THE ICEMAN

   

Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language and some sexual content

Cast: Michael Shannon, Wynona Ryder, Ray Liotta, David Schwimmer, Robert Davi, with James Franco, Stephen Dorff and Chris Evans
Written By: Morgan Land and Ariel Vromen
Directed By: Ariel Vromen



COLD-BLOODED
Review By Andrew Shuster

Michael Shannon is one of the best and most interesting character-actors to emerge in recent years and his performance as Richard 'The Iceman' Kuklinski solidifies his graduation to leading man. The Iceman takes place in New Jersey from the 1970's through 80's and chronicles Kuklinski's career as a mafia hit-man, with over 100 murders to his name. There's a sustained level of tension throughout, with a few scenes reaching edge-of-your-seat status.

Kuklinski begins his journey as a dubber for porn movies, although he tells his wife Deborah (Wynona Ryder) that he dubs Disney cartoons. The pornography operation is run by Roy Demeo (Ray Liotta) a ruthless mob boss. It seems as if Liotta's played this same role in the last ten movies he's been in, however few actors play as good a scumbag as Liotta, and I wouldn't mind seeing him do this part in his next ten movies. Because of his cold dead eyes that suggest a madman lurking beneath, Kuklinski is hired by Demeo to be his "iceman", or contract killer. In a very tense scene, Demeo wants to see if Kuklinski has the brass for the job, and orders him to kill a random homeless man on the street. There's a certain recklessness and immorality associated with this group even more so than in your average gangster flick. For example, we kind of like the trio of killers in Goodfellas, but there's nothing to like about Demeo and his hoodlums.

What progresses after Kuklinski gets the gig are a series of murders that he performs as nonchalantly as if he were tying his shoe. In a rather sadistic scene, Kuklinski pays a visit to Marty Freeman (James Franco), an amateur photographer who knows a bit too much. Kuklinski gets a kick out of watching Marty kneel down and recite the Lord's Prayer while a gun is pointed in his face. "Go ahead and pray. If your god can come and stop me from killing you in the next thirty minutes you can walk away". Thirty minutes passes. "I guess god's busy". Suffice to say, James Franco only has once scene in this film. While that's perhaps his most disturbing hit, Kuklinski was killing before he ever got paid for it. In flashbacks we see a young Richard Kuklinski deeming insults and cross looks grounds for capital punishment.

In a true testament to his performance, Shannon is so scary in this role that you'd be nervous to meet the actor in person. And yet, the film still makes the mistake of attempting levity by making him somewhat of an anti-hero. "Is there any job you won't take", a friend asks him, "I don't kill women or children", he responds. There's also the major subplot and dynamic of Kuklinski's family life. He loves his wife and two daughters but not enough to keep them out of harms way with his activities. In one of the film's most intense scenes, Kuklinski gets involved in a fender bender while driving with his wife and children. The passenger in the other car is less than polite during the altercation curising out Kuklinski and his family. In a blind rage, Kuklinski speeds down crowded streets and through alleyways chasing the man. His wife and girls' become terrified, crying and screaming for him to stop but he's so focused on vengeance he doesn't even hear them. Kuklinski shows a possessive determination in protecting his family, but is it really his family he's trying to protect or his own ego? His family is an extension of him, they represent him and to insult them is to insult him. As a result he dangerously risks the lives of his wife and daughters in a thoughtless car chase because a man said some unkind words to them. Make no mistake, this is a bad bad man, but the film still wants you to feel some camaraderie with him if only for the fact that most of the other characters are even more evil. There's also an attempt to justify or understand his behavior through flashbacks to his father beating him as a child. It's a misstep the film takes in what should have been a strict character study of an unredeemable killer.

 A great supporting cast sells this material more effectively than it probably was in script form, with each actor getting a scene or two to shine. The aforementioned Ray Liotta is incredibly sinister making you hate him with a passion. It was a bit disconcerting seeing David Schwimmer pop up as Josh Rosenthal, one of Demeo's henchman. He's decked out in a leather jacket and rocking a handle-bar mustache, but personality wise, he's not much different than if Ross from "Friends" had joined the mob. Stephen Dorff makes a powerful appearance as Kuklinski's younger brother Joey, who's serving a life sentence for the murder of a 12-year-old girl. After an unpleasant exchange while visiting Joey in prison, he tells Richard, "Who do you think you're fooling playing family man? You're gonna end up right here with me". Chris Evans, better known as "Captain America", couldn't be more different than his superhero alter ego giving a great performance as Mr. Freezy, Kuklinski's fellow hit-man. To give some insight into this character's psyche, at one point he suggests that he and Kuklinski kill each others families because "They're loose ends, what if they talk?". His nickname 'Mr. Freezy' comes from the fact that he drives an ice-cream truck as a cover for his hits, often hiding the bodies in the truck's freezer. He teaches Kuklinski this method, employed so that the cops won't be able to identify the victims time of death. Kuklinski adopts this strategy giving 'The Iceman' a double meaning.

The film is quite violent and doesn't shy away from showing the audience Kuklinski using his various killing tools, such as guns, knives, icepicks, and cyanide. He liked to switch up his methods almost viewing his manhunts as a sport. The graphic violence serves to amp up the tension as there are many moments throughout the film where you know someone is about to be murdered, you just don't know how or when. The musical score adds to the overall feeling of dread, and when things get too quiet you know you're about to witness something horrifying.

While The Iceman doesn't show us anything we haven't seen before from this genre, it's still a solid entry in the myriad of mob movies, working both as a character study of a sociopath as well as a crime drama. A great cast serves to elevate the material and director Ariel Vromen is adept at constructing suspenseful sequences. It's a slight entry as far as mafia sagas go, but if you have a soft spot in your heart for films about organized crime and maniacal killers, this one's worth seeing.