Moviegoers are in for a big surprise this weekend, especially those who have read Jo Nesbo's The Snowman and have been expecting the motion picture's release since earlier this year. The thrilling trailer had critics swooning and readers running to sweep copies off the shelves in anticipation for the movie's release this weekend. Unfortunately the disappointment would be overwhelming.
With a high-caliber cast including Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, J.K. Simmons and executive producing credit to Martin Scorsese; critics and audiences were calling The Snowman, "A very serious film indeed." They were right if they were talking about the film's current score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a serious 10%. Or maybe they meant a seriously bad film.
As an advocate for the 7th book in the "Harry Hole" series, I was applaud at what had been brought to life in a motion picture. One of the biggest disappointments of the film was the major disconnect between novel and script. While we always expect to have some type of distance between what we read and what we see, the deviation from the book became almost comical. Even with a fresh memory of the novel, I found myself having a hard time keeping up with the characters and the manifesting plot on screen. Admittedly, the film's script was as sticky and confusing as the movie theatre floor beneath my feet.
Even Tomas Alfredson, the director of the film admits to the flop by stating, "The movie is in poor shape because we didn't get to finish making it." He elaborates by noting, "Our shoot time in Norway was way too short, we didn't get the whole story with us and when we started cutting we discovered that a lot was missing." Yeah, no shit. Tell that to the man whose snoring in the theatre was more interesting to listen too.
Amidst a series of confusing twists and turns, characters will disappear as snowmen begin to appear. Strange relationships will transpire and you will be reaching over to the person next to you asking, "What the hell am I even watching?" You'll see everything from bad ad libbing to cheap scares to keep you on your toes. You'll even be able to recognize pieces of the renown trailer that everyone had been talking about, except these scenes will have zero significance to anything actually happening.
One of the only aspects accurately portrayed from page to screen, was main character Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) as a police detective amidst a serial killer who has a slight obsession with snowmen. The real detective work is left for audiences to figure out exactly how Hollywood thought this was a good idea. While Michael Fassbender may be sexy, he isn't enough to distract viewers from realizing they'd been duped. Add insult to injury when the movie closes with a set up for a sequel. Thanks, but no thanks.
So, what have we learned from all this? Well, if we can learn anything from another Michael Fassbender flop it would be that even with an able cast, Hollywood is leaning hard to trailer production and we are falling for it. No, we are eating it out of their buttery hands.
Hey, my name is Michelle. I'm a New York City Photographer whose hobbies include guzzling wine, looking at dogs on Instagram, and fighting with the man at the bodega who claims there is a credit card minimum. @michellediraimo for coffee and collaborations.
