sddavis63 I was completely unfamiliar with the story of Richard Kuklinski, but was attracted to the movie by the compelling true story that served as the description of the movie. In "The Iceman, we're given a look at Kuklinski's life. Played here by Michael Shannon, Kuklinksi was an ice cold (thus, along with freezing his victims, his nickname and the name of the film) contract killer who over the course of his life murdered perhaps as many as 200 people - possibly even more. The movie gives us a taste of his "career" as a serial killer, along with a look at his home life with his wife (played by Winona Ryder) and two daughters. The most interesting part of the movie (and the real story of his life) is the way he essentially compartmentalized the two parts of his life, to the extent that his family (while they may have had some suspicions that he was involved in crime) never knew that he was a contract killer. It was interesting watching that aspect of his life, interspersed with some of his experiences with various mob figures. And I'd say that the performances of both Shannon and Ryder were pretty good. But I felt that the movie itself could have been better; could have accomplished more; could have given us more of a feel for Kuklinski's life. Instead, it seemed rushed and disjointed. There wasn't enough depth given to Kuklinski, and the result was that the movie, while interesting, was also at times confusing. It was hard to make the connections from one scene to the next. Sometimes it seemed as if years had elapsed between scenes. At times, this seemed more like a series of vignettes of Kuklinski's life rather than a well developed account of how he became who he was. I certainly wanted to see it through to the end - there was never any sense that I had wasted my time by watching it. But it wasn't entirely satisfying, either.And having researched a bit about Kuklinski I wondered why they makers of the movie felt the need to take such great liberties with the "family" side of the story. I can understand why they would change the names of his wife and daughters - but a lot was off in the timing. I do't remember any mention of him having been married before. In the movie there were only two daughters - but there was also a son. And the movie strangely claimed that after he was finally arrested and sent to prison, he never saw his family again - which wasn't true. There were phone calls, and there were some visits (and in fact his wife and one daughter visited him in the prison hospital shortly before he died.) Was there a feeling that the made up story would make this a more interesting movie? It didn't. Once I found out the truth, it just seemed like a strange decision.It was a decent movie, and it inspired me to want to find out more about Kuklinski's story. So it deserves some credit for that. (6/10)

cinemajesty Film Review: "The Iceman" (2012)Finding the essence of a real-life contract killer by restraining breath work and fixed eyeballs on any given scene opponent, actor Michael Shannon owns this picture, benefiting from an precise and strictly forwarding directions by Ariel Vromen, who hardly could improve this already streamlining picture with his mixed follow-up project "Criminal" (2016) before turning to an novel adaptation on the character of Egyptian Spy Ashraf Marwan (1944-2007) for his new project "The Angel" (2018)."The Iceman" could have been the classic for the time being. Actor Michael Shannon carries nearly every scene as the character of Richard Kuklinski in this picture, when encountering one-by-one the supporting cast, starting out from actress Winona Ryder as his wife Deborah in a charming introduction scene at a dinner, followed by meeting the employing character of Roy Demeo, performed in "GoodFellas" recalling mode by Ray Liotta, the one character, who's resolution gets dropped by the end, while every one else, including actor Chris Evans as welcoming beyond Captain America character of Mr. Freezy and a one scene appearance by actor James Franco of minor significance as struggling advantage-looking artist Marty Freeman, had been sent a bill by Michael Shannon's dominating acting appearance.Director Ariel Vromen made sure that the cinematography under Bobby Bukowski keeps afloat at all times, finding the most engaging angles with atmospheric lighting shifts in a film, which elegantly covers time periods from 1964 to 1986 within a compact running time of 100 Minutes (excluding the end crawler) makes "The Iceman" highly recommended to an audience appreciating power house acting, constant thrills and a 10 Million $ production budget well-spent under watchful surveillance of industry's producing specialist Avi Lerner, having giving space for a motion picture product, which does not need to shy away from a comparison of crime thriller genre-owning directors as Martin Scorsese.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

dierregi This movie got some of the most deranged reviews I ever read on IMDb. Most people read the non-fiction book or watched a documentary about the real "Iceman" and complained about everything in the movie - from not being true to the "real" story to missing gory details. Maybe they are not aware that a movie and a documentary are two different things…..Others complained about Kuklinski and the mob not being glorified enough, as in other "cool" gangsters' movies. I watched it as a self-standing movie, without any comparison to books or documentaries. As such, it gives a rather chilling but probably correct insight into the non- glamorous, sleazy world of real-life mafia.Kuklinski was a hit-man who managed to lead a double life for decades. Allegedly his wife and children never knew how he earned his life. Kuklinski was a brutal killing machine, associated with the mafia but also "freelancing". A true psychopath who killed over 100 people Kuklinski could inflict pain without any distress and his only motivation was money. Shannon plays the part chillingly well. Ryder was also good as the hypocrite wife, who knows something is going on, but find it more convenient to ignore it. Chris Evans was for me the star of the movie, playing with some vitality another psycho serial killer, without making him even slightly sympathetic.The main problem with the movie was that Kuklinski besides being a psychopath, seems to suffer from split personality. He is brutally cold and emotionless, but also a devoted husband and father. I did not buy that. This was gloomy and depressing, although reasonably well made. I regret having wasted time watching it.

Jackson Booth-Millard 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!