Best movie of this year hands down!

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Michael Caine plays a former British agent with a penchant for jazz, crowded bars, and mysterious women. In his retirement, he owns a very successful nightclub, and when he meets Sean Young, he's smitten by her appeal and puts on the moves. They have a pretty hot-and-heavy romance—as hot and heavy as things get in 1992—but then she invites him to a classy party with lots of dignitaries. It turns out she's married to the American ambassador! What else is she hiding? Blue Ice is an intense thriller with plenty of action scenes to keep the men watching and plenty of romance to keep the women interested. Ian Holm plays a very wicked bad guy, which, since I've only ever seen him in bad guy roles, isn't too much of a stretch. I happen to be a Michael Caine fan, so I was entertained by the film, but from an outsider's perspective who maybe isn't as much of a fan, it's not really the best movie out there. But if you like all his Harry Palmer spy movies, you might want to watch this one to see how he handles retirement!

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 sexy 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.

I try to be respectful of others opinions as everyone is entitled to one, but, as an actor and a producer who has been the recipient of ignorant comments, I have to respond to some of the comments regarding BLUE ICE. For the person who chastises Michal Cain for doing this picture and suggesting he did it for the pay check, It was his company that produced it. It was supposed to be the first in a line of quarterly pictures for TV with the same character. His partner died and that ended that.Regarding Bob Hoskins small role...he and Caine have been lifelong friends and this is just one more of a number of pictures they have done together and to suggest that Hoskins has "ruined" his career is just ludicrous.The man continues to turn in outstanding performances in A-list films and top of the line independents. See MRS. HENDERSON PRESNETS.The name "Harry" is a staple of Noir through both film, novels and TV-to wit "Harry O" on TV with David Janson in the 70's. "Harry" in Heminghway's TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, and yes, the "Harry Palmer" stories of Len Deighton but that does not mean BLUE ICE is a rip off of those stories. And to suggest that Michal Caine does not do well in action films is ridiculous. See ZULU, BATTLE OF BRITIAN, A BRIDGE TO FAR, and a host of others.I found BLUE ICE to be intelligent, well done, well acted picture with a good script. I do agree that the ending is not up to snuff but the rest of the film, especially the "Jazz" sections, is not something one sees often and it added a measure of quality to the picture.

I was recently on a Russell Mulcahy kick and decided to view his second hard to find direct to video film BLUE ICE after being pleasantly surprised by SILENT TRIGGER with Dolph Lundgren. BLUE ICE has a very engaging storyline but ultimately falls short in the ending. Michael Caine plays ex-British operative Harry Anders unexpectedly and unofficially brought back into action after a traffic accident with mysterious beauty Stacy (Sean Young). A mutual attraction leads Harry to do Stacy a seemingly small favor involving Stacy's ex boyfriend. What follows is a intricately weaved scheme involving arms dealing and some very high ranking "w******". Caine is excellent as the lead character and reminded me of Roger Moore in his heyday as Bond. Sultry and convincing, Sean Young definitely heats up the screen. Look for a good but shortlived cameo by Bob Hoskins. Russell Mulcahy once again puts some effective visuals onto the screen including a hyper intense torture/interrogation sequence and effective lighting.However, the time it took to create such an effective story and relationship between the two leads is wasted with a conclusion that emphasizes what Michael Caine is not: an action hero. Although the fight scenes in Harry's bar were forgivable, Michael Caine running around with a gun (albeit a cool gun) in the final showdown just struck me as awkward. The action also was a unnecessary reminder that the film was done on a low budget...a very low budget. Yet another film that came into fruition with a strong story and performances but would ultimately run out of steam with uninspired and unspectacular action. Of course Mr. Mulcahy would come back in fine form later with direct to video films SILENT TRIGGER, TALOS THE MUMMY, and RESURRECTION.