The film adaptation of Jo Nesbo's best selling novel, The Snowman, failed to live up to its potential of being the nail biting, edge of your seat murder mystery. And this is no fault of Michael Fassbender, starring as the protagonist, Harry Hole; the burden falls flatly on the shoulders of the director, Tomas Alfredson. However, it is not nearly as bad as critics are making it out to be. The Snowman is a functional thriller, with moments of horror that are a bit startlingly, but overall, I felt that the bad editing, sloppy writing, and weak character development has left this film plodding along and making it up as it went. The production quality of The Snowman presented it as a film that could have been shown on the Lifetime channel.
Because I just finished reading the 550 page book on Friday, I went into the screening prepared to see a movie very different from the book. But I was annoyed at just how different things were from the book. People dying in the movie who didn't die in the book, character plots a complete 180 from the book, and again, it was the pacing of the film that felt off. If you did not read the book, you know that The Snowman is about a serial killer who kills women and make snowmen out of them. That's the gist, so as long as you know that, you can follow the film. But for those who read the book, we're left scratching our heads about the rest of the supporting elements for the film that made the book so page turning interesting.
My main concern now is that because this film is being received so poorly, I fear that Michael Fassbender may not get another chance to play Harry Hole again. He was perfectly fine in this role, and I really enjoyed his take on bringing Harry to life as an alcoholic with a brilliant criminal solving mind. Being Harry Hole could be for him what those Tom Clancy films were for Harrison Ford in the 80s, what the Dan Brown films have been for Tom Hanks, etc. With the critical and box office failure of The Snowman, I really don't know if another studio is willing to take a gamble. If they do, will future films just automatically be VOD? But really, all they need to do is find a better director and give the film enough production time to INCLUDE all elements of the damn script into the film. The director admitted earlier this week that 10-15% of the script was not filmed. Who the hell does this? I understand the director had some personal issues to deal with, but why couldn't he have been completely replaced by another director so that the movie could be saved?
Although The Snowman has its problems, if you're a strong supporter of Michael Fassbender's movies, just go see it and judge it for yourself. It's not terrible, and it's not a masterpiece at all. It's a film with some significant flaws, but for all intent and purposes, Michael Fassbender was great in it, and I just hope he gets another chance to visit this character because this could be a legitimate and interesting franchise for him. I'm really bummed out that this just may not happen because too many critics are enjoying lambasting this film.
Grade: C+