Snow White and the Huntsman Reviews

'Snow White and the Huntsman' did have potential. The trailers looked decent, and Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth and all the actors playing the dwarfs have been responsible for great work in their careers.

However, although she has given good performances outside of 'Twilight', this reviewer doesn't care hugely for Kristen Stewart (though she is not a detractor either) and cares even less for the 'Twilight Saga'. So expectations prior to seeing the film, a live-action re-imagining of the classic fairy tale, were mixed.

Watching it finally at a film night with friends, 'Snow White and the Huntsman' wasn't as bad as feared and does have a good amount going for it, but it should have been much better than it was.

First and foremost, starting with the good assets, the best things about 'Snow White and the Huntsman' are the production values and Charlize Theron. The film is very beautiful to look at, with luscious but also atmospheric photography, Gothic but also elegant and rustic set and scenery design and lavish costumes (Ravenna's are a knockout). The special effects are mostly fine too. Ravenna is the one character that 'Snow White and the Huntsman' properly tries to develop (and it does so reasonably, but there are parts that could have been elaborated upon more), and Theron positively sinks her teeth into the character, giving a very enjoyably hammy (sometimes), sinister and also tragic interpretation.

James Newton Howard's score complements very well, it's beautifully orchestrated, rousing, elegiac, atmosphere-enhancing and very involving. Hemsworth is appropriately stone-faced and brooding as the Huntsman, displaying charisma and emotion. Sam Claflin does well too, though with an underwritten character.

Was mixed however on the dwarfs and Rupert Sanders' direction. The dwarfs are very enjoyably characterised, with all of them displaying much needed character, humour and charm, more so than their material deserved. Ian McShane is particularly noteworthy. However, they are written in a very glossed over and bland fashion, almost like they were written as an afterthought. The decision to scale down the actors may not work for some people, those who feel that casting real-life dwarfs would have fared better, personally enjoyed the performances but felt it would have been better if Warwick Davis played all of them. Sanders' direction exudes confidence visually, but in the chemistry between actors, direction of some of the actors and direction of the drama he seemed ill at ease.

The biggest problem with 'Snow White and the Huntsman' is Stewart (an opinion this reviewer well before reading the reviews for the film, so this is own opinion talking), she gives a very wooden, expressionless and one-note (constant surprise and "sucking on lemon"-like) performance that makes identifying and sympathising with Snow White incredibly difficult. A shame because her younger child counterpart was very believable. The story has moments (mainly with Theron), but flounders from a lack of chemistry in the pivotal relationship between Stewart and Hemsworth, a particularly dull middle act and stuff brought up but barely explored giving an incomplete and jumpy feel to the storytelling.

Action is episodic and lacking in tension and excitement generally, while the script clunks badly and the characters are bland with the exception of Ravenna. They do start trying to develop the Huntsman but the development is forgotten about once he becomes protector and lover.

Overall, looks great but fails to engage narratively. Not awful, not great, wildly uneven more like. 5/10 Bethany Cox

An embittered and cruel witch-queen plunges the land into darkness and near hopelessness save for the existence of a beautiful princess that holds the key to the future in "Snow White and the Huntsman". The film marked yet another entry into the slew of grim reimaginings of fairy tales that had, in the public eye, long been associated with children's fare but, ironically, came from much darker roots.

The film is a curious one in the sense that it seems dead set on lulling you into a lethargic stupor despite its wide array of gorgeous visuals, sets, and a cast with some impressive names. In fact, it never seems like it ever properly takes off, always building up to something that never quite feels like it arrives with proper pomp and circumstance. Most confounding, is that when things do finally take on an air of urgent relevancy the film is a frog's hair from it's conclusion.

It's also a story that seemed to bite off more than it could chew, constantly developing the world the characters live in and the rules and circumstances that define everything going on while, simultaneously, feeling like it's always missed some important detail that would rightfully make you feel invested or make the world seem real. One wonders what could have been done with the characters if the filmmaker's hadn't been overtly concerned with the unnecessary glut of world-building.

