The Iceman Reviews

To be honest, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but it sounded like an intriguing story and since there was a nice cast involved, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, since it was dealing with probably the most notorious hitman that ever existed, there was definitely some potential for a great movie but, eventually, it turned out to be a decent watch but not much more than that, I'm afraid. First of all, we have to give some credit  to Michael Shannon who delivered here once again a really strong performance but, unfortunately,  it was only his performance that really worked in this movie. Indeed, eventually, we only got a glimpse of Kuklinski's personality and the makers never managed to really give us an interesting analysis on this dark character. I mean, right from the start, when he gets in touch with the mob and they decide to hire his services as a hitman, it felt really awkward and rather unconvincing and, from that point, the whole thing never really got better. In fact, the other characters were even more poorly developed than Kuklinski and, to make things worse, it was even sometimes rather difficult to understand what the hell was going on. Anyway, to conclude,  in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look, if only for Michael Shannon's performance, but there is no doubt that it could have been much better with such strong material.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The Iceman is a biopic of the notorious contract killer Richard Kuklinski, who kept his true professional life hidden from his family.
I have to admit, this is a hard movie to talk about. Since I don't know the true story, my only hope was the film would tell it well enough to hold my interest.
Well, it half succeeded. During the first half, I was really struck by the earnestly morose tone, and could follow the proceedings without any difficulty. But, as the film progressed, I found it increasingly hard to understand what was going on and how the various events were connected – probably because I was having trouble cracking the dialogue. While I wasn't completely lost, it did leave me increasingly confused.
The brilliance of Michael Shannon's performance as Kuklinski never faltered, though. :) He's portrayed as a very cold, professional killer, completely unflinching. But he still truly loves his family – indeed, as he puts it, they're the only people who mean anything at all to him. So, when they're threatened later on, you start to get desperately worried just as he does. Also, after Man of Steel, it's such a relief to see Michael Shannon give a performance to be proud of within the same year! :)
To sum it up, while I might need to see it again to fully understand it, I'd still recommend this to anyone who wants to see a solid contract killer story. It's not great, but it's very effective.

My rating: 70%

Intense. Real. = REAL INTENSE, dramatization of the 'fine line' traveled by those who must/may lead "separate lives"; and, the Improbability of the success at keeping them so.

Michael Shannon surely carries the role (and the film) with excellent "baddy" support from Ray Liotta & Robert Davi. Took me a while to recognize David Schwimmer - as there is not one ?hint? (in the character) from his days on "Friends" - Well played, David. - jts