The Iceman

For a fleeting moment, when I saw that Chris Evans was in The Iceman, I thought "What? He's done The Human Torch and Captain America and now Iceman?"

But this 2012 movie isn't a Marvel story. It is based on the true story of Polish-American hit-man Richard Kuklinski; who is played beautifully by Michael Shannon.

The film film doesn't overly dwell on the murders committed by Kuklinski. Instead it tries to depict the apparent paradox of a notoriously cold-hearted killer who is also a family man. His wife is played by Winona Ryder who does a good job with a character clearly living in denial.

Whether the balance in the film is true or not is questionable. We see Kuklinski killing and disposing of people one minute then playing the loving father at a birthday party the next. Only on a couple of occasions does he show any compassion to his victims, or display any violence to his wife and daughters.

Evans is a bit of a distraction, serving mostly to highlight the outstanding performance of Shannon. Kuklinski always looks impassive but sometimes a brief ripple of emotion bubbles to the surface.

Not perfect, but interesting, with some great performances.