Review of The Snowman (2017) by Shpostal — 26 Oct 2017

I don't know if this is Michael Fassbender's first starring role or not, but one hopes he gets another crack at it because "The Snowman" has some flaws that haven't resulted in very many positive reviews.

First, the good news: Fassbender is a very talented actor, and his portrayal as an alcoholic loser-detective is convincing and a departure from his usual bad guy roles. Plus, it appears the movie was shot on location in beautiful Norway, or lots of it was, and the scenic interludes make me want to visit there, with soaring mountains, rugged fjords and beautiful cities like Oslo and Bergen.

On the other side of the coin, I am glad some reviewers pointed out some confusing plot lines because I felt like I had missed something along the way, and not being an idiot wondered if I just wasn't paying enough attention.

Plus, the mysterious "Snowman" killer was pretty easy to figure out. What makes the movie come up short is the unnecessary baggage and a very vague connection for the murders, other than they are with one or two exceptions, women with kids.

There are a few details that I simply felt had little or anything to do with the overall story, or the film failed to adequately connect the dots, so to speak. This was a missed opportunity that tried to be a chilling (no pun intended, well, yes it was) psycho thriller but just didn't quite pull it off.

Not terrible, but it could have been a masterpiece maybe in some other director's hands.