The Snowman

The adaptation of Jo Nesbø's The Snowman definitely had more potential. I haven't read the book, but it was certainly more interesting than this bland detective story with mediocre visuals and a bored Michael Fassbender. These cold Nordic serial killer thrillers are usually top notch, here the Americans must have interfered a lot in the film, otherwise I can't really explain the failure. The murders are almost non-existent, so forget about the blood, the atmosphere is not very good and the only thing that surprises is the identity of the killer, which I didn't figure out. It is watchable, but the film lacks any WOW effect, which is a shame. The best scene from the trailer doesn’t even appear in the film. 55% (2017-12-14)

If, during a snow-covered and frosty winter evening, you feel like you’d like to watch a thriller with a suitable atmosphere, go for anything except The Snowman. Watching completely unlikable heroes for two hours groping their way along the killer's trail in the midst of such a lacking plot would still be bearable if The Snowman did not have a scattered and incomprehensible storyline - the characters emerge and disappear again, confusing the audience, although despite the frankly erratic investigation it does not mean you could not have already figured out who the killer was from the start. Then there’s the ending, which is so chaotically edited you can’t possibly know what the hell is going on. It's hard to say where it all went so wrong. Tomas Alfredson, a once-promising director, probably got buried in the snow sometime during the past few years. (2021-02-15)

Poor in terms of story, in terms of form – brilliant. Paradoxically, everybody was worried about all sorts of things, just not a faulty story, especially when it’s filmed according to the Norwegian crime-writer king, Jo Nesba. Alfredson’s realistic approach with wonderful, long shots of seriously snowy landscape warms the heart. The same applies to modern investigation techniques, which aren’t given much room in this movie, because when something starts happening that might be of interest, it cuts to another place – the screenplay diverges from the book. That’s where the problem lies. Fassbender is excellent – a guy a bit off the rails, but still in form, but on the point of giving everything up – is a perfect Hole. On the other, the second most famous name on the poster, Kilmer, comes across as almost charming. Otherwise, the cast is a delight, although they don’t get the chance to show they stuff on screen, which is another reason why lots of scenes seem just to fizzle out. A movie full of contradiction which most likely won’t lead to a series. (2017-10-15)

What a disaster. I have no idea why the creators decided to introduce Harry Hole to the audience through an adaptation of the sixth part of the book series. I don't know what someone who has never read the series can take away from the film, as it contains a lot of references to the previous storyline which isn’t part of the film. The film itself didn't make much sense to me, regardless of having read the books. The filmmakers made such a mess of the original story that I’m not sure why the murders were so complicated, and most of all, why J.K. Simmons agreed to take part in it. (2018-03-07)

Some spoilers: Inspired by Douglas and Gilmour93's unconventional defenses of the film, where the director himself admitted that it had no beginning, middle, or end because there was ultimately nothing to use to piece the film together, I also picked up the thrown gauntlet of alternative readings of this jumbled mess and came up with the idea that actually the only thing in the film that's real is the last scene. The rest is a glimpse into a perspective on Detective Harry Hole's past, warped by years of alcoholism and exhaustion, that superimposes disjointed, surreal scenes of his previous cases and burned-out relationships on top of each other. Right when he can just barely reach specific occurrences in his memory, he disappears right before he can touch them under the ice of an irreparably damaged mind. Postmodernism lives even if it doesn't want to, and old Lynch is somewhere in the back, nodding approvingly over his cigarette. PS: it still looks better than a lot of other adaptations of Nordic mysteries, though, and Alfredson's handling of space, camera work, and (wherever the wind keeps him from tripping over his own feet) dynamics is exemplary. But unfortunately, you simply can't turn a concentration camp into a bouncy castle by simply redoing a few barbed wires. (2018-01-03)