Snow White and the Huntsman Reviews

Dull Overrated Uninspiring

Posted : 3 months, 3 weeks ago on 2 February 2013 11:49

Seen this recently with my partner. And I have to say I was expecting more.

Kristen Stewart is as terrible as ever; she cannot act period. She is emotionless and dull to the point of no return. And carries the same old annoying pout throughout the entire feature. Someone pass the bucket!

Even Chris Hemsworth whom I normally quite enjoy seemed rather disinterested with his role here. I thought he was superb in Thor but in Snow white, I thought something was missing...

The saving grace of this movie is Charlize Theron who portrays the Queen. A brilliant convincing performance that made me smile every time she was on screen.

I am sure for every negative review this film gets it'll get ten positive and this is fine by me. I recommend you see it for yourself and make up your own mind but for me I'll give it one big miss. It started well but by halfway I had lost interest in the story and the characters, albeit for the queen.

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Snow White and the Huntsman review

Posted : 4 months, 1 week ago on 11 January 2013 11:08

At some point, we're all familiar with the tale of Snow White. Fairest of them all, poisoned apple, true love's kiss, etc. But we find ourselves in times when people want to make a few changes in the story to entertain a modern audience. And this movie is the latest example of that rule.

Okay, I'm not exactly surprised by the idea of a dark fairy tale world, but this is one of the very few examples that make that idea work. In this story, the evil Queen Ravenna has discovered that Snow White is the only one who can destroy her. To prevent that from happening, Ravenna makes the Hunstman to find and kill Snow White. However, Snow White convinces the Hunstman to help her save the kingdom and defeat Ravenna.

Many elements in the story are present, such as Prince Charming, the Magic Mirror, the Enchanted Forest and the Seven Dwarves. They are modified to fit into the idea of a darker and edgier Snow White. Instead of a dashing and valiant prince, you get a very flawed and human young man. Instead of a happy and singing miners, the Dwarves are an oppressed minority. You should expect that kind of changes.

The atmosphere may be dark, but you can also sense a kind of elegance in it. The characters are well-developed and you can identify with their personalities, their struggles and their victories. Kristen Stewart succesfully breaks away from Bella Swan by playing the beautiful and valiant Snow White, Charlize Theron is a magnificent Queen, and Chris Hemsworth is the deeply awesome Huntsman. This trio of characters are basically the whole reason you stay watching the movie.

While I respect Disney's version of Snow White, I honestly prefer this version of the story. In fact, it was this movie that got me interested in Snow White again. It also made me a Kristen Stewart fan. I definitely recomemnd it for everyone!

That's it. Thanks for reading.

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Snow White and the Huntsman review

Posted : 4 months, 1 week ago on 11 January 2013 12:28

Note: this is completely a non-serious review :D

Snow white and the hunstman, well you must have heard the story once in your childhood or in your youth so I won't like to put summary here, I am going to talk about the movie.
First of the casting was a big plus when it comes to queen. Such pretty face, so beautiful and all this because it is Charlize Theron. What a beautiful performer. Loved every scene she was in but when it comes to Kristen Stewert, meh!
I was very disappointed and apparently all those who watched her act in twilight series were because net is full of her memes,still I wanted to give her a chance but man, what a movie to blow it. I wish Amanda seyfried was the Snow white. She could have given Charlize a real threat in the competition for fairness but they chose Kristine who again choked .... and again... and again. Notice when she stands beside Charlize, Charlize dominates the frame. Way to go casting couch!
So we have a not-so-good-choking-Snow white who fails to give a motivational speech so naturally you can imagine, I spent some time in movie plain laughing at the seriousness they were trying to create. What a fuss!
first 45 mins of movie are really good, I mean really really good, next 30 mins, bearable but then it was annoying for me. I pressed skip a lot, I wish editing was tighter. The story was good, except that it could be much shorter had the queen watched Snow White in her youth, being Kristine, she would have replaced the mirror because obviously it was gone nuts.
vfx are nice, esp mirror's one but yeah that's all. Not that memorable for me. :)

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Snow White & the Huntsman

Posted : 4 months, 2 weeks ago on 4 January 2013 01:46

Now I’m not saying that this is up there with Jean Cocteau’s poetic masterpiece La Belle et La Bête, but this is how you reinvent a fairy tale for the big screen. All of the story beats are there, but they’ve been twisted, expanded upon and remain highly sexualized and violent, no Disney-friendly scrub brush has removed any of the psychological complexity here. That’s right, I’m calling you out Mirror Mirror, the first, but by no means best, Snow White adaptation of 2012.

