Snow White and the Huntsman
Released 6/1/12, now in theaters
The June summer blockbusters begin with a re-imagining of the Grimm fairy tale, Snow White. This time around, the Huntsman in the story gets co-billing. Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame and the Thunder God, Chris Hemsworth star in the titular roles. Oscar winner, Charlize Theron, is the evil queen who wants the fair Snow White's heart. Yes, the literal muscle in the body (gross but it makes sense in this movie).
If you've read the Grimm fairy tale, or even seen the Disney version of it, you know what happens. Snow White's widowed father marries a beautiful, but vain woman. He dies and she hates her stepdaughter for being more beautiful when Snow White comes of age. Snow White is taken to the forest to be killed by a Huntsman. He lets her go and she's taken in by seven dwarfs. Evil Queen learns her stepdaughter is still alive and, disguised as an old woman poisons Snow White with an apple. She's saved by a Prince and the Queen gets her comeuppance (very differently depending on which version you read/watch).
So here's where we differ in this tale. The tale is set under a medieval backdrop complete with swords, armor, gated castles, and catapults. The Evil Queen (Ravenna) is actually a long-lived energy sapping witch who has a seething hatred for men. It seems her village was ransacked by a king like Snow White's father (in title only) many years ago. Ravenna's mother cursed her with supernatural power to take revenge. Ravenna's abuse of her magic ravages her body and her true age cannot be determined, as she needs to steal the souls of fresh victims to remain young and beautiful. As we discover, Snow's father isn't the only king she's duped into marrying her and then killing him to steal his kingdom. She has an army of mercenaries led by her brother and enforcer, Finn (kind of a strange relationship between these two) that assists her in taking over kingdoms after she has murdered their kings. Snow's father, King Magnus, is her latest victim when the princess is a young girl. Ravenna imprisons Snow for 15 years (not sure why she didn't kill her). Her fate becomes forever linked with Snow White when her magic mirror reveals consuming Snow's pure heart will make her immortal. After Snow White escapes to the Forbidden Forest after escaping her cell and Ravenna's lecherous brother, The Queen needs a specialist to lead her brother's soldiers into the forest. Enter the Huntsman, a drunken widower who has ventured into the forest before and lived to tell about it. He's also a former soldier who has mad fighting skills with his weapon of choice, the ax. The Huntsman is "persuaded" by the Queen and her brother to find Snow White in exchange for the promise to provide new life to his deceased wife. When he tracks down Snow in the forest, he can't bring himself to turn her over to Finn and his men and fights them off. Thus begins Snow White's quest to find allies to help her regain her father's kingdom. Oh, and there are dwarfs. Eight of them to start. Here's a hint. They're nothing like the Disney dwarfs.
I liked Snow White and the Huntsman. It's an entertaining dark adventure that has fabulous special effects. The Queen becoming a flock of ravens is a spectacular sight. The movie also does a nice job of contrasting Snow White and Ravenna. Everything lives and blooms around Snow White while everything decays and dies around Ravenna. Snow White is so pure, she even calms a raging troll in the Forbidden Forest. But given all of this, there was something missing for me.
So I reviewed the checklist. Great effects? Check. Chris Hemsworth believable as the Huntsman? Check. Charlize Theron believable as the Evil Queen? Check. Great battle scenes? Individually, check. The army battles? Adequate, but I can live with them. Kristen Stewart believable as Snow White? Uhhhh.... Now before you paint me as a Kristen Stewart basher, I'm not, really. I don't completely dislike her as an actress, but she's always just sort of in the scene in most of her movies. She does nothing that stands out or make you notice her. She's just there. Just hanging around. I guess she's talking and saying something poignant, but I'm really not listening. When she rallies her troops and dons her chain mail, I thought, eh! Not really feeling like you're the one to take out Ravenna, honey, and she's going to eat you for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a midnight snack! This role needed an actress that make Snow White bear teeth, especially when she goes all Joan of Arc at the end of the movie.
If there was a more dynamic Snow White, it would have pushed this movie over the top and made it great instead of good. Good is fine, but when you're hanging on the precipice of great, it's just a little disappointing.
The Dark Lord of the Sith says:
*** stars
Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Good viewing. Much better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. Could possibly foot the price of a non-Matinee.
5 *= Pure eye candy. Hall of Fame material here.
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