The Snowman

A maverick Norwegian police detective with a drinking problem (Michael Fassbender) investigates the disappearance of a woman who may be the latest victim of a serial killer. Adapted by Peter Straughan, Hossein Amini and Søren Sveistrup from Jo Nesbo’s bestselling thriller and directed by Tomas Alfredson, the movie is simply a God-awful, incoherent mess. Characters and subplots pop in at random and nothing makes any sense. Two of the best editors in the business, Thelma Schoonmaker and Claire Simpson, seem to have assembled the footage blindfolded wearing boxing gloves, and a world-class cast (Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, J.K. Simmons, Val Kilmer) makes no impression at all. Dion Beebe’s cinematography comes off best, but it only adds to the off-putting Nordic coldness of it all.