El muñeco de nieve

Un desorden de cuento con un buen casting y una atmósfera nevada nórdica eternamente atractiva (en la pantalla). Y una culminación tan pobre que todavía le quita media estrella. (13.11.2017)

Si, como a mí, le apetece un thriller con la atmósfera adecuada para una helada y nevada tarde de invierno, acuda a cualquier sitio menos a El muñeco de nieve. Es difícil decir dónde salió todo tan mal. Tomas Alfredson, antaño un director prometedor, parece haber enterrado la cabeza en la nieve en los últimos años. Ver a dos héroes antipáticos andando a tientas durante dos horas tras la pista de un asesino en una trama tan inútil seguiría siendo soportable, pero la trama de El muñeco de nieve salta extrañamente de un lado a otro, los personajes aparecen y vuelven a desaparecer, todos los giros en la investigación no pueden ser entendidos lógicamente por el espectador, y al final el asesino resulta ser el personaje que adivinaste desde el primer momento. Por no hablar del final, en el que no tienes ni idea de qué demonios está pasando debido al montaje completamente caótico, y el enfrentamiento final con el malo te hace reír a carcajadas. Y lo que hacía el argumento paralelo con el desgraciadamente enfermo Val Kilmer en el montaje final está más allá de mi comprensión. (15.02.2021)

This movie once again confirms that transferring a quality book onto the big screen is not so easy. At first glance, everything seemed pretty good. The cast with the lead Michael Fassbender is great. The man in the director’s seat is adequately Nordic. What else could you ask for? If only the screenplay was a bit more logical. This way I pretty much  watched this film without much interest, even though there was a number of really interesting actors. For example, Val Kilmer, whom I have not seen for a thousand years and I will not need to see him for another thousand years. Or J. K. Simmons, who was possibly just a decoration in the movie as I cannot recall him doing anything at all. Well, he actually did do something, he was taking creepy pictures of women on his phone and consequently the screenwriter did not even explain why. And that was the same with everything, the schmuck. It is crazy that the main character Harry Hole, played by Michael Fassbender, seems like he just had a lobotomy, so it feels like he isn’t investigating at all, plus, what is even worse, you way too often realize that he does not speak at all. The cynical bastard Hole, whom all the people who’ve read the book love for the endless bullshit he says, utters at maximum two sentences in a row in the film. How could that make me like him? And the investigation? Just tell me, all of you who haven’t read the book, what was Val Kilmer doing there at all? Or why were the murders committed? Was it obvious from that conclusion? I didn’t feel that way. Overall, a terribly badly filmed crime film that was meant to tell the best story of Harry Hole and, in my opinion, killed the whole series. I haven’t been as pissed off for a long time as I was in the case of this movie. One of the worst crime movies I’ve ever seen. If it weren’t for the beautiful Norwegian locations, I would have left the cinema in the middle of the screening like the Czech film critic Mirka Spáčilová. (12.10.2017)

The adaptation of Jo Nesbø's The Snowman definitely had more potential. I haven't read the book, but it was certainly more interesting than this bland detective story with mediocre visuals and a bored Michael Fassbender. These cold Nordic serial killer thrillers are usually top notch, here the Americans must have interfered a lot in the film, otherwise I can't really explain the failure. The murders are almost non-existent, so forget about the blood, the atmosphere is not very good and the only thing that surprises is the identity of the killer, which I didn't figure out. It is watchable, but the film lacks any WOW effect, which is a shame. The best scene from the trailer doesn’t even appear in the film. 55% (14.12.2017)

The book The Snowman marked a certain turning point, during which the series began to be uncomfortably suggestive and the murderous scenes became so precise and terrifying that one would look over their shoulder at home, wondering if something bad was waiting for them in the corner. At the same time, it was the most cinematic installment of the series so far, offering a great thriller. However, my fear that the main guide to Oslo in winter could fail in motion picture format was confirmed. Harry Hole, the hero of my favorite crime series, has already experienced, endured, and drunk quite a lot at this point in his life and career. His depressive substrate is soaked with losses and dismal periods in both adulthood and childhood. The film presents us with Harry, who is just a drinker, and it is not clear whether it is due to his breakup or simply because he does not currently have anything to dig into at work. Both reasons seem quite trivial, so it is good that the first snow comes and with it the murders that everyone who has heard of Jon Nesbø's books eagerly awaits. This sets the stage for the investigation carousel, which nonetheless seems almost ridiculous. The main characters ask a few questions, spend a lot of time examining the background of the Winter Games in Norway, and try to unravel the past of several anonymously acting characters. The problem is that the suggestiveness has disappeared from the adaptation. Murders either happen off-screen or are completely uninteresting. The present and past storylines do not intersect in the end; on the contrary (and this is a criticism I cannot forgive), the trio of screenwriters decides to openly deviate from the original, turning a crucial subplot into a dragging dead end. Moreover, I still remember how while reading, I thought I had the identity of the killer clear, but the author surprised me every time and played out the plot so far that three different characters could have been the culprit, and the twist in each case seemed similarly unquestionable. However, the film shoots down both incorrect theories and prematurely labels them as false, confusing the viewer perfectly and making some of the false clues almost insulting in retrospect. At this point, my initial disappointment is not far from anger, and I only give it a second star out of mercy because Charlotte Gainsbourg seems to have stepped out of my imagination as "my" Rachel, and because of the sad realization that in different hands, Michael Fassbender could truly be the perfect Harry. Nonetheless, I pray that the escalation towards an even more intense The Leopard hinted at in the finale does not come to pass. (23.10.2017)