Snow White & the Huntsman truly does focus on the two of them, and twists the story away from the generic, anemic heroine besting the wicked stepmother with the help of numerous friends into a more girl-power tale, beefing up not only Snow White’s personality and presence, but that of the Huntsman as well. Everything is given a harder edge, at once going for an over-the-top visual splendor, which at times has things happening for no other reason than that they look cool, and a Lord of the Rings/Game of Thrones dirty/realistic world in which famine and disease are unglamorous sufferings and most people look like they haven’t bathed in days.

All of the ingredients that we think of when it comes to Snow White are here: the pallid heroine, the handsome prince, the brawny huntsman, the nightmarish escape through the woods, the seven dwarves, and, of course, the glamorous, dangerous Queen. And, unlike Mirror Mirror, this actually features the poisoned apple and the death of the Queen. But how it uses them is really very interesting.

Kristen Stewart is pretty, but Charlize Theron is a super-humanly gorgeous being. The movie explains that Snow White is fairer than the Queen due to her capacity to love, care and nurture; it’s a nice side-step for something that always bothered me about every screen incarnation of the tale. No one truly believes that Disney’s animated heroine is more beautiful than the slinky, seductive Queen, at least this movie returns to the roots of the story and gives a reasoning behind Snow White’s eventual ascension as fairest of them all.

A new wrinkle has been added to the story, a town made up of women who live on the outskirts of the kingdom and have damaged themselves so they’re no threat to the Queen. It’s a smart new dimension to the story, and really opens up the world beyond the palace, forest and cottage. This sequence gives us a moment to realize that there is an actual kingdom at stake here, complete with peasants and gentry who are real people with needs, values, fears and dreams.

And the performances add a great deal to the surprising twists and turns it takes to the story. The dwarves as presented here are anything but the seven compartmentalized personalities that we think of them as in our collective consciousness, but a rag-tag group of unique faces and personalities, seemingly borrowed from a British gangster film. There’s a true element of danger when actors like Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins and Ray Winstone portray normally cuddly little side-kicks.

And Chris Hemsworth, brawny, hunky and bruised in equal measures, proves that when a meatier role is offered to him, he may just excel at it. This isn’t an awards caliber performance, but it proves that he may yet have depths and interesting emotional layers to discover as an actor. The Huntsman wouldn’t seem like a role which would require any complexity, but there’s a great arch for his character to go on and Hemsworth nails it each and every step of the way.

And Theron as the queen delivers a performance that I am of two minds about. On one hand, she’s given a richer backstory and reasoning behind her evil plotting and vanity. As a child she was told that her only value and contribution to the world was her beauty, so any intelligence (which she possesses) or other qualities were never given a chance to ripen. When needed to strike a withering look, or have moment of naked emotion, to reveal the tremendous hurt, bitterness and anger behind her bitchery, Theron nails the role. But she also has several moments when she decides that drag queen-level high camp and overacting would serve the story well. It’s by turns a fabulous, engaging portrait of a woman with few options forced to trade-in on her good looks at the expanse of her soul, and screaming, flailing diva caricature preening on display. She’s a far better evil queen than Julia Roberts, I will say that much.

And, of course, one cannot talk about this movie without mentioning the sheer visual wonder on display. The world of the film may be surrounding in darkness, and have an overall glacial feeling, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some beautiful special effects for us to feast upon. Snow White’s hallucinations over the dark forest see tree branches turn into black snakes, slithering and twisting in midair, and demonic gargoyles emerging from dead trees. Albino fairies crawl out of birds, or were riding on them depending on how you look at it. And when we meet the great forest spirit, which tiptoes into plagiarism of Princess Mononoke territory for a brief second, the very vegetation begins to spring to life as mushroom’s sprout eyes, moss covered rocks turn into turtles, vines growing on trees turn into green snakes and other such phenomenon. It’s beautiful to look at, but there are times when some images seem done just for the sake of it. I’m still unsure what the queen’s dip into a giant tub of milk only to arise looking like a marble statue was supposed to mean or symbolize, but it sure was a nifty image for the trailers.

