With a film directed by Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and starring Michael Fassbender, J.K. Simmons, Val Kilmer, Toby Jones, Chloë Sevigny, and Rebecca Ferguson (The Girl on the Train, Mission: Impossible) The Snowman shoulda been really, really great.
It is not.
Granted, it's intriguing—being set entirely in Norway—but it's stilted, cold, boring, and very, very goofy. Lots of bad acting (!), and some really stupid shots, like actors just staring in the general direction of the camera as if they were in a Mentos commercial.
Admittedly, it had some good bits, but very few. It also felt a bit like acting camp: earnest, but often embarrassing.
It's hard to say what exactly goes wrong here, perhaps because it's just so many tiny things stacked atop one another, but I will say this [spoiler alert!], when a film ends because the heretofore crafty serial killer falls in a hole and dies, well, 'nuff said.
That lame ending is pretty representative of the entire debacle, which is a complete meltdown 
