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Critics Consensus: Icarus is eye-opening viewing for professional sports enthusiasts, yet it should also prove thoroughly gripping even for filmgoers who might not necessarily be drawn to the subject.
Critic Consensus: Icarus is eye-opening viewing for professional sports enthusiasts, yet it should also prove thoroughly gripping even for filmgoers who might not necessarily be drawn to the subject.
All Critics (46) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (3)
If you want insight into cheating in sports and the complicated reasons why it happens over and over, Icarus will open your eyes as never before. It is essential viewing for anyone interested in athletics or competitive sports of any type.
It's fair, then, to call Icarus a coup for a first-time documentarian, the product of both dumb luck and a strange rapport between Fogel and Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov.
Imagine a version of Morgan Sperlock's Super Size Me in which, instead of merely bloating up, Sperlock entered into an uneasy friendship with an evil clown version of Ronald McDonald, and you'll get a sense of this doc's unexpected depth.
Rodchenkov proves a surprisingly lovable personality --- wry, funny, and gregarious. But things get dark and dangerous when the Russian Olympic doping program is exposed and Rodchenkov fears that he might be in a position of knowing too much.
The unwieldiness is part and parcel of the movie's ragged appeal. None of this was by design.
The film moves into more interesting terrain when it follows the odyssey of Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov.
Because the doc kicks into high gear when Rodchenkov enters the picture -- and because Rodchenkov is such a fascinating subject -- one is inclined to forgive Fogel for his false start of a beginning.
The film knows when to abandon this storyline in favor of a far grander and impactful narrative.
This documentary takes this to a whole other level. It's fascinating.
The entire film is gripping, giving the audience no-holds-barred access to the biggest sporting controversy of the century, as well as pulling back the newly re-erected iron curtain ever so slightly to see the inner workings of the Kremlin.
This is fascinating, scary stuff, not the least of which is the bald-faced lies told all around that are delivered as fact. Icarus is the perfect fable for our time.
With extra visual support and an interesting contribution from Rodchenkov himself... Icarus is a work that should resonate. [Full review in Spanish]
This mind-blowing, tense and extremely well-made documentary exposes an uncomfortable truth that should call into question the whole purpose of watching the games anymore, when this awful disregard for ethics can find such an easy way in and become endemic to the whole thing.
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