Snow White and the (Huntsman: Winter's War)

[X-SOLDIER]

Finally got around to seeing it today, and I quite enjoyed it.

Spoiler

I liked how well fleshed out the details of the world and the characters were. The Dark Forest being a mix between magic and hallucinogenic mushroom spores was excellent. Ravenna's past, and her creepy relationship keeping her brother safe, and using him to accomplish her goals was really interesting (his death scene with her writhing in pain attempting to keep him alive was one of my favorites). I really liked the designs of all the fantasy elements like the Troll, Fairies, Stag, the various other elements in the sanctuary. and how they tied Snow White into the more fantastic elements as an antithesis to the Queen was done really well. Also, The Dwarves worked well as on/off comedy that still hit a number of somber notes.

Here's my opinion on the change between Prince William & the Huntsman's kiss bringing Snow White back. While William cared for her, I didn't feel that he had time to really develop love for her to a degree that would be powerful enough to break the Queen's Spell. The Huntsman on the other hand, has his feelings for his wife mirrored in drunken confession to Snow White, and it was THAT love and sadness coming through that broke the spell. Past that, I liked that they didn't push the idea of a relationship between the two any farther than a few looks beyond that, because it doesn't make sense to. (As my friend Paul said, it's the classic Aragorn vs. Legolas character).

One final point - it was WONDERFUL seeing some realistic combat tactics used during the castle assault.

Overall, it's a very decent dark(er) fantasy film, (and it kinda reminds me of Willow for a lot of good reasons).


X

 

[Tennyo]

I did see this and I quite enjoyed it well enough. Not the greatest piece of fiction ever, but I liked it.

And Kristen Stewart is perfect as Snow White, since Snow white is pretty much the exact same as every single character Kristen has ever played ever.

There was some pretty cheesy dialogue in this move , thouh.

But mostly, mmm Chris Hemsworth. :3

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

it was kinda disjointed.

Pretty much this. That's a perfect one-sentence summary.

Or maybe, "The most visually impressive disappointment to hit theatres in a long time."

Saw it last weekend with the family. I liked it, but there's a ton wrong with it.

Spoiler

That disjointed feeling being the main thing. There's a lot of scenes that feel awkward, as though they were included just because the screenwriter or director liked them, even though they didn't serve the movie as a whole in any way. Several such plot elements too.

A few examples:
-The queen going skinny dipping
-Her brother's fixation with Snow White (nothing is done with this; and since he was still going to deliver her to his sister, what was the point of including it?)
-Literally everything involving Sanctuary

The movie lost me right about the time they got to Sanctuary. It was somewhere between good and great up to that point. Afterward, it was mediocre to bad for the rest of the ride.

I think part of the problem was how jarring the change in atmosphere was. Before that, the supernatural stuff was pretty subtle for the most part. We jump suddenly from a rather realistic tone with fringes of something "more" to in-your-face, CG-out-the-ass fantastical bullshit that doesn't even really do anything but add length to the movie.

The dwarves were okay. Of course, you must have them if you're doing Snow White, and I liked their backstory as it was given here. Really tied them in well to the larger world. I just don't get why there were eight of them. I know one dies and leaves us with seven, but I'm still lost on that.

There was a lot of "just because" stuff at work. I know that this is technically a fairy tale and "it's magic, we don't nded to explain it," but the metaphysical rules seemed really poorly established and even more poorly explained.

I got the polarity between Snow White and the queen, and how creatures in nature reacted differently to them based on this, but some stuff (the parameters of the queen's youth spell, the rules about the apple and Snow White awakening, what the hell was up with the magic mirror) were just glossed over or entirely ignored.

Speaking of that apple, I found it really, really jarring that Snow White went from "I don't think I could do that" (stab somebody in the heart) to galvanazing an army with a bloodthirsty, revolutionary speech. So much so, in fact, that I thought for a while it was an effect of the apple and all part of the queen's plan to get Snow White into her clutches. Guess I gave the movie too much credit.

