The Iceman (2012)
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A man living a double life as a successful suburban father secretly operates as a prolific contract killer for the mob.
The story
After a violent outburst over a pool game, Richard Kuklinski is recruited by a powerful New York City gangster, Roy DeMeo, to become a contract killer. While Kuklinski maintains a facade of a normal, successful working man and a devoted family man in the suburbs, he carries out brutal hits for the mob. His life becomes increasingly complicated as he navigates the dangerous underworld of organized crime, balancing his secret violent career with his domestic life. However, as his inner rage begins to surface and his home life starts to unravel, the pressure of his double life threatens to destroy his family.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Richard Kuklinski, a man with a violent streak shaped by a brutal upbringing by his immigrant Polish father, lives a double life. In 1964, he marries Deborah and they have two daughters, while he presents himself as a successful worker. After being hired by gangster Roy DeMeo, Kuklinski becomes a contract killer. In 1975, he moves his family to the suburbs, claiming to work in currency trading. During a hit, he saves a teenage girl from another hitman, Freezy, leading DeMeo to decommission him. Needing money, Kuklinski begins taking contracts from Freezy for half the bounty. As his rage grows, he poisons an associate and eventually shoots Leo Merks after being refused payment. Following a hit-and-run involving DeMeo that hospitalizes his daughter, Kuklinski and Freezy go on the run; Kuklinski kills Freezy to prevent him from exposing their location. In 1986, Kuklinski is arrested in an undercover sting. He admits to over 100 murders and is sentenced to two life terms. He dies in a prison hospital in 2006, with intertitles suggesting foul play due to his scheduled testimony against a Gambino family underboss.
- First release year
- 2012
- Runtime (minutes)
- 106
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Ariel Vromen
- Writers
- Ariel Vromen · screenplay; Morgan Land · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Michael Shannon · Kuklinski; Winona Ryder; James Franco; Ray Liotta; Chris Evans; David Schwimmer; Robert Davi; Danny Abeckaser
- Genres
- biographical; crime; drama; thriller
- Themes
- Double Life; Domesticity vs. Violence; Family Trauma; Organized Crime
- Tone and mood
- Dark; Gritty; Sleek
- Premise and plot tags
- Biographical; Crime; Drama; Thriller; Mafia; Serial Killer; Contract Killer
- Source material / true-story basis
- loosely based on hitman Richard Kuklinski
- Reception
- The film received lukewarm reviews from critics and was a box-office failure.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 60 · scale: 100 · review count: 28
- Production trivia
- Shannon's portrayal of Kuklinski includes the authentic voice Kuklinski had, as evidenced by his interviews with HBO in their 1993 documentary Conversations with a Killer.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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