Detective Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) is sent a note from the Snowman Killer and he soon finds himself in a series of
disappearances of women during snowfall (and each have a kid) only to find parts of the woman's body later. He has the help
of Katrine (Rebecca Ferguson), a brilliant recruit with her own hidden past
THE SNOWMAN is a patchwork mess that has a skeletal plot that is missing the connecting bits to make the movie breathe
and make it a great thriller. The end result of a movie that is supposedly missing 10 to 15 percent of what was supposed
to be filmed due to a rushed production schedule results in a so-so crime thriller adapted from the Jo Nesbo novel of the
same name. The plot is easy to follow, but the movie lacks a good narrative cohesion to make it a movie with thrills. Instead
we have a movie about alcoholic Oslo detective Harry Hole (Fassbender), a serial killer who stalks him, and the detective's
new partner (Ferguson) who is obsessed with the case of the Snowman killer which links back to the suicide of a suspended
detective in Bergen (Gert Rafto played by Val Kilmer with voice dubbing that sounds like one of the actors from YouTube's
Bad Lip Reading channel). They don't focus on the details enough and only give a little of what makes each character tick.
You only see the before and after of Harry's drinking, he Snowman killer isn't fleshed out enough and the movie lacks any
sort of cat and mouse game, and you don't have enough suspense built with what has been shot and edited. The plot has all
the elements for what could have been a great thriller, but it misses the thrills and suspense to leave us with some beautiful
Norwegian scenery. THE SNOWMAN had Martin Scorsese attached to it for a while, but Tomas Alfredson was finally hired as Scorsese's
replacement. The two films before this one (LET THE RIGHT ONE IN and TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY) are fantastic movies, but
THE SNOWMAN just got buried in the snow with its skeletal plot that they tried to fix in editing. Skip in theaters and rent
THE SNOWMAN if you want to see it.
This review is ©10-27-2017 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com
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