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The true story about Richard Kuklinski who whacked over a hundred people for the Mob, starring Michael Shannon, who's quickly becomming my favourite actor, as The Iceman.
Down in the hole / Jesus tries to crack a smile / Beneath another shovel load
I'm a big fan of the serial killer genre and I'm really looking forward to seeing this.
I stumbled across Richard Kuklinski on a random youtube search when I was looking for some other documentaries about serial killers. I watched most of the ones about him, and all I can say is that guy was seriously scary!
Of all the documentaries I've watched about these killers, he really is the one who scares the c**p out of me. If they can get that character across on screen, it should be good.
I was wodering which way they were going to play this film -- he's a guy with a lot of baggage, perfect for investigating the background of the character (people are always going on about that) - but I somehow wonder if the film's just going to show a lot of shooting and play on the 'relationship angle' with his daughter ...
If this guy was a serial killer doing his own thing, I think they could get into his background more. They've got the whole De Meo mob family and Mr Softee storylines to cram in here, so I think his background will be skmmed over for the sake of turning it into more of a mob story.
I think - and I could be wrong - that the common perception is that a serial killer is someone who gets some form of psychological gratification from killing, like Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy and others. I'm not saying that Kuklinski didn't get that but from what I've seen and read about him, money seemed to be the motivating factor.
Down in the hole / Jesus tries to crack a smile / Beneath another shovel load
Couldn't be more stoked for this. I've watched a whole series of interviews with Kuklinksi on Youtube; what a disturbing yet fascinating character. Couldn't have made a better choice than Michael Shannon either.
Also, for the record, Kuklinski totally fits the "serial killer" bill, legally speaking.
I checked out the interviews with Richard Kuklinski and immediately checked out the flick. I'd imagine The Iceman would come across jarring if you haven't seen the prison interviews. No doubt this guy was a serial killer that got paid.
The film was pretty darn good, and Michael Shannon was amazing. So amazing, I can't believe I actually felt sorry for his ass at the end. There are some scenes in this that make you root for Kuklinski like crazy, and then I think back to the interviews and I'm like what the hell are they trying to accomplish here?
Maybe it would've worked better if it was straight up fiction? Thoughts anyone?
Michael Shannon wasn't my first choice -- James Gandolfini, anyone?
Ray Liotta was what attracted me to the film, even if he was a miscast (DeMeo was short and chubby, not tall and good looking). Yet, Liotta captures DeMeo's menace perfectly. And, of course, what's a mob movie without Ray Liotta? Guy's awesome.
As for the film, I thought it was OK, and I agree, there were some points where I felt sorry for Kuklinski (and even rooted for him -- which is creepy, since this guy was a stone cold scumbag). The ending was definitely one of those points. Since I wasn't too familiar with his actual downfall it was a shocker -- assuming that's how it really went down.
All in all, it was a "decent" effort, an OK film, in my opinion. I think if they gave it a better running time --maybe 155 minutes? -- instead of the, what, slam-bang 90 minutes that we got, more ground could have been covered and it would have been a waaaay better movie.