Michael Fassbender plays detective Harry Hole, (possibly one of the most unfortunate names I’ve ever heard), who hunts a serial killer that is running around Norway, decapitating young women. I watched all of the trailers for this movie before it was released and I expected it was going to be more of a crime mystery movie than a horror movie, but I did expect a level of suspense that would match the tone in the trailers. While I wasn’t sure how much of a thriller it would be, I got the feeling while watching it that the director lost sight of what genre he wanted it to be, as well.

The Snowman starts off strong, giving us a tense opening scene and slowly building suspense throughout. There are several subplots that are hinted upon, shyly insinuating at little moments you believe you should keep track of for a momentous revelation at the end, but inexplicably these subplots are left open-ended, without resolution. Jerky, inappropriate cuts to the scenes in the film and sloppy editing are abundant, resulting in an often confusing and difficult to follow story. When the identity of the killer is finally revealed, his motives for killing are too soft to be believable, and the final battle between the detective and the killer – the “climax” of the film – is so short and stupid, it’s not even worth mentioning. Val Kilmer plays a character in the movie, but you wouldn’t know it since all of his lines have been dubbed over, and his mannerisms and face don’t even resemble him, so why even have him in the movie?

The budget was there, the right caliber of actor was there, the story was there, but somewhere along the line, it seemed like everyone just got bored with making the movie and decided to end it all of the sudden, then chop it up in the editing room and slap some nonsense together. What could have been a very suspenseful movie just turned out to be boring, confusing, and droll. I wish I could say more but the movie didn’t make enough sense or form a remotely cohesive story for me to review. Such a waste of talent.

This movie is…

Someone needs to be fired over this.

Cheers and goodnight.