Butler's Cinema Scene

“THE ICEMAN” My rating: B- (Opening May 17 at the Barrywoods 24, Cinemark Plaza and Studio 30)

106 minutes | MPAA rating: R

Michael Shannon’s trademark creepiness is put to good use in “The Iceman,” the story of real-life mob assassin Richard Kuklinski, who by the time he was arrested in 1986 was believed to have been responsible for at least 100 murders.

Though originally nicknamed The Iceman for his cool, unemotional work methods, Kuklinski also avoided the authorities by dismembering and freezing the bodies of many of his victims, which made it impossible to pinpoint the time and cause of their deaths.

Ariel Vromen’s film begins in 1964 with the dry, stolid Kuklinski wooing Deborah (Winona Ryder), the neighborhood virgin. He’s totally respectful of her — to the point that he cuts the throat of a barroom pool player who makes fun of her no-sex-until-marriage attitude.

At this stage, though, Kuklinski is a mere amateur. His day job is working in a film lab duplicating porn reels, which is how he encounters mid-level Jersey mobster Roy Demeo (Ray Liotta).  Roy recognizes talent and before long Kuklinski has a full-time gig murdering people.

What’s interesting about “The Iceman” is not so much the mayhem — there’s relatively little depicted — but Kuklinski  himself. Talk about a compartmentalized life!

Winona Ryder

He convinces wife Deborah and their two daughters that he works in foreign currency. That explains the nice suits and house in the ‘burbs. And for many years he’s able to maintain his ruse, playing the loyal family man and good neighbor.

But things get dicey after he defies Roy and goes into business for himself with a freelance hit man (Chris Evans, all but unrecognizable with beard and shaggy hair). Such disloyalty cannot go unpunished. Before long his beloved family is in the mob’s crosshairs.

Shannon does an unexpectedly effective job of putting us in Kuklinski’s shoes and making us feel the threat as his world begins to close in. Perhaps we identify with him more than we should.

And director Vromen has assembled a deep cast, enlisting David Schwimmer (hysterical in Fu Manchu, ponytail and two-tone late ‘70s workout suit), James Franco, Stephen Dorff and Robert Davi.

It’s a minor crime saga, but a solid one.

| Robert W. Butler