hard into the realm of direct-to-video features not seeing their films garner as wide an audience as they were once used to as the idea of a larger-than-life hero just didn't seem to appeal much to the movie going crowd of the new millennium. Of the three, I've always liked Lundgren best simply because he doesn't seem to take himself too seriously and comes across as more down to earth than his competitors - making it no real surprise that he seems the most comfortable dwelling in the DTV realm whereas Seagal seems tired and embarrassed while Van Damme comes across as wanting to capture his past glories.

Taking the director's chair for the sixth time, Lundgren plays Eddie an ex-KGB agent (that went under the codename of the title) who has taken to the life of a hit man all the while keeping it a secret from his estranged wife, young daughter, and hot new girlfriend. By day he's a constantly travelling real estate investor but on the side he's not above bloodily gunning down various unsavoury targets for a big pay-out - which we get to see first hand early on when he heads off to Hong Kong, infiltrates a crime lord's penthouse and proceeds to proficiently take out all the baddies. It's staged with good energy and has lots of exploding squibs letting us know Lundgren means business.

Considering the job a success, Eddie soon finds out that his decision to spare the life of a kidnapped Russian who was being tortured during the hit (there's some nastiness where half the guy's cheek is hanging off) wasn't a good one as he soon becomes a target which gives Lundgren plenty of opportunity to stage various action sequences on the way to a finale, and some predictable basic twists, that feels rushed when you consider there's a few lackadaisical dialogue heavy moments on the way there.

As low-budget actioners go, Icarus (which goes under the boring title of The Killing Machine in the U.S.) does its job with moderate efficiency showing us that, as a director, Lundgren has a good grasp on how to stage various gunfights and smack downs but it also suffers a tiny bit thanks to subscribing to the new school of thought evident in most action flicks after The Bourne Identity that has the camera erratically bouncing about. Still, when the action begins they don't seem to have spared much cost in having any bullet wounds spraying blood everywhere and there's enough of it to grab back your attention during the couple of story lulls that pop up.

While I didn't particularly care for The Expendables, which really should have been better considering its large cast and script that's a throwback to over-the-top 80s action flicks, nothing beat seeing Lundgren's unhinged mercenary blowing someone in half in an opening scene. He doesn't get to do anything quite that insane here but he still proves to be a steady hero though I probably could've done without the unnecessary narration and his crying scene (I get it, it's supposed to make him feel more human to us). Stefanie Von Pfetten gets the unfortunate task of being part of the films weakest, and most forced feeling, moments playing Eddie's wife who not only has to deal with finding out her husband is a bad-ass killer but also finds time to give the film its only sex scene - that happens to come right after her current boyfriend is murdered and she's still upset about it (huh?). B-movie legend Bo Svenson (The Delta Force, Inglorious Bastards) gets to chew-up scenery is his few moments as Eddie's former friend-turned-enemy Vadim.

For every amazing Dolph effort like The Mechanik or Army of One there's stuff like The Last Warrior and Diamond Dogs to remind us we're watching quickly shot DTV fare, Icarus is one that falls right in the middle of them. It doesn't deliver the goods like some of Lundgren's best but it has enough entertainment wedged into it to never sink to the depths of his worst. Fans will enjoy it, a lot will skip it, I'm just happy he's been able to keep his career going by doing what he does best: kicking ass. (Chris Hartley, 9/26/10)

Directed By: Dolph Lundgren.
Written By: Raul Sanchez Inglis.

Starring: Dolph Lundgren, Stefanie Von Pfetten, Samantha Ferris, David Lewis.