The Iceman, review - Telegraph The Iceman (15 cert, 106 min) stars: Michael Shannon, Winona Ryder, Ray Liotta, David Schwimmer Ploughing his furrow as this generation's Christopher Walken, Michael Shannon is becoming a great reason to see any movie, whether it's a smart apocalyptic parable built around him (Take Shelter), or an inane cycle-courier action flick in which his Cagney-esque heavy is the saving grace (Premium Rush). His heavy-lidded, pockmarked intensity is never less than memorable in this modestly-budgeted biopic of Richard Kuklinski, a notorious mob hit man in New Jersey who managed to kill more than 100 people without his wife or daughters even guessing his line of work. Shannon seethes in the role, drawing almost all of our attention and a twisted kind of respect - he's so beset by venal, whingeing characters on every side, from the moment mafioso Roy (Ray Liotta) procures his allegiance, that the odd episode of homicidal psychosis seems strangely forgivable. There are cameos from James Franco, Stephen Dorff, a comically moustachioed David Schwimmer and an unrecognisably hirsute Chris Evans as various lowlifes. A pity, then, that nothing else in Ariel Vromen's movie is remotely on Shannon's level, from the plodding, Scorsese-clone script to the needlessly lifeless editing and cinematography. As Kuklinski's wife Deborah, Winona Ryder gets the best chance in years to make her substantial screen time count, and rather blows it, affecting a perky obliviousness that's more grating than it is believable. It's kind of a miracle she doesn't end up stashed in an industrial chest freezer like everyone else.