The film also sports a prologue that is somehow both uncharacteristically long and manages to fail to delineate the bulk of important details that are pivotal to engagement in the film's core narrative. This despite there being a narration on top of dialogue and visual action. When details do come, they feel a little late to the party. Then there's the facets that are outright disregarded or left to assumption. There is always room for the implied and audience inference but maybe less so in a fantasy landscape that seems so concerned with details that make or break the whole affair.

With the level of unnecessary attention to cursory details you'd think they'd put in double the effort with casting characters but quite the opposite is true. The most alluring element in this story is the villain (played with overwrought menace by Charlize Theron) but they keep her so much on the sidelines that at times you almost feel you'll forget she's part of the plot. The usually charming and dexterous Chris Hemsworth is the titular Huntsman who is portrayed as everything the opposite of what his strengths as an actor would call for, leaving one to wonder why they didn't just cast any other schmoe. It feels wasteful for the most part, although Theron does entice despite the shortcomings of the character.

Of course there is the lead Kristen Stewart as Snow White, a casting that convinces me all they were worried about was the eye-catching and superficial nature of the film. Yes, her alabaster skin and ruby red lips evoke the princess of lore but her acting ability (or lack thereof) betrays the script's demand for a character that literally embodies life in a landscape full of death and decay. Though leagues better than her portrayal of Bella in the dreadful Twilight series, Stewart still came across as a blank slate with only the occasional spark here and there to give you an inkling at what could of been. Its stunning that anybody would think that this casting would work given the requirements of the character on paper, so when she suddenly leaps from listless maiden in distress to a unifying and inspirational leader of an army it feels grossly out of place and unwarranted. At no point do you feel the character has grown or changed and, yet, the film tells you she has. No amount of fantasy could cover up her inadequacies as an actress.

To add insult to injury the film is the equivalent of riding a kid's tea cup ride after you've experienced a hair-raising roller coaster. Things that should excite you seem trivial or pedestrian and quickly give way to that languid, plodding pacing that consumes the bulk of the film before they can build up any adequate steam. Again, a lot of that time is spent indulging in visual world-building that ultimately serves no purpose other than to provide eye-candy. Rarely does it charm and when it does it's only a matter of minutes before we're back into glacial pace. At a gobsmacking two hours and seven minutes (longer if you see the extended cut) this takes its toll.

Not all is negative however. Somewhere in there you could see traces of potential but this feels more like a sequel to a story that we never got to see so it's missing intrinsic chunks of information that would make us invested in the events. The effects are gorgeous as is the cinematography. The cast is full of big names and some of those do the best with what they have (most notably the slew of greats playing the dwarves). Costume and set design are top notch, as well. All this just makes you wish the story was worthy of the production value, however.

I will say I never felt bored during the movie but I also never felt fulfilled. Everything just fell short of the mark. Visually lush but shallow, "Snow White and the Huntsman" is a sad waste of talent. Neither horrid nor good, it just wallows in tepid waters. It will be forgotten. 4/10

I wasn't really eager to check this right now but Nick, my step-son, bought the DVD so I still ended up watching it. Honestly, I really had a hard time to care about the whole thing and I was rather constantly bored. Basically, it follows this new trend of modernizing a very old tale but the end-result was not really impressive. First of all, they decided to give the huntsman a bigger role but, as a result, the plot was pretty much over-crowded since you had Snow White, the huntsman but also the prince and the dwarves who all popped up rather randomly. Then, you had the matter of the casting. First of all, Charlize Theron was just brilliant and completely upstaged everyone else involved. Chris Hemsworth was a sound choice and gave a decent performance and it was nice to have some familiar faces to portray the dwarves even if they didn't have much to do. And, of course, you had Kristen Stewart who played the title character. I understand that they wanted to go for something else than the classical look and, since Stewart is one of the most recognizable young actresses nowadays, it sounded once again like a sound choice. Still, I think she was miscast. I mean, Snow White is supposed to be the fairest of the land and Stewart who is quite charming just didn't fit this description. Even later on as a bad-ass Joan of Arc like warrior, she was still not convincing. Still, I guess it was visually appealing with some interesting special effects but it was still not grim enough to make it really interesting or stand out. To conclude, I think I'm being really generous with my rating here but I guess it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

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.

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.

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. :)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

"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