Actor Michael Shannon continues to re-write the book on how to portray dark, devilish, villains with more spunk and spitfire than I've seen since Anthony Hopkins in Silence of The Lambs which is the rise of a true character actor . This is definitely an actor who is going places and going places fast soon to be cast as the GREAT GENERAL ZOD
in the Superman Re-boot "Man of Steel" coming soon to theaters.
Oh does that mean is this movie............SAFE?
AWWWWWW....depends on what you are going to watch it for. If you want to watch it as a fine example of character portrayal than I'll say yes. However, to watch it for a wonderful biographical portrayal? Welll....I'm going to vouch on that one.
The movie "The IceMan" directed by Ariel Vromen is based on the true story of Richard Kucklinski, part time family man, part time mob hitman ,
who has testified to carry out more than 100 or more years from a span of 20 years for the Gambino Crime Family working under Capo Roy DeMeo.
who has testified to carry out more than 100 or more years from a span of 20 years for the Gambino Crime Family working under Capo Roy DeMeo.
Surprisingly in this movie it's not the murders in the movie that become Kuklinski's calling card but his home life. Honestly, it would have been more appropriate for Vromen to take the Goodfellas approach in showing the rise and fall of one of American's Unforgettable and brutal serial killers known to date. I mean they had a lot of material they were drawing from, from Phillip Carlo's book "The Iceman"
so why not have a slow build up to show us the who, what, where, why, and how he became so violent, cruel, and sadistic. That would have been more interesting that just flashback a few years before his first recorded mob call when he first meets his soon to be wife Deborah Kucklinski played by Winona Ryder
(Richard's real wife name is Barbara Kucklinksi but choose to not have her name mentioned ) and expect us to pick up the pieces from there.
so why not have a slow build up to show us the who, what, where, why, and how he became so violent, cruel, and sadistic. That would have been more interesting that just flashback a few years before his first recorded mob call when he first meets his soon to be wife Deborah Kucklinski played by Winona Ryder
(Richard's real wife name is Barbara Kucklinksi but choose to not have her name mentioned ) and expect us to pick up the pieces from there.
Honestly when the couple met Richard was already a contract killer carrying out various hits members of the DeCavalcante Crime Family (inspiration for David Chase's hit HBO Series "The Sopranos")
. It was that reputation that brought him into the fold of the sadistic Roy DeMeo and his class of psycho killers. That's why I don't like these bio pics because they either portrayal the character to a T like Henry Hill's portrayal of the mob in Goodfellas or just fall short like this one.
. It was that reputation that brought him into the fold of the sadistic Roy DeMeo and his class of psycho killers. That's why I don't like these bio pics because they either portrayal the character to a T like Henry Hill's portrayal of the mob in Goodfellas or just fall short like this one.
What Vromen did get write was establishing the connection between Kucklinski and Roy DeMeo who also has a extensive crime sheet all his own. Kucklinski owed money to DeMeo for a loan shark debt , proves his loyalty for being stone cold by killing a homeless man, and later works off his debt as one of DeMeo's finest contract killers.
There was truly a moment in that movie to really build up and intertwine their storylines more through to DeMeo's over abuse of mob power in the Gambino Crime Family to carry out murders, to DeMeo's slaying, to Richard's arrest and incarceration. Afterall, DeMeo ran with the Gambino Crime Family before he became a Capo and ran a extensive carjacking, drug dealing, distribution of illegal pornography, and various mob murders. In fact their murder racket and their sadistic enjoyment of carrying out the murders even scarred out the toughest gangsters in John Gotti that not even him and his crew wanted nothing to do with the DeMeo's. DeMeo's power eventually got out of control that he was put of commission by Gambino Crime Boss Paul Castelano. Richard Kuklinski came in the picture at a great time during DeMeo's stronghold .
There was truly a moment in that movie to really build up and intertwine their storylines more through to DeMeo's over abuse of mob power in the Gambino Crime Family to carry out murders, to DeMeo's slaying, to Richard's arrest and incarceration. Afterall, DeMeo ran with the Gambino Crime Family before he became a Capo and ran a extensive carjacking, drug dealing, distribution of illegal pornography, and various mob murders. In fact their murder racket and their sadistic enjoyment of carrying out the murders even scarred out the toughest gangsters in John Gotti that not even him and his crew wanted nothing to do with the DeMeo's. DeMeo's power eventually got out of control that he was put of commission by Gambino Crime Boss Paul Castelano. Richard Kuklinski came in the picture at a great time during DeMeo's stronghold .
The problem with this film lies with the script. I felt as if the Studio's thought this would be a good project to invest in , had a lot of material on their hands, but didn't know how to execute it properly. Honestly, with a little more touch and research into the man Richard Kucklinski this movie probably would have been a Oscar contender with at least a Best Actor Nomination for Michael Shannon.
There are flashbacks to Richard's earlier life with his brother getting abused as a child by their raging alcoholic father. The flashbacks do set a stage for possible character development but it does not occur earlier in the film to set the stage for who he will become because that was the main cause of his madness.
In the end although Michael Shannon's acting was at its Zenith his character in the overall scheme of things becomes nothing more than a character trapped in a crime drama than biography.
MOVIE RATING:
2/5
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