This movie is so bad it hurts - like a previous comment, I read the box and thought this might be interesting cold war type film......and it's not. It's crap, there are no words to describe how bad this film is. It gave me a pain int he head trying to follow it. The guy escapes with the help of a weird local shaman and the whole thing is just disjointed rubbish, I wish I could have voted zero for this film. Definitely gets my vote as the worst film of all time, it's not even "so bad its good" - it's way beyond that, into the realms of "this is so bad you could torture people with it" And I'm putting all this mildly....... Do NOT approach this film!
7 Reviews
Interesting Premise, Very Poorly Executed
pshagar22 February 2000
I made the mistake of reading the box notes on this video and got intrigued by the plot capsule: U.S. intelligence agent imprisoned in Siberia with Russian soldier as his adversary.
What the box didn't tell me was that this interesting idea would get ruined by the absolutely awful character development, a disjointed plot, and an incredibly annoying little shaman/mystic who keeps showing up throughout the movie.
What the box didn't tell me was that this interesting idea would get ruined by the absolutely awful character development, a disjointed plot, and an incredibly annoying little shaman/mystic who keeps showing up throughout the movie.
A better than average movie that almost gets totally ruined by a poor ending.
shoalin9 January 2004
Warning: Spoilers
**** MINOR SPOILERS ****
Set during the Gorbachev Glasnost era of change, Jeffrey West (actor Edward Albert; 'Power Rangers', 'Man in The Iron Mask') is an American agent who gets caught on his last assignment in Moscow and is sent by train to a labor camp in a temperate forested region of Siberia. Almost the entire movie takes place there, beside a backward but naturally picturesque rural Siberian village. Things aren't great, but they sure ain't no frozen gulag hellhole either. The place is so remote that the prisoners are at times allowed to walk freely around the village, to get drunk and party, and even permanently ship-in their wives.
West is befriended by Fyodor, a wealthy oriental trader (Chinese actor Victor Wong; 'The Last Emperor', 'Prince of Darkness', '3 Ninjas'), who provides him with rambling but meaningful metaphysical nature wisdom that includes how to potentially escape. West harbors a secret that causes him to fall under the watchful eye of the camp commander, Koyla (Russian actor Yevgeni Lazarev) - whose main principle in life is Stalin-era devotion to the state and the job the state has entrusted him with. The situation later devolves into an all-or-nothing vendetta against West when Koyla's realizes that his entire authoritarian world will soon collapse around him due to the reforms of Glasnost. There's actually quite a bit of symbolic meaning and subtext here - just think about the choice of the name `West'.
Until this point (approximately 90 minutes in) the movie is doing fine with adequate acting, well-spaced action, rustic 1930's period-like set design (but its the late 80's, but this is rural Siberia) and remarkably good cinematography, filmed entirely on location in Russia. We learn absolutely nothing about West's past, but he's in a delicate situation where nothing can be revealed. We learn about his intelligence, bravery and spirit through his actions, and these ultimately shine through and annoy Koyla. However, Koyla is nowhere near as cruel as your average Nazi SS officer, and he at times even mildly draws our sympathy. Although he does seem happiest when the spirit of his prisoners is broken, since this obviously makes his job that much easier. In the end, we don't really need to know more about these characters. West will try to escape some day, and Koyla has to stop him if he is to maintain his sense of purpose.
But the film begins to unravel in the last 15 minutes, not long before the final chase on the frozen ice sheets. The cinematography - shot on location in the Artic - is spectacular, but the ending gets lost down some artificial ice crack as hokey mystic mumbo-jumbo flashbacks and unbelievable circumstances completely destroy the end game's credibility. After such a tremendous build-up, the 'ice-running' confrontation between West and Koyla is anticlimactic, disappointing and wrapped-up way too quickly. A well thought-out rewrite of the last 20 minutes could have done wonders. They may have run out of money, or maybe a blizzard hit before they finished filming, but they definitely fumbled the ball at the very end of this movie.
My favorite scenes were by far those with Fyodor divulging his nature secrets and metaphysical beliefs to Jeffrey West. They strangely reminded me of Akira Kurosawa's classic 1975 film 'Dersu Uzala', where a similar relationship evolves between an Asiatic hunter and a Russian military captain. Although this is a far superior film to 'The Ice Runner', they both dramatize a bond of mutual respect and friendship that develops between a receptive westerner and a naturally clued-in oriental somewhere in the Russian outback.
It has often been said that a very good movie can be totally ruined by a really bad ending. That's probably not an inaccurate description of 'The Ice Runner'. You honestly might be better off stopping this movie before the last 15 minutes, since the ending certainly does this film serious, if not irreparable, harm. (6 out of 10)
Set during the Gorbachev Glasnost era of change, Jeffrey West (actor Edward Albert; 'Power Rangers', 'Man in The Iron Mask') is an American agent who gets caught on his last assignment in Moscow and is sent by train to a labor camp in a temperate forested region of Siberia. Almost the entire movie takes place there, beside a backward but naturally picturesque rural Siberian village. Things aren't great, but they sure ain't no frozen gulag hellhole either. The place is so remote that the prisoners are at times allowed to walk freely around the village, to get drunk and party, and even permanently ship-in their wives.
West is befriended by Fyodor, a wealthy oriental trader (Chinese actor Victor Wong; 'The Last Emperor', 'Prince of Darkness', '3 Ninjas'), who provides him with rambling but meaningful metaphysical nature wisdom that includes how to potentially escape. West harbors a secret that causes him to fall under the watchful eye of the camp commander, Koyla (Russian actor Yevgeni Lazarev) - whose main principle in life is Stalin-era devotion to the state and the job the state has entrusted him with. The situation later devolves into an all-or-nothing vendetta against West when Koyla's realizes that his entire authoritarian world will soon collapse around him due to the reforms of Glasnost. There's actually quite a bit of symbolic meaning and subtext here - just think about the choice of the name `West'.
