Between 1948 and 1986, New Jersey
Mafia hitman Richard Kuklinski is said to have killed somewhere between one
hundred and two hundred and fifty men. Having committed his first murder when
in his middle teens, Kuklinski eventually gravitated towards the world of
organised crime and for several decades worked as a contract killer for the
DeCavalcante crime family based in Newark,
New Jersey. He did all of this
while posing to his family as a successful currency broker. The Iceman is Israeli director Ariel
Vromen’s biopic thriller of the ice cold killer, based on interviews with the
man himself. It stars an in form (when is he not?) Michael Shannon in the lead
role.
The Iceman is a film that I’ve been hotly anticipating for some
time. I have an interest in the history of the Cosa Nostra and find that it
often forms the basis of excellent movies. Although this is an above average
film and features several great moments, it won’t go down with the likes of The Godfather, GoodFellas or even Donnie
Brasco in the annals of the great mafia movies. I expect there will be many
comparisons drawn to Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece of the genre in particular
but unfortunately, despite a fantastic basis for a story, the film is like a
skimming stone. It skips along the surface without delving into the murky deep
beneath the surface.
