Sunday, September 22, 2013

The Iceman

Ariel Vromen – 2013 – USA

Despite a compelling premise and a powerful lead performance by Michael Shannon, who is cornering the market on wacko characters, The Iceman cometh off as a little too routine.  Even if you don’t know the true story upon which it’s based, it unfolds precisely as you expect it to if you know crime movies at all.  Shannon plays Richard Kuklinksi, a sociopath who became a notorious hit man for the mob throughout the 60s and 70s.  The film is weighed down by its screenplay, which runs through key biographical events as though on auto-pilot.  Luckily, good old Ray Liotta is on hand to inject a little passion into it once in a while, even though he too is doing his patented “scary-corrupt-guy” thing that he also did in The Place Beyond the Pines this year.  Overall, I thought it was good but just not very memorable.

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