THE SNOWMAN: MURDER IN NORWAY

Most won’t be aware that the film THE SNOWMAN is the fourth in a series of books written by Norwegian author Jo Nesbo. The character is a nonconformist who works on the Oslo police force using unusual methods to get results. A sometime alcoholic and chain smoker he gets the job done he’s assigned. And much of his back story is missing with this, the first film to feature the character even though it’s based on the seventh book in the series.

The film opens in the past with a man coming to visit a woman and her young son. He’s instructing the young boy and bedding the mother who before he leaves threatens to tell his wife who the boy’s father is. When he abruptly leaves the woman gathers her son in the car, drives out onto an ice covered lake and then allows herself to drown after he gets out of the car.

Fast forward to the present where we find a man sleeping off a drunk on a park bench in the cold snowy land of Norway. He wakes and stumbles about, finally arriving at work where we discover his name is Harry Hole and he’s a lead investigator for the Oslo police. The early part of the film moves along at a snail’s pace and reveals bits and pieces without offering too much.

A woman goes missing and left behind is a snowman in the front yard, a reference Harry notices since before he left to join the investigation a card addressed to him with a poem and drawing of a snowman was delivered. Looking deeper into the case Harry begins to think this is associated with a killing that took place years ago with a similar style, again with a snowman left behind.

Several murders occur and Harry is assigned to the case along with two incompetent officers and a new recruit named Katherine Bratt (Rebecca Ferguson). As each case unfolds it soon becomes apparent that they are on the track of the first serial killer in Norway. Subplots are revealed, personal reasons for Katherine to be tracing the potential involvement of a millionaire named Arve Stop (J.K. Simmons) who may be the killer and other suspects and clues are followed.

Sifting through it all is Harry, dealing with issues of his own involving his teenage son and ex-wife Rakel (Charlotte Gainsbourg) as well as her new boyfriend, Mathias (Jonas Karlsson). Mathias does his best to help Rakel and the young boy when he can as well as attempting to befriend Harry as well. Several different scenes have him aiding Harry to stay connected to his son as well as offering him prescriptions to help him battle his alcoholism.

More clues mount and a past case involving another investigator named Rafto (an almost unrecognizable Val Kilmer) looking into the past acts committed by this same killer helps to provide clues as to who the killer might be. Both Harry and Katherine have connections to that past case and it helps to motivate them to catch the killer this time around. With some luck they will make sure the killer doesn’t have the opportunity to do so again.

What could have been a very good movie instead ends up being mediocre at best. The first third of the film is so incredibly slow that it becomes a chore to watch. Bits and pieces are involved in telling us who these characters are and their motivations behind their actions but to the point of losing interest so much that you miss some of the items presented. The second act of the film is a little better, tying up those various components to make a bit more sense and offering some more clues that help the viewer get a better idea of what is going on. It isn’t until the third act that things begin to make sense and move along at a more standard pace, offering a payoff by the film’s end.

Fassbinder felt wasted to me here. Having seen him in other films and enjoyed his performances in them I was surprised to see that he had little more to do here than act brooding, drunk or befuddled. From all I’ve read about the character I wouldn’t associate those traits with him but that seems to be the way he’s written in this screenplay. The rest of the casts fares better but not much. Well-known actors show up in bit parts and those in the lead feel under or wrongfully used.

If you’re going to set a film in a land covered in snow with a white or grey background for the majority of the time the action should make you ignore the setting and delve into the story. That doesn’t happen here. Perhaps had they begun with the first book and let the viewer get to know the character it might have been different but that wasn’t the case. The end result is a movie that’s so so but that made this viewer want to seek out the source material to see if it was any better. My guess is that it was. The end result is a movie that could have been a launch for a series of films but that did so poorly hopes for that are gone.

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