I caught Ariel Vroman‘s The Iceman at the Toronto Film Festival last year and wasn’t necessarily impressed. Based on Anthony Bruno’s novel “The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer“, the film centers on Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon), a man who claims to have killed over 100 people in the New Jersey area and the film gets bogged down focusing on said murders.
Here’s the opening paragraph to my Toronto review:
The Iceman hints at ideas that would have made it far more intriguing than it actually is. We see different sides to the murderer at the center of the story from his pained past and the demons he fights throughout, but in the end the focus lands squarely on his murders. These murders may define this man in the media, but to explore him as a cinematic character additional depth must be added, otherwise all you have is a man that can’t give in to the urge to kill people, leaving very little else to explore or enjoy.
Just skimming through the trailer I noticed several things that speak to the cliched nature of the story from the driving fast and scaring the family part or the obligatory, contemplative shower scene. This film could have been so much better than it ended up being, especially with Shannon in the lead, but such is life.
Along with Shannon, the film features a large cast that includes the miscast Winona Ryder, Ray Liotta, David Schwimmer, Robert Davi, Christa Campbell, James Franco and an almost unrecognizable Chris Evans as Robert Pronge, a hitman known as “Mister Softee”.
Millennium Films will release the film on May 3, check out the latest trailer below and read my full review right here.
