"Snow White and the Huntsman" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Spider-Man]

Mirror, mirror, on the wall ...

​

Snow White and the Huntsman
Release Date: June 1, 2012
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Rupert Sanders
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, Eddie Izzard, Bob Hoskins, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Stephen Graham, Ray Winstone, Lily Cole, Sam Spruell, Liberty Ross, Noah Huntley


Plot Summary: In the epic action-adventure "Snow White and the Huntsman," Kristen Stewart ("Twilight") plays the only person in the land fairer than the evil queen (Oscar winner Charlize Theron) who is out to destroy her. But what the wicked ruler never imagined is that the young woman threatening her reign has been training in the art of war with a huntsman (Chris Hemsworth, "Thor") who was dispatched to kill her. Sam Claflin ("Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides") joins the cast as the prince long enchanted by Snow White's beauty and power.


The breathtaking new vision of the legendary tale is from Joe Roth, the producer of "Alice in Wonderland," producer Sam Mercer ("The Sixth Sense") and acclaimed commercial director and state-of-the-art visualist Rupert Sanders.


Comments?


I caught the movie last night and I have to say it was much better than I was expecting. It's worth checking out!

 

[purplehairedwonder]

I had fairly low expectations going in, but the movie ended up being much worse than even those.

Positives: Adored Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman (but I kind of adore him in general) and loved Charlize Theron as the queen. She oozed evil, though she did have one or two too many dramatic head turns. The two of them acted circles around everyone else in the film. I'd have liked to see more interaction between them because of it.

Also, it was gorgeous. The scenery, the costumes, the effects... all stunning.

But on the whole, it was a very superficial film. And it felt very rough, like the script was a draft and it was an early cut of the film. The scene jumps were choppy and didn't seem to flow very well. Kristen Stewart seemed like she had maybe five lines in the film despite being one of the title characters; she also had very little agency in the story. She came across more like a plot device than a character.

The script was guilty of doing a lot of telling and very little showing--that Snow White is fairest in the land (I'm sorry, Kristen Stewart is cute but she's not Charlize Theron; plain jane Bella Swan is not fairest in the land), that she was life itself or whatever, that she had spirit that reminded the Huntsman of his wife (and that was super creepy to me. She could have been his daughter!), and so on. First rule of storytelling: show don't tell.

I dunno, I found myself checking my watch more than once during the film. It had the potential to be something very, very cool. Instead, it was boring.

Funnily enough, the last bad movie I saw also starred Kristen Stewart...

**/*****

 

[Gold Guy]

The film was only okay. The action sequences were good, and the acting was really good too, but there were too many boring scenes, and the final fight was underwhelming.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

*Insert warning about really long and spoiley review here*

You know, it's really hard to avoid comparisons between this and Mirror, Mirror. And that's because that's how we were introduced to both these films: there were various articles a couple years back on Relativley Media and Universal Pictures releasing two Snow White movies for 2012. One would be a lighthearted, comedic musical directed by Tarsem (more known for weirder, edgier fare like The Cell, The Fall and even Immortals) and the more action, griter tale directed by Rubert Snaders who... has is known for directing TV spots but this is his first feature film. And to be fair though both do start the same they both go in entirley different paths. Since both are trying to appease entirley different auidences. This movie more for adults or at least fans of more "realistic" action oriented flicks and mirror mirror more for kids. And to be perfectly honest, I really enjoyed Mirror Mirror. Maybe it was kind of a basic plot but they had a lot of fun and I really did enjoy the movie and it actually felt like it had achieved it's goal at bringing Snow White to the screen in an entirley different way then Disney went about it oh so many years ago. I guess Snow White And The Huntsman did so to but... this is just in my own opinion but it is far, FAR the weaker film of the two released this year.