Until this point (approximately 90 minutes in) the movie is doing fine with adequate acting, well-spaced action, rustic 1930's period-like set design (but its the late 80's, but this is rural Siberia) and remarkably good cinematography, filmed entirely on location in Russia. We learn absolutely nothing about West's past, but he's in a delicate situation where nothing can be revealed. We learn about his intelligence, bravery and spirit through his actions, and these ultimately shine through and annoy Koyla. However, Koyla is nowhere near as cruel as your average Nazi SS officer, and he at times even mildly draws our sympathy. Although he does seem happiest when the spirit of his prisoners is broken, since this obviously makes his job that much easier. In the end, we don't really need to know more about these characters. West will try to escape some day, and Koyla has to stop him if he is to maintain his sense of purpose.
But the film begins to unravel in the last 15 minutes, not long before the final chase on the frozen ice sheets. The cinematography - shot on location in the Artic - is spectacular, but the ending gets lost down some artificial ice crack as hokey mystic mumbo-jumbo flashbacks and unbelievable circumstances completely destroy the end game's credibility. After such a tremendous build-up, the 'ice-running' confrontation between West and Koyla is anticlimactic, disappointing and wrapped-up way too quickly. A well thought-out rewrite of the last 20 minutes could have done wonders. They may have run out of money, or maybe a blizzard hit before they finished filming, but they definitely fumbled the ball at the very end of this movie.
My favorite scenes were by far those with Fyodor divulging his nature secrets and metaphysical beliefs to Jeffrey West. They strangely reminded me of Akira Kurosawa's classic 1975 film 'Dersu Uzala', where a similar relationship evolves between an Asiatic hunter and a Russian military captain. Although this is a far superior film to 'The Ice Runner', they both dramatize a bond of mutual respect and friendship that develops between a receptive westerner and a naturally clued-in oriental somewhere in the Russian outback.
It has often been said that a very good movie can be totally ruined by a really bad ending. That's probably not an inaccurate description of 'The Ice Runner'. You honestly might be better off stopping this movie before the last 15 minutes, since the ending certainly does this film serious, if not irreparable, harm. (6 out of 10)
Wonderful movie
skfields_20009 July 2006
I first saw this movie in 1994 and I thought it was going to be "B" rated. It turned out to be an excellent movie with a great story line. When DVD's took over, I couldn't wait for them to put this movie on DVD so I could show my family since we didn't have anymore VCR's in the house. They all enjoyed this movie too. Made us feel like we were actually on the frozen tundra. Now it's been 12 years and I've made it one of our collectibles. There's action, adventure, love, pain, and persistence in this movie. I don't think you will be disappointed if you watched it. So far everyone who's been to my house and watched or borrowed this movie walked away with a feeling of "WOW". I won't say how many times I've seen the movie but lucky for me it's on DVD now.
Beautyfully crafted and enchanting movie !
wiltvid24 July 2004
I really loved this movie, since it took me into a world, that is so alien to the American mainstream. Siberia, before the age of the consumoriented culture, people defying the old corrupt Communist apparatchiks. Depicting ancient lifestyles long gone in the western world, but rich in culture. Uneducated and Hollywood manipulated masses will probably not see those little nuances in this truly awesome flick. I did not find the story disjointed at all, since the American prisoner was just trying to cope with his new and very alien environment. When will viewer learn, that the human psyche is a very complex adaption device.There are simply no two dimensional solutions for the American to hang on to, like Hollywood often suggests. One viewer judged this movie with unreasonable harshness, that might find sympathy in communities that like to build walls around themselves, not allowing any different cultures to enter their little two dimensional worlds. Talking about the lack of curiosity .... And why should be everything explained in detail, I love it, when I can use my imagination. This movie opened a door to me, where my imagination got to far away places. I also learned a lot about Siberia in the 80's, and I found it was a very realistic depiction of it. The movie also has evolving element of adventure, that graps you and identify's you with the American prisoner. This man is intelligent, compassionate, with a strong will to survive, whatever challenge he has to face. I also recommend the viewer, to take a look at the map of Siberia, to fully appreciate what he is up against. I voted a 10 out of 10 for this movie, and to counter the narrow view of the other viewer, would even give this movie an eleven.
The Ice Runner is a excellent story of determination, survival and trust.
pat-5787 December 2006
This film has many excellent elements throughout the show even to the very end. Characters are developed and relationships between characters will garner attention and the interest of viewers. The locations are beyond good and viewers get a sense of the reality of other environments and life outside of downtown USA. The storyline is excellent and remains unbroken from beginning to end. I have seen this movie over 30 times and it continues to hold my interest. Much like a Hemingway story this story can be view over and over again. I have provided my copy of this film to more than 100 friends and every one have sought out their own copy. This is a good film. A great story. The characters are strongly defined. The background of the film is exciting and made for reflective thought.
Very good underrated film
catherine-985-79438126 April 2014
I liked this film very much. I find most films sensational or boring. I prefer small well crafted films, as in a more European style. For me, it was a believable film, with characters I could actually give a damn about. Edward Albert is an underrated actor. He has one of the most expressive faces in film. And of course, it does not hurt that he is gorgeous. I think you should watch this film. No film appeals to everyone. The hands on confrontations in this film are far more real than what I've seen in most films. I'm sorry that Edward Albert was not offered more roles in films this good or better. I bought my own copy of this film.
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