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Could've Been, Should've Been

Posted : 4 months, 3 weeks ago on 31 December 2012 09:20

This was one of the films that I looked forward to this year, because the trailer was so enticing, and seemed to promise a wonderful movie. A proactive and capable woman that would be her own Hero. With this new look, who could resist Snow White and the Huntsman? Unfortunately, it looks like they offered more than they could deliver, and I was tremendously disappointed. I can’t explain how pissed off I was after the movie. I guess looking back now; it did kind of ruin my night. My friends thought that it was average, and wasn’t worth my criticism, but unlike them, I wasn’t fooled with the effects and the costumes.
Despite its let downs, it wasn’t horrible right off the bat. It started off strong, with the typical and but pleasantly expected origin of Snow White, her Father and the loss of her mother. The blood on the snow part was beautiful and haunting, and Ravenna’s discovery and trap was fresh and great, and was one of the few parts that I liked. Truth be told, the first 10-15 minutes of the movie was magical, as if it intended to lull the audience into a fantasy world, but as the story progressed it failed to capture the audience. Things started going downhill when the village went up in flames because even though it was supposed to be dramatic and emotional, nothing came through, except that it was awkward and wasn’t connecting with its viewers.
With all the hype that it created, and all the glory I anticipated the film would bring, I can’t be blamed for being this upset about it. The trailer was very misleading, and had it shown the truth then I wouldn’t have spent weeks gushing about how good it was going to be. The only good part about this film is that included Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth. Oh, and of course, the cgi effects. There was a scene that seemed like it was taken, okay, inspired from Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke.
This could have been a great film, had things been done way differently. The background story or even the character development of the other actors could have endeared them more to its viewers. I sincerely believe that had they shown more interaction, or screen time, they could have made the film more bearable. But the film focused too much on Snow White that the other characters, except for the queen, were as good as extras. Even Chris wasn't enough to keep the story alive with his sad tale of a love lost forever.
The only one that shone was Charlize, because she was clearly a true evil queen that dominated the screen whenever she was on. Maybe if the film had been more about Ravenna, and less about the slutty Snow White and her confusing accent it wouldn’t have been so bad. All in all, the story was grew terribly weak in the middle, and continued until the crappy end. The lack of direction and the lead's confusing actions, were ultimately what made this a flop for me.


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Snow White and the Huntsman review

Posted : 5 months ago on 22 December 2012 06:26

I'm only giving it a low rate because i'm sure they could have done better than Kristen Steward. I like the storyline and I love Charlize and Chris in it.

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Snow White and the Huntsman review

Posted : 8 months, 1 week ago on 19 September 2012 02:53

Of the two Snow White movies released in 2012, I would highly recommend seeing Snow White and the Huntsman. Mirror Mirror wasn't a bad movie, but it wasn't nearly as good as this one. In my opinion, Charlize Theron plays a much more interesting (and terrifying) evil queen than does Julia Roberts.

When I heard that Kristen Stewart would be playing Snow White, my first thought was that she would ruin the movie. Fortunately, I have to admit that I thought she did a good job with her role without being annoying or distracting.

Chris Hemsworth played the role of the Huntsman perfectly. He was very believable and likable.

The special effects were very good. The overall look and feel of the movie was outstanding. The set designs and costumes were all done with the greatest attention to detail. All of this helped to draw the audience into the story. I also felt that the script was very well written and the movie was well directed.

The one minor complaint that I had was the role of Wiliam, Snow White's childhood friend. He was a little bit of a distraction and could have been left out of the story, but that is only a minor complaint.

Snow White and the Huntsman is an excellent movie that I highly recommend!

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Snow White and the Huntsman review

Posted : 8 months, 1 week ago on 15 September 2012 05:53

J'ai bien aimé ce film, et il aurait pu être vraiment bien si seulement ils avaient plus poussé la relation chasseur/Blanche-Neige. J'ai vraiment été déçu de la façon qu'ils l'ont représenté... Et la fin est vraiment... nul...

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Snow White and the Huntsman review

Posted : 8 months, 2 weeks ago on 8 September 2012 08:02

Not really a film im interested but it told the story very well, great cast with some good scenes. Good version but Snow White movies have been done so many times before.

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A glacial blockbuster...

Posted : 10 months ago on 24 July 2012 08:29

"Snow White. She is the reason your powers wane."

2012's second Snow White project (after Tarsem's Mirror Mirror), Snow White and the Huntsman represents an attempt to use the age-old Snow White story as the basis for a medieval Hollywood blockbuster. Electing a dark, grim approach, the movie takes its stylistic cues from the likes of The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia - it's a large-scale revisionist adaptation featuring elaborate battles and lavish visual effects. And due to its gritty portrayal of the Middle Ages, the movie also resembles Ridley Scott's mildly successful attempt at revivifying Robin Hood a couple of years ago. It's an idea ripe with potential, but Snow White and the Huntsman is troubled in its execution, with flawed scripting and pacing, not to mention a lack of substance, almost lethally injuring what could have been an audacious masterpiece.

