The Iceman

I had to drive over 70miles one way to watch this movie and was it worth it? Hard to say if one watched "the iceman tapes" from HBO. To me personally it was disappointing, but I probably expected way too much. So lower your expectations and you will have a nice evening in the cinema.

Shannon is great, superb, I guess nobody could have played him better, but the editing, the storytelling is very abrupt and a bit too edgy. Its not a good fellas, its not even close to it, don't expect even a mob flick. Its an OK movie that had so much more potential. YET it is still worth watching since you don't see movies like that nowadays very often.

The potential of the story would have been an 11, this movie is a 7 with an extra point for Shannons performance. And in relevance I should mention that I would give broken city a 3.5, gangster squad a 4.5, so I guess people who watch this movie with not so high expectations will love it!

PS. No "the iceman" did NOT got his nick because he was so cold, like another reviewer wrote, but because he froze a body for two years. The officials gave him then that name. All this is well known through the "iceman tapes".

Wow!! What a great feature film for Michael Shannon to display his range of acting and depth of character portrayal as the real New Jersey contract (serial?) killer, Richard Kuklinski. Michael Shannon has played dark brooding characters before such as in his roles in movies like My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, as Brad McCullum, The Man of Steel as General Zod, and in Take Shelter as the father Curtis LaForche, of a family who believe his fixation on building an underground shelter is too extreme. He also plays a dark brooding character in Boardwalk Empire, whose role evolves from a former Prohibition Agent on the run after murdering his partner, to the muscle for a bootlegger. In my watching Michael Shannon evolve as an actor over the past 20 years of film making, I believe he has found his true calling in the mobster/crime genre.

The supporting cast is very strong with Winona Ryder playing the feeble Deborah Kuklinski, the wife of Richard Kuklinski. In actual life Richard and Deborah Kuklinski had two daughters and one son. The movie however depicts the Kuklinski's as only raising two daughters. The reason for this deviation in art imitating life may be to reveal a more softer, caring husband and father Richard Kuklinski, doting over the three women in his life. Which brings me to what I believe the director Ariel Vromen was looking to achieve with this film. Ariel Vromen was on record in stating that after he watched the real Richard Kuklinski HBO documentary The Iceman Tapes: Conversations With A Killer that he "was so amazed by the story that he actually liked Richard Kuklinski and had empathy and sympathy for him."

Some movie goers will not appreciate the lack of gratuitous violence that would have been expected from the real contract killer Richard Kuklinski. So if you are expecting to see a very violent and physical Richard Kuklinski character, the director Ariel Vromen has purposely excluded the violent bloody side of the actual vicious killings of Richard Kuklinski displayed in other movies like Goodfellas, or the Godfather.

Another strong performance was displayed by Ray Liotta who portrays Roy DeMeo a loan shark and drug pusher who is trying to control Richard Kulkinski as his own killing machine. Robert Davi as the middle man between the real mob bosses and Roy DeMeo who wanted more recognition from the mob was well done. Davi, only has a few scenes in the movie, but each of his scenes is significant for the historical references that unfold. Totally away from the humorous character David Schwimmer is known for in the TV series Friends, as Ross Geller, Schwimmer does an excellent job playing Josh Rosenthal, a henchman for mobster Roy DeMeo.

Chris Evans portrayal of Robert Pronger, aka Mr. Freezy, was eerily real to character and a very creative role. He plays a lone wolf who mentors the Iceman and exposes Richard Kuklinski on more practical ways to murder people. Again, the gratuitous violence is very soft core of these two contract killers who are displayed cutting up body parts and loading them in to walk in freezers. The movie is less than two hours long and to capture approximately 30 years of Kuklinski's rampage is difficult to say the least, so I appreciated that the director chose to focus on Richard Kuklinski's multiple characters as the devoted family man. cold blooded killer and lack of emotion or fear, due to flashbacks of his own early childhood abuse at the hands of his father. Stephen Dorff plays Richard's brother Joseph, who true to life was serving a life time term for raping then throwing a teenage girl to her death off the top of a roof. Richard and his brother Joseph were not close in real life and when they were both imprisoned in the same cell block they merely shrugged shoulders towards each other in passing. Why? The real Richard Kuklinski felt his only true family was his children and wife, as portrayed by director Arial Vromer's The Iceman.

This is a must see for any enthusiasts of the real criminal world true stories. It boasts a seasoned group of veteran actors who shared the screen with star Michael Shannon. It is two hours of excellent historical reference minus much of the bloodshed and violence one can see in any one of thousands of B movies if this is what you really want to see.

A life of crime. Are some people genetically predisposed to crime or is it all about choices?

In this hard hitting drama, we follow the rise and fall of Richard Kuklinski played utterly convincingly by Michael Shannon. The man who terrorised many, yet he was a faithful and devoted dad and husband where the constant struggle is shown in keeping the balance between a life of crime and family harmony.

One scene I find particularly mesmerising is when he visits his brother in prison and as he is about to leaves his brother shouts that since are both born criminals they shall both end up in jail.

Kudos to the makers for conveying tension and emotion in the correct dose. My only remark would be that it kind of lost its way between being a crime drama and autobiography, however whilst it successfully is a bit of both, I sort of craved it picked a genre and dig a little deeper.

Although this film has been out for a few years, I have only just seen it - and it is impressive.

Michael Shannon's portrail of real-life hit man Richard Kuklinski is absolutely superb. You really feel drawn into his world at various stages of his 'career', including the conflicts between his chosen profession while trying to maintain some kind of normal family life.

There are plenty of moments in this film that will take you by surprise on your journey with the character.

This film is well worth setting aside time to watch so you become fully engrossed in the story.

Michael Shannon should get at least an Academy Award for his performance in this movie. This guy can act and you lose the person and totally see the characters he portrays. Reminds me of Daniel Day Lewis.

Anyway, I had never heard of this Kuklinsky person and it was interesting to see his story. The multiplicity of his lifestyle had to be a killer (no pun intended) to live out. I don't know of many actors who could go from one to the other so effortlessly. From cold-hearted killer to nice person to ragging man to loving husband and father. Michael Shannon can do this well. And those subtle expressions of his! They're great. Icy. Kind. Murderous.

I'm not a fan of Winona Ryder but I liked her portrayal of the Mrs. in this movie. She was believable and really had the suffering wife thing down.

While leaving the movie I ran into a gentleman who had watched the actual documentary of Kuklinsky's life and he said the movie was a good portrayal of the facts. That is a good thing to hear because this kind of story like lends itself to Hollywood sensationalism. And while some of that may have happened, it was a good movie about a bad man. Did I feel sorry for Kuklinsky at the end? Yes...well actually it was pity that I felt.