‘The Snowman’ Melts Quickly (Movie Review)
I know. Say no more. I already know what you’re thinking. The Snowman is a ridiculous title for a crime thriller movie. I concur with you. However, even if it should melt after the First Act there’s always Rebecca Ferguson in it. I have nothing but rave things to say about her. So why not. I’ll give her a chance in just about anything she’s in. There’s also some other star power in this one too, but I digress. We’ll get to all their names in just a bit. Before we move on let’s just be honest with ourselves here for a brief moment. Per the film’s trailer how can you not be moved by a film that uses cute looking snowmen as a killer’s calling card? I know, right!
The Snowman is a British crime thriller directed by Tomas Alfredson off a screenplay written by Hossein Amini and Peter Straughan. It’s based on the novel of the same name by Jo Nesbø. In addition to the lovely Rebecca Ferguson the film stars Michael Fassbender, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer, Chloë Sevigny and J. K. Simmons. The gist of The Snowman is about a detective who tries to find the identity of a killer that uses you guessed it… snowmen as his calling card. Sometimes he even incorporates them into his victims’ demise.
Our story here revolves an infamous detective named Harry Hole (Fassbender). He’s the lead detective of an elite crime squad for the Oslo police. We’re also introduced to some of his family and alcohol problems too. Out of nowhere he receives a note from the let’s call him snowman killer tipping him off to a soon-to-be murder of a mother. He also gets paired with another police recruit (the beautiful Ferguson) and reluctantly finds himself in the middle of the snowman killer’s deadly game. Now get this. The kills all revolve around fresh snowfalls. So the detectives must race against time before the next snowfall when the killer may strike next while at the same time battling their own personal demons too. On paper it all sounds plausible, but in all honesty this one melts rather quickly.
To say this one doesn’t have its fair share of problems is like saying Gummy Bears aren’t gummy. It wouldn’t be an accurate assessment of things here. Sad but true I read about how Director Alfredson responded to all the negative reviews thus far and it’s quite an unfortunate tale to read about. According to him the production was rushed and 10-15% of the script wasn’t even shot due to lack of time in Norway. What’s the point? Where was this missing script? I guess you can’t say excuses like things were left on the editing floor, eh? Nope! There are just a lot of issues to contend with here.
The worst part about all this is not how bad the movie was, but the great cast seems absolutely wasted with little to work with here. This is my second Fassbender film I hated this year (Assassin’s Creed). Don’t even get me started on the use of Val here either. The story is darn right boring at times and inconsequential. Don’t get me wrong there are riveting elements here and there, but the snow melts so quickly here and the sluggish pacing just kills any momentum this film tries to gain. I compare it waiting for a snowstorm to come as opposed to actually seeing falling snow. It’s not exciting. I hung in there hoping for some fantastic twist I may not have seen coming, but like Fergusson’s plight in this one the conclusion was equally as lackluster. Thank goodness Fergusson looks good in a scene or two here, but that’s not enough to save this one from thawing out. My two cents…wait until HBO.
