The Huntsman: Winter’s War (3D) **
You’d be forgiven for wondering, where’s Snow White? Many references are made to our heroine of the much darker 2012 film, Snow White and The Huntsman, but she’s very much absent. This was the first challenge facing new team, director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan and writers Evan Spiliotopoulos and Craig Mazin. The second was creating s story interesting enough to sustain the run-time. In fact, there are several stories that all have merit, but sadly, the weakest of the lot is what the filmmakers run with.
In this prequel/sequel, evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) is still up to her old tricks, though this time, we get introduced to her younger sister, Queen Freya (Emily Blunt) and their rivalry – predating Snow White. After Freya’s ill-fated union with a duke leads to the death of her infant child, Queen Freya’s sorcery is awoken and in her grief, she turns into a ice queen and flees to the Northern hemisphere. If she can’t raise her own child, she will take those of others and train them to be her army, her Huntsmen. The warrior leaders are Eric (Chris Hemsworth reprising his role from 2012) and Sara (Jessica Chastain).
Eric and Sara fall in love, forbidden in Queen Freya’s kingdom. They are found out and banished. Meanwhile as the war between the rival sisters escalates, Snow White tries to capture the magic mirror, with the help of Eric. The Huntsman discovers an old flame on the way while trying to combat Ravenna’s wicked intentions.
It’s great to see the return of Theron in the role. The trouble is she gets very little screen-time. That’s not to say Blunt’s arrival as Freya is not as chilling or effective, it’s just the ‘sisters at war’ is a far more intriguing story and not fully explained. Instead, a lot of time is given over to our Huntsman road movie, complete with sidekick dwarves Nion (Nick Frost) and Gryff (Rob Brydon), who only really get into their comic stride with the arrival of feisty, no-nonsense female dwarf Mrs. Bromwyn, played by the ever witty Sheridan Smith. Even though this is The Huntsman’s tale of how things began, pre-Snow White, he really is only muscular eye candy for us, as well as a cheeky Mrs. Bromwyn.
Chastain’s ‘Katniss Everdeen’ character Sara does her very best to spice the scenes up with her Huntsman but it always falls to either the impressive special effects or Smith’s banter to get any real thrills going. The rest is padding. Things feel half-cooked and perhaps, there’s just too much on the plate to satisfactorily explain every story arc. Yes, it does feel like you’re watching a live-action Frozen at times too. But hey, why not tap into that film’s success, which ironically has a troubled-sister relationship at its core.
As predicted, the final queen showdown builds up well only to feel a huge letdown before anything impressive has really happened. The evil is suppressed too quickly, leaving that deflated feeling of wanting so much more before the inevitable fairy-tale ending. Perhaps the special effects budget was all used up on Ravenna’s ‘spectacular’ talents?
The Huntsman: Winter’s War has potential but follows the wrong lead story. It needed to be strong to justify it being made. It does feel lacking without its key character Snow White, even though Frozen fans can get to fantasise about a live-action Elsa.
2/5 stars
By @FilmGazer