Heir to her parents' royal throne, Snow White (Stewart) is shaken as a child when her mother dies of a tragic illness. Snow's father, King Magnus (Huntley), soon rescues a gorgeous woman named Ravenna (Theron) from the battlefield, and the two eventually wed. As it turns out, however, the scheming Ravenna is in fact a sorceress who uses her beauty to conquer kingdoms. Upon murdering her new husband, Ravenna steals the throne for herself and locks her stepdaughter away. Ravenna continues her reign for years with assistance from her brother Finn (Spruell), preventing herself from growing old by stealing the youth of young women. When Ravenna learns that Snow White is a threat to her immortality, she calls for her stepdaughter to be executed, but Snow manages to escape the castle grounds before Ravenna has the chance to kill her. Called upon to recapture Snow is a boozing widower known as The Huntsman (Hemsworth), who hesitantly agrees to the assignment. But when he learns of Snow White's royal bloodline, The Huntsman has a change of heart, and the two begin looking to stop the treacherous Ravenna and allow Snow to assume her rightful position on the throne.

Visually, Snow White and the Huntsman is an extraordinary effort indeed, with the widescreen frame capturing director Rupert Sanders' finicky attention to detail in terms of sets, costumes, CGI and locales. Sanders cut his teeth with television commercials, which prepared him for the movie's technical aspects quite well. Isolated sequences are considerably impressive (especially the battles) and James Newton Howard's score is engaging. All of these positives are merely surface-level attributes, though; Snow White and Huntsman has very little else going for it beyond the superficial. While the first 40 minutes or so are pretty good, the film begins to drag interminably from that point onwards. There's one especially egregious scene with the dwarves over a campfire, and from there the picture moves at a snail's pace. By the time we get to the token climactic battle sequence, the film already feels too long in the tooth, and you'll be forgiven for wanting the narrative's complex machinations to be sorted out as quickly as possible. Snow White and the Huntsman begins with promise, yet it devolves into a glacial flick unable to generate much momentum; a mortal flaw since momentum is critical for a summer blockbuster.

Perhaps one of the biggest problems is that screenwriters Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini endeavoured to retain as much of the source material as possible, extending to that goddamn "mirror, mirror" dialogue, the comical dwarves, and cheesy interludes (Snow "dying" due to the poisoned apple is a key offender, as her revivification makes no sense here). Such material feels out of place in what's established as a grim, dark tale of medieval combat and murder. Yes, it was included out of reverence, but the fight between wanting to do something unique and wanting to retain nods to the original story ultimately yields a messy finished movie that's unsure of what it wants to be. For instance, it's suggested that Snow White cannot be touched by Queen Ravenna when away from the castle, but, because the third act needed a dilemma, Ravenna randomly shows up in disguise carrying the iconic poisoned apple. If Ravenna couldn't touch Snow outside the castle, how could she do this? And if she could touch Snow, why did she wait so long to do so? Worse, the quest to include all the narrative beats from the Disney movie is probably the cause of Snow White and the Huntsman's meandering disposition, as the writers wanted to use the same structure regardless of whether or not it fitted into their revisionist take (the dwarves, for instance, do nothing useful here).

As Snow, Kristen Stewart is bad. Clearly chosen for her appeal to the Twilight crowd, she brings no sense of life or vitality to the role, instead reducing Snow to an emotionless automaton with one facial expression of pained peevishness. Stewart literally just plays Bella here, relying on all of the same "acting" characteristics that saw her through in the Twilight series. Worse, Stewart appears to attempt some form of English accent, yet never settles on anything consistent. One minute her accent is noticeable, the next she just sounds like Bella again. Her horrible performance threatens to cause the entire feature to crumble, especially since she fails to sell Snow's transformation from helpless victim to warrior princess. Chris Hemsworth, on the other hand, fares a lot better, delivering a charismatic, dynamic performance as the titular Huntsman. Espousing an impressively consistent accent, the Australian continues to show why he deserves genuine stardom. Also of note is Charlize Theron, who absolutely sunk her teeth into the role of Queen Ravenna. Theron chews the scenery with gusto, coming across as a convincingly sinister villain. Meanwhile, the dwarves were played by a bunch of talented British thespians - including Nick Frost, Ray Winstone, Toby Jones, Ian McShane and Bob Hoskins - who were digitally shrunken.

From the outset, it's clear that Snow White and the Huntsman has nothing in common with Mirror Mirror - while the earlier movie was cartoonish and light-hearted, this Snow White iteration is a darker affair. What a shame that it doesn't quite work. With a tighter pace and snappier structuring (not to mention a better actress than Kristen Stewart), Snow White and the Huntsman could have been a home run. Instead, it's a mostly unsuccessful experiment which reeks of Twilight and promises that a franchise is imminent. Oh boy.

5.2/10

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