It's received a good old-fashioned shellacking from audiences and critics alike, but what did we think of the latest Jo Nesbo adaptation?
Based on the bestselling novel by Jo Nesbo, directed by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s Tomas Alfredson, and with a star-studded cast including Michael Fassbender, Charlotte Gainsbourg, J.K. Simmons, Toby Jones and Val Kilmer, what could possibly go wrong? Apparently quite a lot.
As The Snowman’s final credits rolled, my main question was… where was the story we were promised? The trailer led us to believe that we were going to get a certain film - a thriller, with a tightly drawn tension that lures the audience to the edge of their seat, and twists that no one can see coming (unless you’ve read the book of course) and a mad serial killer psychopath to boot. At least that’s what I thought, maybe it was just me? The film I did get was a bit bizarre in its pace, scenes dripped slowly through before speeding up in a third act that didn’t seem related to the first. The direction was beautiful, setting up some incredible visuals - the first wide-pan shot is breath-taking, taken on location in Norway. But who the characters are and why we should care about them gets lost along the way, along with the victim’s heads.
Homicide detective Harry Hole (whose name is constantly mispronounced – in Norway it’s said Hol-y), an alcoholic with a tragic backstory (that we never find out, so don’t hold out hope) begins investigating the disappearances of young women. It starts with a scrawled anonymous letter in the post, signed with a picture of a snowman. Soon Harry makes the connection between the next missing woman and the snowman built outside her garden. How he makes this connection in the film, I may have missed. In the book Harry notices the snowman is wearing the missing woman’s scarf but in the film, if there is a mention, it is in passing and without the knowledge you’d miss it.
Not even Fassbender can save this mess
Meanwhile, Harry has picked up a partner along the way, Katrine Bratt, played by Rebecca Ferguson, a young officer fresh from training and with secret case files stashed in her bag. They are called out on a new missing person’s report, only to find the named woman alive, well and surprised to see them. This was in the trailer, but there is something interesting here in that the footage from the trailer about Sylvia Ottersen doesn’t seem to have all made it into the final cut. There are several glimpses of scenes with her in that just aren’t in the film… I have my own theories about why this footage was dumped, but who really knows.
Soon enough, the secret files that Katrine has stashed become more relevant, linking two different timelines together. This is where it becomes truly bizarre, Val Kilmer’s Inspector Rafto plays out his part with a pallor and dubbed voice that are probably the most disturbing things you’ll see on the screen. Kilmer looks desperately ill, and I spent most of my time wondering at his heart-breaking transformation rather than caring about what was actually happening to his character.
The killer becomes apparent around halfway through, which makes the rest of the film less interesting to watch. Afterwards, thinking about certain scenes, I wrestled with logic as I tried to make sense of why on earth this character would do this or say that. It’s also disappointing that a certain character finds their demise a little too quickly considering that in the series of Nesbo novels, they go on to become one of more featured characters.
Not even Fassbender can save this mess. A real let down to say the least.
The Snowman is screening at Broadway Cinema until Thursday, 26th October
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