Now keep in mind, I did try to give this one a fair shake. I knew it was going to be longer and not as comedic and try and be more adult so there would be different things to enjoy about it. Problem is, I couldn't find those things. I mean story wise, this thing is a mess. There's like a billion plotholes in it ranging from how quickly the King actually fell for the new queen (maybe she was enchanting him but considering they never made that clear and if she could do that with him why not with other guys in the story later on), or why she never killed Snow White (she didn't know that Snow's purity could help her until Snow was an Adult and really it's said she's taken over several other kingdoms so shouldn't she know to get rid of all lines of succsession so there's less chance of rebellion?) or why it took Snow so long to escape if all she needed as a little file to slice across someone's face and then run off, or why was Eric the Huntsman used to find Snow White if Finn saw he was easily bested by other strongman in town and there surley were others who went through the dark forest he didn't see get beat up, and for that matter why did Finn say that Raveena couldn't revive his wife BEFORE he handed Snow to him since if he knew the truth he wouldn't of agreed to that deal, and why did the Huntsman and Snow White say they didn't trust each other yet and not be honest with each other yet act surprise when Snow didn't tell who she was at first or the Huntsman tried running off (and for that matter why is the Huntsman all "everyone around me dies" like an angster when the exact same thing happened to Snow White and he actually knows that) and how exactly does Snow White charm the troll or the birds or that big horned elk in the forest? What does purity mean she is able to just make everyone want to bow to her? And really does she actually cure the sick or injured as the elder dwarfe said? And how come when she was poisioned by the queen did The Huntsman's kiss wake her but not the prince's? What is the Huntsman her true love since they never show the two getting together and the Huntsman still seems loyal to his dead wife and never says Snow is a subsistute but a reminder? Shouldn't it be a kiss of romance that awakes snow white not "oh uh you kind of remind me of someone I love, girl I said I grew more with then I acutally did". Also if Raveena lost a lot of her power when her brother died (The second time since I guess he was just scratched the first time even though you saw one of his fingers melt at least but that's never brought up again) and didn't absorb Snow's essance how is she powerful enough to brush off Snow easily and summon up those dark breakabrick warriors around her? And why is there a connection between Snow White and Raveena anyway? What is it because of Raveena's magic and snow's somehow magic since they never said why she was magic besides apparently she was born like a thorn bush her mom pricked her finger on. And that reminds me, what's up with the three blood drops thing? Is that suppose to represent something because if it does that wasn't made clear either or actually fit the narrative. And it can't be because of it suppose to being all symolical since most everything else in this movie that wasn't explained was over explained (like the queen's backstory and the Huntsman's story and the dwarves now wanting to be loyal to Snow) due to all the expositional dialgoue flowing around. Since really there were only like a couple of moments in the second half of the movie that were allowed to breath and the rest of it was just a lot of set pieces to have action for the sake of it (like that village of women whose husband went to battle being set on fire for example) or narration or characters going over key plot details. Truthfully I've only seen a limited amount of films and only know the base structure of how to make them, but really even I can tell how green Rubert Sanders is as a direction in how to tell a story properly. He seems more focused on it being visuals then having any actual plot to go with it, which doesn't work when you're trying to tell a two hour movie. A 30 second ad sure but this just fell apart on screen. I suppose it wasn't in the "this is dry as dishwater" way but more like "this doesn't even make sense and even just thinking about it for five seconds when watching it makes you go huh". Even the siller moments of Dark Shadows or Men In Black III didn't take me out of the movie for the most part until after I watched it. This one kept donig that all the time, and felt like it needed a serious rewrite.

Another problem is the characters since really none of them have any development. I guess Kristen Stewart isn't at least acting like Bella Swan to play Snow White but she doesn't leave much of an impression when you give her dialgoue. Whenever she treis to look tough it just looks forced and whenever she tries to look happy it just appears weird. Not to mention the Snow White character arc doesn't work. She's suppose to go from being a damsel to a warrior princess right? Well sorry but she had like a 30 second lesson from the Huntsman on how to stab someone in the heart and then was either carried away from danger or solved a problem by "communing" with it with her snow white magical powers. When she puts on the armor it doesn't feel earned espiecally since she only came back to the Huntsman and then tired making a speech about freedom but it came across as half taking deep breaths and half screaming. Say what you want about Lily Collins in MIrror Mirror but at least she had a montage and what seemed like days of training when she actually tried fighting and had an actual fiesty personality not a "trying to be pleasent but then trying to be tough when it seems like I need to." Also it just ends with her being queen which... yeah is not only a bad, weak ending to the film but doesn't really end her arc since we still don't know which boy she wound up chosing. Which isn't something I should have to say about a Snow White movie since yeah isn't Snow White suppose to end up with Prince Charming (well William in this movie but you know what I mean). Well no since besides this guy being good at archery and having issues with his father we don't know anything about him. Hell he has NO chemistry whatsoever with Snow White and the only scene it seemed like he did, it was actually the Queen pretending to be William as everything else felt like "We were friends as kids" or "I want to love you but duty's more important." And then there's the Huntsman who... well Chris Hemsworth is by far the most interesting main lead but his dialgoue is still bad and his character is still inconsistent. Like one minute he's running off from Snow and then he suddently grows more of a consicence to help her back but he's still torn. And again why have the first scene of him being beat around when he seems to tear through people quickly who aren't amped up by magic well the rest of the movie? Plus like I said I don't get why there was a romantic connection between Snow White and the Huntsman when it seemed like they were more just becoming partners or friends then BF and GF. And though at least him and Snow had some chemistry it seemed force with how he suddenly wanted to help her more and her being so reliant on him to assist her.

