No. 78 The Iceman (2012) 55 of 100

 

This is another film that I’d previously reviewed for my Definite Article Movie Blog. I’ve adapted my summary below and added some additional Shannon thoughts based on my re-watch. I enjoyed it more the second time around with my IMDb rating soaring from a 6 to a 7!

‘The Iceman’ isn’t a spin off from ‘Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends’ instead it’s a bio-pic of mob hit man Richard Kuklinski, splayed by this blog’s subject Mr Shannon. It has a ‘Based on a true story’ caption at the start so it’s certain that some things have been added to the tale we’re being told.

The film opens with an aged and beardy Shannon being asked if he has any regrets. Before he can answer the film morphs back to 1964, with a younger Shannon on his first date with soon to be wife, Winona Ryder. She admires his tattoos and slow drawl, and even believes his story of being employed as a voice actor for Walt Disney. In fact he has a slightly seedier job copying porno films. He later plays pool for cash in a bar and we get a quick taste of his temper when he slashes a man’s throat for giving him some lip.

Meanwhile at the porn lab he takes a slap himself when gang boss Ray Liotta wants to know why his order of smut isn’t ready yet. Ray sees a steely coolness about Shannon and offers him a job as a hit man. Shannon is keen to please and shows his loyalty, and psychopathic tendencies, by gunning down a random beggar. Things go well for a while and Shannon, Ryder and their two daughters move to the suburbs. His cover story is that he’s a currency trader, but it’s more whacks than Marks that he’s into.

Liotta has issues of his own when big boss Robert Davi wants him to kill his idiot henchman David Schwimmer who has stolen some drugs and upset the Cartel. This causes Liotta to lie low and this puts Shannon out of work. Despite being warned off, Shannon decides to go freelance and hooks up with Captain America’s ‘Mr Whippy’ hit man who uses an ice cream van as cover.


The two soon pile up the bodies, keeping them frozen to disguise their crimes and the dates of death. With threats being made to his family Kuklinski goes on the offensive but some dodgy cyanide suggests he’s been had and soon we’re are back at the start, with Shannon reflecting on his worthless life and displaying his lack of regret for all his actions, apart from upsetting his family.

I enjoyed this film more the second time having focussed more on Shannon’s excellent performance and his various wild showings of facial hair. He was good as the cold eyed psycho and was genuinely terrifying in places where he was an emotional void. The film touched briefly on his character’s abusive childhood for his motivation, but you need some excuse to pardon over 100 confirmed kills.



The cast was mostly good with thin material only for the likes of James Franco, Chris Evans and Winona all of whom were underused. I did like David Schwimmer as the hapless mob man who was channelling David Seaman. Chris Evans was hidden in a big wig and beard and his casting seemed largely pointless. Better than Franco though, who only got one short scene.

60s/70s New York was well realised with lots of classic cars and brown clothing on show. The film did one of my pets hates in that they had captions for dates of certain events at the start but they quickly disappeared, even when years had clearly passed in terms of fashion. Do it consistently or not at all!

Ultimately the film was an interesting bio-pic but it did little to address the main character’s morality of the disparity shown between the love of his familiarly and total ambivalence to all others. He was not a nice man, especially as he tried to poison a cat! I liked the sets and period look but ultimately this was a poor man’s ‘Goodfellas’ albeit one with enough to keep you interested and glad the main character got caught and died in jail.

When is Shannon-On? - 00.45

Outcome? Last seen having few regrets in jail.

Film Stars 3.5/5

Shannon Stars 4/5