THE ICEMAN contains some of the best performances you're going to see all year and there's no question that the man himself is an interesting figure for a movie but sadly the picture isn't as great as one would hope and this is due to the screenplay. The Iceman (2012) *** (out of 4) Good drama telling the true story of Richard Kuklinksi (Michael Shannon), a husband and father who keeps from his loved ones the fact that he's a hit man for the mob and killed over a hundred people. THE ICEMAN is a dark gangster outing and a film I enjoyed greatly. Winona Ryder gets short shrift as Shannon's wife, but then the focus is on executions and the like so family life doesn't count for much. The storyline is quite predictable but there's plenty of violence and outrageous situations to keep things bubbling along, and there seems to be little "fat" on the narrative to slow things down. I spent ages trying to place one character only to realise it was David Schwimmer, a far cry from FRIENDS. There are some great supporting actors in the film too, including an unrecognisable Chris Evans as a psycho (the best I've seen from him) and Robert Davi as another old-time gangster. I admit I'm biased: I can't get enough of this guy, I love the kooky characters he plays and this is another addition to that fold. The protagonist is played by the excellent Michael Shannon, of TV's BOARDWALK EMPIRE, and he helps to make this a grounded, realistic production. It's deliberately styled to reflect the 'classic' gangster films of yesteryear, particularly Scorsese's GOODFELLAS, taking place in the same era and even with some of the same cast members (Ray Liotta, here taking the sort of role Robert De Niro would have played back in the day). THE ICEMAN is based on the supposed true story of a Mafia hit-man who killed hundreds of people during a period ranging from the 1960s to the 1980s.
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