Well at least the Evil Queen had to have been impressive right? Uh... yeah not really. A lot of Charlize Theron's dialogue from the trailer is in her speech to Snow at the end and they really spent too much time making her either seem weak (with her needing the energy of Snow or youth to sustain her and being in brain when her brother died or being sliced up by The Huntsman when trying to kll Snow) or strangley making her sympathetic. Hell even when Once Upon a Time did that at least it was becuase it was a TV show and it had the time to develop episodes surrounding the Evil Queen to get to know more of her story as well as saying she had a specific reason of hating Snow. Here though Raveena had like a minute of backstory but the rest of the time she's still talking about wanting to rule the world and her absolute hatred of men (since apparently they betrayed her though we never see that part since you know that could of been interesting) and ravaging kingdoms and the like. Again Julia Roberts was at least having fun being such an evil nasty queen in MIrror Mirror and well Charlize Theron... wasn't as there was a good chunk in the middle she wasn't in and after awhile they tried showing her aging too much so she looked more old and decriped then scary and threathening like she did in the teasers. And then there were the dwarves who... well tried to be the "funny" part of this movie but really there banter wasn't ANYWHERE near as good as it was in MIrror Mirror. Here it was more "oh I don't trust the Huntsman" and "I think Snow White's a Witch" that passes for humor. And really the dwarves that have personalitiy are just cardboard cutouts. There's the old sagley one who just seems there to sprout lines like "she is the one chosen by fate to defeat the evil queen and save the land" and then there's the one who keeps complaining about their duties even in the midst of battle, and the one that has that supposedly cute crush on Snow and winds up giving his life for her that's suppose to be all touching but... Kristen Stewart can't sell that emotion so it honestly doesn't. And really no one else has a character. William has a father who has like three scenes but doesn't really do anything, there's some girl named Greta who just shows off the queen zaps youth and well there's the queen's brother Finn but that guy is honestly more idiotic then anything else. With how he got fooled by Snow so easily and then tried barbing the Huntsman not once but TWICE even though he handed the guy a sound defeat the first time around so why press your luck again?

Let's see what did I like about this one. Well the effects were pretty good. Mostly in that final battle scene with the army vs Raveena's suped up dark crystal warriors (and I did like how that was their true strength since at the beginning they were just being portrayed as weak to lure the kingdom in a false sense of security). And I guess by that notion the final battle scene was pretty good since I always appreciate group fights where everyone gets at least one good hit so seeing Snow, William and the Huntsman get one in was nice (the other battle sceens weren't really that good though and were either in areas like the woods or at night with fire around so we couldn't see all of what was happening). And I liked Raveena tricking Snow by pretending to be William as that felt fairly inspired. And uh... I thought the design of the faires and giant horned elk were kind of inspired. That's really it though.

So yeah in truth this movie is not only a lot weaker then Mirror Mirror but really is just bad. Since the plot is nonsencial and doesn't make sense, the characters weren't very good, the action only works in the final scene, there isn't really any comedy (and what is there isn't funny) and I couldn't find it entertaining besides making a few riffs to myself. Really if this actually offered me a darker, edgier and interesting take on Snow White I'd be fine with it but it doesn't. And as much as people dislike Mirror MIrror at least you have to admit they were trying to have fun there. This one just looked like Red Riding Hood and was trying to cash in on fairly tales becoming "adult" dark brooding romance somewhat action flicks and who really wants that? Not me, that's for sure.

 

[Bat-Fan Beyond]

Joan of Arc vs. Lady Bathory

Really wanted to see Prometheus this weekend, but my concerns and my wife persuaded me otherwise. Instead I took her and my son to see Snow White and The Huntsman... and all three of us loved it.

I'm actually surprised I liked it as much as I did. I don't understand all the negativity this film got. It's beautiful and moving. I had no problem whatsoever with the script. Sure it was long, but never once did I feel bored. The visuals are amazing, and so was Charlize Theron. I'm not sure I understand all the hate for Kristen Stewart either. Yeah, maybe Stewart's not as gorgeous or as great an actress as Theron, but she wasn't bad at all. I've only seen Stewart in two other movies, Adventureland and The Runaways, and I don't think she was bad in them either. Maybe the Twilight movies suck -- I wouldn't know -- she gets a lot of crap for them, but I thought she did a good job in the Joan of Arc-like Snow White role.

The movie did leave me with a few questions:
Why didn't Ravenna (Theron) just kill Snow White? Why keep her a prisoner for so long without ever draining her lifeforce? Also, what was that white CG liquid that looked like thick white paint? Was it supposed to be milk or something? I think they should have borrowed more from Bathory and actually made it red blood.


Overall, great movie and undeserving of the negative reviews.