On The Iceman

With an aesthetic that is evocative of the New York 70s movies of Scorsese and Friedkin, The Iceman is welcome in this respect. This extends to the acting, which is absorbing and natural.

Despite being about a fascinating character, The Iceman has problems all over, at the heart of which lies the issue of telling the wrong story. What we are given feels like a highlights reel of Kuklinski and lacks the contextual detail that makes him, on screen at least, a real person. This could possibly be because this is a character piece that requires methodical character building, not a series of audience friendly set pieces of violence, action or ‘quotable’ dialogue.

The more fascinating story (which may be lost in the editing) is that of how Kuklinski became the man he is and how the police went about investigating a series of mass killings of which the perpetrator remained unknown. These two features are touched on, but too briefly to matter. The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer (1992), available on YouTube offers a more thorough story of this captivating man.