The Iceman

Michael Shannon and Ray Liotta in The Iceman

Ariel Vromen's The Iceman is a little seen B, from 2013, with an above average cast that portrays the career of a contract killer with pointless sobriety. Vromen shows some skill with actors, but his lackluster kitchen sink mise en scene fails to transcend a cliched script. The Iceman melts away from the mind as a sub-Scorsese genre film.

Michael Shannon is perfect as the titular character, he simply needs to project his stone face into oblivion. Winona Ryder is miscast, but struggles gamely as the Jersey gal who can't help but love the big lug with a heart of nickel plating. Shannon's character is typed as a repressed victim of parental abuse whose PTSD triggers violent rages. I could only sigh at the knee jerk gimmick. One superb scene of Shannon being confronted by his incarcerated brother registers, but little else. Ray Liotta is a mob capo, ho hum, and James Franco pops up as an amateur pornographer who Shannon dispatches. Standard genre stuff that won't thrust Shannon into lead roles unless someone remakes The Golem. (6/16/16)