ICARUS Movie Review

ICARUS: Movie Review

“One man can blow the lid off history’s biggest sports doping scandal. But what is he willing to endure to expose the truth?”

A major Olympic cheating scandal is uncovered by accident by an American documentary filmmaker (who happens to be a competitive amateur cyclist) and a Russian scientist. When they realize their combined knowledge points fingers at Russia's secret sports doping program, the plot thickens and unravels simultaneously. This documentary is (for all intents and purposes) a combination of dumb luck and exceptional investigative reporting. Bryan Fogel, the writer, director, and subject of the documentary, set out to try and uncover the unexplained truths about doping in sports (specifically Olympics and professional cycling). He wanted to show how athletes master the art of evading detection by taking performance-enhancing drugs himself and attempting to pass anti-doping laboratory tests – think of this like SuperSize me, but about performance enhancing drugs. In order to do this, he had to enlist the help of the best scientist/’pharmicist’; in this case, it happens to be infamous Russian doctor, Grigory Rodchenkov, a pillar of Russia's anti-doping program. Everything Grigory was saying, doing, and advising (from smuggling urine, to how to take the drugs) Bryan, he shouldn’t have been. But Bryan takes all of the info, in an attempt to be better at his next cycling event.

Where the movie takes a turn, in exposing the ins and outs of Russia’s state-sponsored doping program, is when the ball drops on Russia’s reknowned drug use/involvement in the Olympics – on an international, televised level. The documentary managed to catch the critical point in sports history whereby WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) exposed state-wide sponsored cheating and corruption. The report found that Rusada (the Russian anti doping agency) had delayed reporting of doping test results, warned Russian athletes in advance of surprise tests, and allowed athletes suspected of doping to keep competing; tainting the results of competitions including the 2012 London Olympics. Rusada officials even accepted bribes from athletes before testing, the report said. Imagine all this being caught on film, with Grigory as one of the main subjects of WADA’S investigation!

There’s an implication in the movie that Russian the mafia is taking over different sectors of the government, combined with the unexplained death of Nikita Kamayev, Rodchenkov’s ‘partner-in-crime’ as the executive director of Russia’s anti-doping program. This happened two months after he resigned from his post.

But we don’t want to give too much away… see it for yourself!

For the record, Icarus has a 91% rating from Critics on RottenTomatoes.com and 95% from the audience.

Watch it on Netflix here

Directed By:
Bryan Fogel

Written By:
Bryan Fogel, Mark Monroe, Timothy Rode