But, damn, Kristen did look fetching indeed in that armor.

Anyway, things I liked:
-Kristen (especially in the armor)
-Everybody's performance (especially Charlize and Thor)
-The visuals
-That there was no animosity between William and the Huntsman. Very nice to see this predictable route avoided. They seemed to get on very well, in fact
-No blatant resolution to the love triangle
-No blatant focus on the love triangle
-The mirror's voice
-That Snow White seemed sad for the queen when she died
-The queen's sadness and apology as her brother died
-Naked Charlize covered in ... whatever that stuff was

So, in conclusion: decent enough fantasy movie; probably should be a rental. Shocked Ellie Goulding's "Lights" wasn't the song to be played in the credits (would have fit nicely). Kristen is cute as fucking hell. Thor's cool. And "You can't have my heart" waa a terrible, terrible out-of-place line. Kristen can't be blamed for it either.

 

[Celes Chere]

I just got back from this movie! I did enjoy it, but was I impressed? Mmm... in some ways. However agreed I am not impressed with some of the CGI like the fake ass birds and most of those woodland creatures. xD I did find it very pretty to look at, however.

I think that when she friendzoned William it was really freaking strained, and the love triangle went no where, even towards the end after she's awakened she shows no affection towards any of them??? And then it just ends with William on the side line and the Huntsman just standing there like hmmm... It was just like uhhh okaaay then? XD And like, when William and Snow White are reunited after all of these freaking years shouldn't it be more heart felt? They met and were just like ... ohay and that was it what the hell lol.

I did like the way the Queen tricked her into eating the apple and well, I guess I really liked most of the Queen's part. I like twisted characters, I liked how eery her black magic was, and I love how they did the dark forest. otherwise... nyeh, it was a decent movie could have been better, and could have been worse too. It was worth seeing at least.

"I don't think I could do that" (stab somebody in the heart) to galvanazing an army with a bloodthirsty, revolutionary speech.

THIS OMG IT FUCKING BUGGED THE SHIT OUT OF ME. HEART AS PURE AS SNOW NOT OUT FOR REVENGE AND BLOOD LUST. Like she even said she used to hate the Queen, now she only felt sorry. Someone else should have led the army, she could have snuck into the castle herself and had her own confrontation with the Queen and have that be the only time she ever used a weapon in the entire movie because it would have been more meaningful then. As good as she looked in the armor, it didn't make any damned sense.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

wat.


X

 

[Tennyo]

wat.


X

because money

Although I shouldn't complain because Chris Hemsworth was gorgeous in this movie ugh more porn for me.

 

[looneymoon]

I just got back from this. I really liked it!

I agree with all the criticisms though. It wasn't a perfect movie, but it was certainly enjoyable. And the visuals were absolutely stunning! In fact, the way the world was imagined was exactly how I pictured Neil Gaiman's short story "Snow, Glass, Apples." Which is my favourite retelling of the Snow White story ever. This film reminded me of that story a lot and I strongly suggest reading it.

Mother Gothel The Queen was such a big whiny cry-baby. Her scenes were so entertaining and I loved her.

Chris Hemsworth is quite possibly too handsome to exist. I actually really liked the way the romance was handled. It was kind of "they aren't banging but I kind of want them to bang but it wouldn't be as cute if they were banging so they probably shouldn't bang." Idk I liked it I thought it was cute SHRUGS.

I think the reason why I liked it so much is because it's not-too-often when Hollywood comes out with a fantasy-adventure film that isn't absolutely terrible.

If I was going to describe this movie in any way, it's in a sort of awkward in-between "not bad" and "pretty good"? Hrm. It really depends on your expectations I think.

On Kristen Stewart: I haven't seen a Twilight movie in full, so I guess I can't comment too well but she was A LOT better here than she is in those films (it probably has something to do with not completely hating the source material). She does have a bit of a stoner expression she needs to work on, but she DOES know how to deliver her lines properly. You can't really knock her for that. Also, I thought it necessary to mention that she puts on a pretty good British accent. I say this because her accent is LEAGUES better than some of the better actresses working today (I AM LOOKING AT YOU NATALIE PORTMAN..........)

also I would gladly make out with her yes.

