Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Very Cool!!!

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

The distribution team and the creative team behind The Iceman must have had different views on what the film was. The distributors must have seen a more prestige picture, hence the Venice and Toronto festival screenings along with a limited theatrical release. The creators, on the other hand, saw this as a mid-level gangster-thriller that was more for general audiences than festival crowds. This difference probably led to the film following into obscurity quickly. A silver lining to that previous statement is that this film could now be considered a hidden gem for fans of straight-forward entertaining gangster films. The film tells the violent middle life of Richard Kuklinski aka "The Iceman"(Michael Shannon), a hitman for the mob who is estimated to have killed between 100-250 people in New York from the 60s to 80s. Richard is a devoted family man, especially to his loyal wife Deborah (Winona Ryder). He never lets his family know what he really does, hiding the truth behind lies about working for banks and dubbing Disney films. Richard is good at what he does, which initially leads him to work for mob boss Roy Demeo (Ray Liotta). After years of working for Demeo, Richard is forced out and teams up with fellow hitman "Mr. Freezy" (Chris Evans). Together they make a great pair as Richard does the hits and Freezy dumps the bodies. Eventually, Richard's job takes hold of his life, turning everything he loves upside down and against him.The Iceman never presents itself as a prestige gangster film like Goodfellas. The director and crew know they are making an ordinary film that is purely for entertainment. However, just because this is for entertainment doesn't mean it's is perfect. The overall plot is handled rather poorly as some characters don't get enough time to make themselves unique. Ray Liotta's storyline is never completed and is left on a bad note. James Franco pops up for about three minutes in a subplot that feels too forced into revealing Richard's motivations. The Iceman is also strife with historical inaccuracies. Liberties must be taken when adapting real life, but this film takes it a step too far. Richard's true past and violent relationship with his wife are scrubbed for a version that is more cinematically useable. Anybody familiar with the real story of Kuklinski will most likely not enjoy this film.The camera work by Bobby Bukowski gives the film a documentary look. Even though this is a biopic, we never get that feeling. Darkness is always on the edge of the frame as we watch every moment with constant fear. Tension is always present as each character is always in danger of being killed.Michael Shannon is brilliant again as one of America's most infamous killers. Shannon uses his natural psychotic looks to blend in perfectly. He also uses his rage and stone cold face to create a feeling of fear and mystery around Richard. Winona Ryder gives one of her better performances as the oblivious wife that cares too much. She's in over her head, but she doesn't realize it until it's too late. Chris Evans is almost unrecognizable behind long hair and facial hair. He does an acceptable job as a killer that gets almost too much pleasure from his work.Finally, Ray Liotta keeps his streak of supporting roles going. He just does an alright job as he plays the stereotypical mob boss. He doesn't add anything new and mostly spouts the same lines we've heard in every other gangster film.If you're coming into this film expecting a high-grade gangster film, you're going to be disappointed. This film is for the audience that enjoys linear action and straightforward storytelling. Boasting one of Michael Shannon's best performances, The Iceman is an acceptable and entertaining film that doesn't take itself, or history, too seriously.

