The Iceman

I honestly did not know who Michael Shannon is, until i watched his motion picture Take Shelter. This is one of those titles you don´t forget, because the acting in this movie is absolutely explosive from Michael Shannon. Take Shelter never found a wider audience, but i still tried to recommend it to anyone i could. Recently we could see Shannon as General Zod in the latest Superman movie Man Of Steel. But now we get to see him, in a fresh new motion picture, based on a true story about the contract killer Richard Kuklinski. A gangster thriller set in the 60´s and 70´s, is this another great performance by Michael Shannon, or is this not his cup of tea ?

Richard Kuklinski ( Michael Shannon ) works for gangster Roy DeMeo ( Ray Liotta ). Roy pay Richard to take out people who are considered to be a problem, for their business. Before he became a hitman, Roy worked dubbing porno movies, just to get paid. His wife Deborah Kuklinski ( Winona Ryder ), does not know what he does, or not even what he did in his past. This becomes a big problem, when the law is looking for who is responible for all these killings. But this is not the only problem. while killing one of his targets, a young girl is a witness to this murder. But instead of killing her, Richard let her go out in the streets. Roy DeMeo is furious, and tells Richard he is decommissioned. Richard is determined to prove that he is under control, but is he really ?

You might think this is another gangster movie, that looks like most of the classics. Well, not entirely. Since this is based on the true story of Richard Kuklinski, the plot at least have some originality left in store. Michael Shannon manage to show how emotionless Richard was, a man who did not care about human life, I am most pleased to see how great Ray Liotta is, as the evil Roy DeMeo, he really know how to make characters believable , and powerful on the big screen. But hold your horses, i have to say how great it is to see Robert Davi back in a bigger production. He may not do his best performance here in a smaller role, but still this legendary actor knows how to deliver in his own special way. The Iceman is an effective thriller movie, that works so well thanks to so many great actors. To know that Kuklinski murdered about 200 people is very shocking, and that he raised his family on that money. Well worth a watch, and remember to check out David Schwimmer as Josh Rosenthal, you will not recognize him in his 70´s look.

Rating: DDD