 

[Demona]

First of all, my apologies for what is going to be a very disorganised wordvomit of a post.

Just came back from Snow White and the Thorman, which I had been excited to see, if only because of the drool-worthy magic effects in the trailer and the fact that when I first saw the trailer I thought it was the a bad idea comparable to the time in ninth grade when Chase successfully convinced Kenta that tigerbalm felt amazing on one's testicles. [/longsentence]

Resounding MEH for many reasons, the first and foremost being that given the movie's individual components (the costuming, make-up, and some of the special effects were to DIE for), the meh should not have had a chance to get in through the goddamn door. As it is, after the first ten minutes of the movie or so, I couldn't stop comparing it to Game of Thrones, Stardust, Princess Mononoke, Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse/Breaking Dawn, Willow, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean. While we're at it, I also thought about the Harry Potter movies and the Star Wars trilogy. And not the good one. Also the Chronicles of Narnia.

First off, I have no idea where Rupert Sanders got the idea that he could pull off acting like a live-action Hayao Miyazaki, but while there were some cool effects in

Spoiler

Sanctuary, the White Hart, the pixies, the pool with the enormous tree, etc. all reminded me of the sacred forest in Princess Mononoke, and Ravenna's (Roveena, Revenna, Revanna?) gooey crow or RAVEN(d'hurrhurrrrr) transformation made me think of Howl's monstrous form. I mean, regarding the whole ooooh, contrast the Dark Forest with the Enchanted One thing, I c wat u did thar Rupert, but only because you insisted on smurfing me with your self-satisfied boner and all your over-the-top CGI. Who put an amateur director in charge of a budget this huge, anyway? Anyway, when Kristen went to kill the Jabberwocky/Evil Queen, I just couldn't be convinced to care.

The problem is that while Kristen Stewart convincingly portrays an emotionally stunted (duhhh, locked up in the North Tower--why is it always the North Tower?) quietly intense teenager, I can't buy her as being the polar opposite of the Queen, or an embodiment of life or anything like that. While she managed to break out of her usual wooden deliveries and expressions in one or two places, those instances weren't well-timed--as in, to drive home the fact that the character she plays is slowly learning to live again--and came across as accidental. Frankly, she doesn't have enough charisma or force of personality to bind the movie together.

Some scenes worked well individually, but the movie as a whole came across as an aggregate of excited experimenting, which I guess I can respect, although there really wasn't enough character-building in any one place. They were all too flat. Even people with backstories had flat, stock backstories. And Snow White was too flat. With a template as interesting as the Snow White story, they did okay things to the plot, but were too unadventurous with the named and (mostly) unnamed characters.

I'm sort of intrigued by the fact that they only really named four characters--Revanna, William (friendzone lulz), Gus (the dwarf that kicked the bucket) and Sara (Huntsman's dead wife). This is of course taking into account that Snow White is Snow White and the Huntsman is simply the Huntsman. The one thing I'm trying to decide whether or not to be impressed with is that they made William an archer (oh god, a melee archer, so douchey urrrghhh) AND made him responsible for the apple imagery. Somebody play the William Tell Overture guys--seriously, if someone makes a music video with all of his scenes reeling off to the tune of the William Tell Overture, I will give them Ite's firstborn (man doesn't need progeny anyhow).

From a folkloristic point of view, that's kind of cool, because it preserves the sense of underlying fairy tale to it--the characters are amorphous and unreal. At the same time, we're adapting fairy tales so why the hell not just go a little farther up and further in and make the characters more human? I didn't give a flying crap what happened to any of them. As far as I could tell they could all of them go hang and it wouldn't have bothered me much.

