The Iceman

The Iceman tells the true story of Richard Kuklinski, devote family man and notorious contract killer.  Richard Kuklinski claimed to have killed over 100 people during his career. But he was a murderer with a code. No women, no children. Even if they witnessed something they shouldn't have. Michael Shannon, an already imposing dude, brings his usual intensity to the role of the titular character, but the moments where we get to see the killer as a family man above all else are what help make this bio pic just a tad more interesting than all the rest.


The film opens in the mid 60s with Kuklinski on his first date with his wife, played by Winona Ryder. The scene itself is pretty familiar, but Ryder and Shannon have a nice attraction to one another that's credible, and we get our first glimpse of how this obviously stoic man can be broken down by a good woman.

Flash forward 5 years. Shannon and Ryder are married with child, Shannon has already killed a guy outside a bar in cold blood and joins the mafia after murdering a homeless man for initiation, all within 10 minutes. I have no doubt that most of that really happened, at least to some degree, but my main beef is that director Ariel Vromen rushes through all this like he only has 90 minutes to tell this story! Which, um, I guess is true. Whatever, my point is that while Vromen is able to create an appropriately grim tone and gets good performances from his surprisingly impressive cast, it just seems that he doesn't have enough time to tell this story they way it should be told.

Kuklinski's story spans multiple decades, and while I don't believe every movie HAS to be 2+ hours, it feels like The Iceman needed at least an extra 30 minutes for it to be able to leave more of an impression.  What makes this even more troubling is how Vromen and the screenwriters spend a good chunk of time dealing with crime boss Ray Liotta and his no good friend played by a barely recognizable David Schwimmer(SCHWIMMER?!?). While it's interesting to see Schwimmer doing something so different and it's always nice to see Liotta in something decent, I really don't see the need to spend so much time on the subplot, especially when the main characters story is so interesting.

Even with all that frustration, there's still a lot of stuff that Vromen got right and makes The Iceman worth recommending. Aside from another good Michael Shannon performance, Vromen spends a good amount of time showing Kuklinski's relationship with his family and how he was able to deceive them for almost 20 years. It's easy to think that a spouse would obviously realize something wasn't right in a situation like this, and the film actually alludes to the fact that his wife might have had a suspicion that he was at least involved in something not entirely legal, but she certainly never suspected murder was involved. Kuklinski proved himself to be a loving husband and father, and the film makes a good case as to how he could have hidden his true profession for so long. And of course, it also makes his ability to kill without much remorse all the more shocking. 

Special mention must also be made that The Iceman features a GREAT performance from Chris Evans as a fellow hitman Kuklinski partners with. I'm going to be genuinely saddened if Evans really quits acting in favor of directing. Don't get me wrong, it's great that he wants to branch out, but he has gotten better with each role and I for one would seriously miss that charisma of his.

Despite its faults, The Iceman proves to be an entertaining and fascinating look into one of the most brutal killers of the 20th century. But still, with a bit more focus and perhaps a longer running time, it really could have been one of the greats.