Detective Harry Hole is an iconic character in the novels of international best-selling Norwegian author Jo Nesbo, having featured in eleven of his books. This first transfer to film (starring Michael Fassbender) is unlikely to lead to a rush for more.
Sumptuous it may be, set as it is in the winter landscapes of Norway (cinematography courtesy of Oscar-winning Dion Beebe), but the film simply does not gel. In telling its story, whole chunks of the source material have been abandoned, with crucial plot and character development simply ignored.
Hole’s search for a serial killer should have been a dark psychological chiller of a thriller. Instead, it’s uninvolving, predictable and a waste of a seriously classy cast (J.K. Simmons, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rebecca Ferguson, Toby Jones, Val Kilmer). Not what was expected from Tomas Alfredson, director of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Let the Right One In.
Rating: 38%
Director: Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Let the Right One In)
Writer: Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Men Who Stare at Goats), Hossein Amini (Drive, Our Kind of Traitor), Søren Sveistrup (The Day Will Come, TV’s The Killing) – based on the book by Jo Nesbø
Main cast: Michael Fassbender (12 Years A Slave, Prometheus), Rebecca Ferguson (The Girl on the Train, Despite the Falling Snow), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Melancholia, Samba)
Cinematographer: Dion Beebe (Memoirs of a Geisha, Collateral)
An Opinion or Two 
I don’t know Nesbo’s books but I would likely want to watc h this film as a way of getting to know the character. Thanks for the warning this wouldn’t be worth the effort.
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Character development is sadly low on the priority. Hole is an alcoholic and when the film opens he has been awol from the office. No explanation. As The Snowman is the seventh of Nesbo’s Hole novels, I’m assuming there’s some explanation in prior books. He also has a reputation as a brilliant detective. Again, no explanation. If the film gelled as a story, it wouldn’t be so important. But there’s glaring holes (excuse the pun) in the plot that highlight the paucity of belief in the main characters (note plural as there are other characters who I assume are back linked who probably feature highly in the previous novels – his ex, his boss etc).
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