(film review)

“What is worse? Taking the life of a person who wants to live or taking death from a person who wants to die.”

When the first snow covers the land of Oslo, a merciless murderer goes on a hunt. The woman is missing, and the police find a snowman on her backyard with her scarf on it. A couple of days later the story repeats.

Who is that killer? What does he want?

Sounds pretty gripping, right? Well, that is the beginning of one of the most anticipated films of 2017, The Snowman. Based on a self-titled book by Jo Nesbo, that was the picture I would never miss.

Is it as impressive as the book? Is it worth watching? Read this review and find out.

The Snowman is a 2017 psychological thriller directed by Swedish film director Tomas Alfredson. It follows the story of the main character, alcoholic detective Harry Hole, who tries to fix both his professional and personal lives by focusing on work instead of drinking. Harry falls into the snowman case and realizes that the murderer has something to do with Harry himself.

Starring Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer and J. K. Simmons, ‘The Snowman’ turned out to be not as striking as I thought it would be. The actors did a great job, especially Michael Fassbender as Harry Hole and Rebecca Ferguson as Katrine Bratt. The views of Oslo and Norway in general are so breathtaking that I can rewatch this feature film just because of them. ‘The Snowman’ doesn`t have diverse special effects but because of that it looks realistic and intimidating.

However, the plot is lousy. We have 2 hours of beautiful sceneries, handsome actors, a little bit of massacre and boring narrative. It is really hard to chase the story. It feels very abrupt. Transitions between the shots are meaningless. By the end of the movie you can`t be surprised with the person committing murders because you couldn`t realize that he was actually the part of the story and not just some innocent bystander. His motives were tedious. The final scene of the feature is confusing. So these aspects leave not really pleasant afterglow. Total damp squib.

Nevertheless, in my opinion, ‘The Snowman’ is a movie to watch after reading the book when you want to visualize some moments, to see gloomy Oslo and to savor the acting of Michael Fassbender who, I think, is the best actor to be casted as Harry Hole.

I give it 5/10. Still I love the movie because of the original source and will rewatch it in the nearest future, despite its illogical and absurd plot.

P.S. You should definitely watch the trailer. It is more intriguing than the movie itself.

P.P.S. “Beware the falling snow.”