Starring Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer, J. K. Simmons. Directed by Tomas Alfredson.

Sometimes expectations can be high for a film from the get go. Granted, good pedigree does make us expect more of a film than say – a Michael Bay Transformers film, no matter how much Sir Anthony Hopkins or Jim Carters he throws at us. But when all the elements are of the top calibre and the market so ripe for a hit, for that film to be a disappointment is a major problem.

That, unfortunately, is The Snowman. Based on Jo Nesbu00f8’s best selling novel, the seventh to feature his popular Harry Hole character, this tale sees Hole teaming up with a rookie Katrine, to find a serial killer who’s work has been going on his streak for a while, and who uses the first fall of snow as his window to kill.

A great set up, no doubt, and from Nesbu00f8, who has written thrillers that stand up with the best of them, it is a promising start. In that alone, a series of stories featuring one tortured hero, there’s clearly no doubt that producers are hoping Michael Fassbender will carry on Hole and be the next leading man type in the James Bond / Jack Ryan / Alex Cross / Jack Reacher world of stylish thrillers. But for now, The Snowman is thuddingly, painfully, disappointing.

The film is directed by Tomas Alfredson, a man who has previously given audiences films that are more than they seem.u00a0Let the Right One Inu00a0 isu00a0a vampire story that is more a tale of childhood trauma through the lens of blood sucking, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spyu00a0is a cold war spy thriller that is more about the personal than the political. However, all this past experience cannot make The Snowman work. It’s less than it seems. It’s not a thriller, it’s not a chiller, and barely has a coherent story. But Alfredson is not alone; the whole crew have done so so much better.

Alfredson is unable to bring his style and attention to detail into line with the frantic and uneven plotting which must be down to the shoddy writing. No character talks like a human being, and there are no character interactions outside of the bare beats of the narrative. This becomes even more of an issue when the three screenwriters are respectable. Hossein Amini the writer of great films like The Wings of the Dove, Drive and The Two Faces of January can’t match those adaptations, while Peter Straughan also seems to have struggled to match the fierce focus of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and even Scandavian native Su00f8ren Sveistrup can’t match his work on The Killing.









Despite the guiding hand of Martin Scorsese there seems to be little thrills to be had, and no B-Movie funu00a0à la Shutter Island, and even the editing prowess of Scorsese MVP Thelma Schoonmaker can’t make this choppy mess engage the way it should.

What the film needed to be was another The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but the writer’s aren’t Steven Zaillian, and the director is not David Fincher. They’re take on the Swedish thriller worked perfectly and even with Daniel Craig not doing an accent, it worked, it took the story and it made it thrilling even at a near three hour run time. Here, no matter how hard Fassbender tries, he looks bored. Unlike his best roles, he seems to be doing it because he has to, not because he wants to, while Rebecca Ferguson continues to be thoroughly uncharismatic as his foil.