Mr. Movie review: ‘The Snowman’ melts quickly
The Snowman is done by Tinker Tailor Solider Spy and Let the Right One In director Tomas Alfredson and is based on Jo Nesbo’s popular novel. The important word in the last statement is “based.” In fact, if the writers and Alfredson had actually done Nesbo’s book, it might have been a pretty good movie.
I’m not kidding when I say The Snowman is a two-hour movie that’s an hour-and-a-half too long.
Michael Fassbender is detective Harry Hole. He’s a drunk who stumbles onto a serial killer calling himself The Snowman. Stumbles is the key word because a new colleague done by Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation) is the one who puts him onto it. They don’t communicate with each other all that well, which means both stumble around in the dark — as we do — until the predictable end.
The film is packed with characters who seem to be in the plot for the sole purpose of misdirection. There are too many of them, not one of them — including the villain — is close to interesting and with nowhere to go, they add very little to the plot other than to fill up time.
The bottom-line: The Snowman melts quickly.
Movie name: The Snowman
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, J.K. Simmons, Val Kilmer, Toby Jones
Mr. Movie rating: 2 1/2 stars
Rated R for mature themes, violence and language. It’s playing at AMC Kennewick, the Fairchild Cinemas Queensgate 12 and at Walla Walla Grand Cinemas.
5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen.
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it’s your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on DVD.
2 stars to 1 star: Don’t bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.
This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie review: ‘The Snowman’ melts quickly."