Film Review: Stellar Cast & Director Fail to Build ‘The Snowman’

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Average: 5 (1 vote)

CHICAGO – The biggest mystery in “The Snowman” is what in the world talented actors like Michael Fassbender, Chloe Sevigny, Toby Jones, and Val Kilmer are doing here in the first place. Fassbender’s character’s name alone should have sent off alarm bells. This is based on a series of detective novels featuring detective Harry Hole, and characters have voluminous opportunities to repeat it, although with nary a snigger.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 1.0/5.0
Rating: 1.0/5.0

Hole (giggle) is on the trail of a serial killer who strikes at first snowfall and makes a habit of dismembering his victims and turning them into SNOWMEN. It’s not that disposable pop pulp like this can’t be well made, it’s that it’s rare to see such a cornucopia of awfulness all in one place. Fassbender’s detective is supposed to be one of those brilliant alcoholic legends, but we aren’t treated to much in the way of brilliance. Instead, he seems to disappear on benders for weeks at a time and makes a regular habit of getting falling down drunk in ditches and bus depots. When he complains to a superior that he needs a case, the captain responds with a joke about Norway’s boringly low murder rate.

”The Snowman” opened everywhere on October 20th. Featuring Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, J.K. Simmons, Val Kilmer and Toby Jones. Screenplay adapted by Peter Straughan, Hossein Amini and Soren Sveistrup. Directed by Tomas Alfredson. Rated “R”

StarContinue reading for Spike Walter’s full review of “The Snowman”

Snow1
The Title Character is a Bit Frosty in ‘The Snowman’
Photo credit: Universal Pictures

StarContinue reading for Spike Walter’s full review of “The Snowman”

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