Out of all movies based on a notorious murderer, such as a Serial Killer, this one was by far one of the best, maybe along-side "Dear Mr. Gacy" which I haven't gotten around seeing but hopefully I will, and as- well the "Secret Life of Jeffrey Dahmer" and "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer", and of-course "Zodiac" despite I only seen half of it.Basically the film is based on the life of Richard Kuklinski (Played by Michael Shannon), a huge, but ordinary looking man who is married to a beautiful woman and have two gorgeous daughters, and claimed to them to dubbed Disney films and later worked in the Bank system because of it for a living, but actually he doesn't works for either one of them, but instead no other than the Mafia, by at first dubs Pornographic films but then became a hired-man for Murder, which is something he done before and seemingly have no issue with, and even though he was cut-off by the Mob later-on, he became a typical serial killer with the name the "Iceman". This however, became a personal problem for him between his actual career and his family because of his former connections with the mob, with some threats that he dealing with about his wife and kids, in which lead to him to try his best to prevent any of this. This movie was quite powerful as we see a man who made the bad choice of becoming a Assistant of America's worst ever Crime Organization, despite having a loving family fill with Women, a family he well devoted for, and does not like them being insulted or threaten. Shannon did a good job playing with the right emotions, when Kuklinski is either happy, sad, or mad. My favorite scene of him is when he's talking to his brother, Joey (Played by Stephen Dorff), who is in prison for raping and murdering a little girl. Just a strong anger he gave to him, makes the scene stand-out, and another great one (This is not a spoiler because you can find this chip on YouTube) is when a man who he accidentally bump into his car in traffic, and the man then insults him and his family which pisses him off and then tries to car-chase him with his wife and daughters, that was just crazy, and made them realize something ain't right about him. I also thought it was clever to cast Ray Liotta, who you might be familiar with from the popular movie "Goodfellas", as the lead mob guy of the film. He delivers a nice performance here, just showing your good-old Italian-American Gangster. Chris Evans did a brilliant job playing Kuklinski's partner in crime and obvious comic relief, at first when I saw him in this film, I honestly didn't even know it was him until I check on the rest of the cast, that just surprises me that Captain America plays in this type of film. I thought his character was kinda funny, I even found his first encounter with Kuklinski just great, especially how that particular scene ends, just wow. James Franco was also in this movie but just a minor role however until he's done with. Yeah don't really have anything else to say about of the cast except they're just alright I guess. I really likes the classic Italian- gangster feel of this film, it shows that this never dies even long after the 80s and the 90s with the Godfather movies and the Goodfellas (Back to the fact of casting Liotta).Overall, this movie ain't that bad, but there is a-bit of problems comparing to this film plot and the real-life story of the Iceman, such as not showing his first kill as a child (Yes, that is true) or how his relationship begans which was quite brutal if you're wondering, if you want to hear about check-out Rob Dyke's video about Kuklinski or any of the HBO specials that shows interviews of him before he dies back in 2006. But overall they didn't seems to leave out a-lot of things which is good, I'm even surprise they actually bother bringing-up his abusive father (Which wasn't be a surprise either, as he a psychopathic killer, of-course, pretty usual). Anyways, if you love films like Zodiac or the Goodfellas and Godfather or both, I would recommend you guys checking this out.

I'm extremely surprised this movie didn't do well at the box office, but perhaps it is due to people's unfamiliarity with the real Iceman the story is based off of. Overall its a great movie, and a classic gangster film for fans of the genre.

I had heard about this film many times a year or so after its release, specifically how good it was meant to be, and I later found out it was based on real events, so I was looking forward to sitting down and watching it. Basically set in the 1960s, Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) dates and marries Deborah Pellicotti (Winona Ryder), they have two daughters, but everything is not ordinary, Richard is very secretive to his family. Deborah thinks that Richard dubs Disney cartoons, in fact he works as a lab technician for porn films, supplied to a mob operated syndicate, he later changes career when his bosses, including the powerful Roy Demeo (Ray Liotta) persuade him to become a contract killer. Richard, who had been the victim of beatings from his immigrant Polish father as a child, is emotionally disturbed and intensely violent, he easily passes his test to kill an unknown homeless man and proving his lack of feeling whilst killing. Over the years Richard spends as a contract killer he gains a reputation for his cold-blooded professionalism, while his family is kept in the dark about his true career, but mob politics force him to go independent, working secretly with psychopathic Robert "Mr. Freezy" Pronge (Chris Evans). Richard earns the nickname "Iceman", for his method of freezing a victim to mask the time of death, but he finds it very difficult to separate his professional and family lives, circumstances and his own weaknesses threaten them to collide and there follow consequences. In the end, Richard Kuklinski is arrested in the year 1986, following an undercover sting operation, neither his wife Deborah nor his daughters ever suspected he was a cold-blooded killer, he admitted to over 100 vicious murders in his 22-year career, he never saw his family again after being sentenced to two life terms, he died under suspicious circumstances in prison in 2006. Also starring James Franco as Marty Freeman, David Schwimmer as Josh Rosenthal, Robert Davi as Leonard Merks, Stephen Dorff as Joey Kuklinski and Erin Cummings as Ellen. This film ultimately belongs to Shannon, who gives a compelling as the psychopathic monster posing as an average family man, the murderer behind the human, there is good support from Ryder, Liotta, Evans and the others, it is almost a traditional mob movie premise, with strong moments of violence, it may slightly slow in places, but there are flourishes of style, and overall it is a good biographical crime thriller. Worth watching!