Customer Reviews

Icebreaker

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Before attaining superstar status in THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY, Sean Astin starred in this straight to video thriller. Sean plays Matt, a "ski bum" who works at the Killington Ski Resort. His boss hates him; he's going to ask his girlfriend's father for his daughter's hand, and of course, the dad hates him, too. Meanwhile, a plane carrying radioactive plutonium crashes at the resort...this plane of course was hijacked by a member of a terrorist group, headed by the crazed Paul Grieger.

Astin plays Matt convincingly, although nowhere as near as well as Sam in the Rings trilogy. Painstakingly awful and surprisingly so is Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead) who plays the terrorist leader. Evidently dying of cancer, the baldpated Campbell delivers his lines as if he had just memorized them.
Stacy Keach collects a paycheck as the girl's rich father. Suzanne Turner is pretty bad, too, as Matt's girlfriend. She always looks like she's trying to remember her lines. The actors who played Beck, the forest ranger and Clay, the resort manager are a hoot and enliven the film greatly.

The ski scenes are pretty effective, but will never make us forget ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE.

One big plot hole is why Campbell is doing this...he gives Astin a video to take to the press, but we never see it, so hence we're left with a philosophical psychobabble near the end by the worldweary Campbell.

Not a terrible film, but more of a rental than a purchase.

Let me entertain you with 10 reasons to watch Icebreaker, thus wasting 95 minutes of your precious life...

1. The movie starts with some ski resort scenes, you'd think you were watching the winter X-games sponsored by Mountain Dew (the advertising is everywhere!)Enjoy this ridiculously overdrawn out scene with some Beethoven symphony in the background
2. Is the Fig Newton loving bad guy in the beginning the little red headed bully from the Christmas Story movie?
3. Sean Astin escapes the clutches of the ill-acting Russian terrorists via snowboard. He weaves his way down the mountain and is able to throw in some "sick" snowboard moves (360's, footgrabs and such) after each opportune slope. The terrorists try to copy his moves as if this were a competition... silly terrorists, tricks are for Sean Astin.
4. The light-wristed resort manager Clay has a serious blinking problem but provides the best quotes.
5. One of the terrorists (the one with glasses) always has a smile on his face. It just makes me want to smile right back. He sure duped me though, I never would have suspected he was a bad guy.
6. It is a fierce competition of who deserves the worst acting award. Ultimately, the script writers should be ashamed and the cinematography is the worst!
7. Keep an eye out for a scene with Sean Astin and the forest ranger Beck laying in a snowy bunker preparing to break into the terrorist ruled resort. Sean Astin puts on his ski glove backwards!!!!
8. I could be wrong, but it appears that the ski-lift bomb that is about to blow up (in about 5 years) has an "On" and "Off" switch.
9. Only remember one black guy in the movie, and they made him a terrorist!
10. Sean Astin saves the day using a snowball! (don't mean to ruin the ending, but I couldn't keep it in)

And I didn't even mention Bruce Cambell. I am not sure if Icebreaker even deserves one star but this is undoubtedly my favorite movie to watch when I need a good laugh. I LOVE this movie!!!!

This movie is not a top notch hollywood blockbuster... BUT it is entertaining and I enjoyed watching it.

Poor Sean Astin I keep thinking of him in the Lord of the Rings. As an action hero he really does not cut it. He is a great actor, but this role was all wrong. Then you have a bald Bruce Campbell as the evil terrorist. About half way through the movie I found myself rooting for him. That just ain't right. Then again, it is hard not to root for Bruce Campbell he is a living embodiment of an underdog.

Another example of a low-budget B movie made awesome by Bruce Campbell.

I know all B movies are low budget, but for this movie I wanted to stress that point.

This one has to be seen to be believed. Sean Astin seems a likeable guy, but as the headline star in an action film? Sean was more fun in "Encino Man". This is the kind of fare we came to expect at drive-ins in the 1970's.

I give the film two stars because I like Bruce Campbell. Unfortunately, Bruce won't be taking home any Oscars for his performance in this stinker. Bruce is normally capable of being funny and interesting, but he does deliver his lines like he can't wait to get back to his movie-set trailer. In all seriousness, I think Bruce could actually make an interesting bad guy with a little work.

Am I being unfair? Well, here's the plot: Matt (Sean) wants to marry his girlfriend BUT her dad hates him AND there's an airplane with stolen Russian plutonium that crashes near the ski lodge where he works as a ski bum AND the terrorist leader is ticked off at losing his plutonium AND the girlfriend's dad flies in to visit the daughter BUT the terrorists interrupt the happy reunion because they want the plutonium AND the ski lodge is filled with unsuspecting tourists making a fat, juicy target for the terrorists BUT an FBI man has been tracking the terrorists for a long time AND he's quite tenacious BUT things start going wrong AND the terrorists are well-prepared BUT factor in Matt (Sean Astin) AND it just might turn out a little different. Move over Arnold, Sean is on the job!!!

*whew* ... ROTFLOL

Believe me, they threw EVERYTHING into this film except good acting, a believable plot and any sort of a film budget. I must say though, by the end you almost want to give them an "A" for effort because they really did try to keep the action going in between the horrendous dialog. You really have to see the scene with the huge snow thrower. Trust me.

If any of you are "Mystery Science Theater 3000" fans or remember "Mad Movies" from the 1980's, then you'll understand when I say this film is a huge candidate for one of them. Actually it might be kind of fun to watch with some friends, because you could find it unintentionally entertaining. Just be sure you at least have some decent snacks and an emergency escape route as a backup in case your friends are disappointed.