See, I want all the minimalism from the acting put into the effects. The mirror scenes, among others, boasted tremendous special effects, and the aging stuff is by far superior to, say the Stardust ones. But Stardust held together cohesively as a movie; the scenes that could have seemed out of place or extraneous were well-delivered and beautifully timed. Also, the fact that Stardust didn't take itself too seriously somehow made the bits that did take itself seriously really resonate with you. I'm not saying Stardust was a perfect movie--not by any means--but it was hella more cohesive and enjoyable in places than this one.

I have more, but I think I'm going to leave it at this for the time being. I'll say that I did enjoy the bridge troll--I thought that was a sweet nod to the mythology, although they did ruin it by having her yell in its face and it deciding it didn't want to eat her. The White Hart was kinda cool-designed but again, Mononoke/Shishigami thing ruined it for me.

And was anyone else bothered to death by all the stock and trope-ish dialogue the elderly dwarf delivered? Did he say ANYTHING that was original and not lifted from the Hero(ine) of a Thousand Faces-type thing?

Sorry guys.

I won't even get started on the placement of humour.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

That sequel is actually, finally happening, and I quite enjoy the look of it.

X

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Holy GODS, this looks fantastic.

X

 

[Channy]

I'm sorry, is this Snow White or Frozen?

Also, Snow White died as a baby? Does that mean Kristen Stewart doesn't grow up?

 

[X-SOLDIER]

I'm sorry, is this Snow White or Frozen?

Also, Snow White died as a baby? Does that mean Kristen Stewart doesn't grow up?

Well, this isn't a part of Snow White's story but it's adjacent to hers. Additionally, the child who gets killed isn't Snow White either, as Snow's parentage was established in the first film and her mother wasn't Freya (the Ice Queen), so no it doesn't mean that at all.

Essentially Ravenna had already killed a child destined to be fairer than her even before she married Snow's father. It's not yet completely clear if the conclusion of the film takes place after the first film, but it seems possible.




X

 

[Channy]

I was being facetious but that works too. I did secretly want a clarification on the whole.. familial tie because yeah, I thought the Queen married into the family and wanted to be rid of the pre-existing Snow White.

So, the modification of an existing princess who was to be fairer is definitely intriguing.

 

[lithiumkatana17]

I had no idea there was a new trailer out! Usually I'm on the up and up about these things.

That being said, it looks absolutely fantastic. This and the first trailer have such awesome cinematography that trumps the first film by miles. The imagery, the costumes, everything is just so lovely and breathtaking.

And with that being said, I am still just as confused and adrift at why this movie is being made. Yes, we now have a little more clarification on how the story with Elsa Freya is being played out, but I'm still lust left scratching my head at how close they are to retconning the original story.

I understand that one one really liked Kristen Stewart in SWATH; I mean shit, I understand that no one really likes Kristen Stewart, but it a sequel would have made more sense to make in the end than a prequel. Idk. I'll definitely see the movie to be sure, it's too beautiful not to watch.

 

[Ami]

Trailer looks epic, glad we've gotten rid of Shovelface Kristen Stewart and we could actually have a great fantasy action film on our hands. Hopefully, it's not the trailer with the best bits in.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I went to see the first in theatres. I'll be skipping this one in protest, 'cause I really do love Kristen Stewart.

 

[lithiumkatana17]

I went to see the first in theatres. I'll be skipping this one in protest, 'cause I really do love Kristen Stewart.

I actually don't have a problem with her either. I like to pretend Twilight doesn't exist.

I also like to keep in mind that while viewers may not be pleased with her performances, the directors ultimately are, so they deserve some of the flames for actually being pleased with her acting.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

X

 

[lithiumkatana17]

OK so the word coming out about this film from critics and advance screenings is that it is both a prequel and sequel. Supposedly the first 20 minutes of the movie is the prequel and then the rest of it is the sequel. Try and figure your way out around that one.

Which doesn't make a lick of fucking sense considering we are told very explicitly in the first film that the Huntman's wife dies. But supposedly, from what I've reading, they've somehow found a way around this.

Honestly, I don't know what to think about this film anymore. I've been skeptical about the film's premise for a long time now. The casting and visuals are absolutely fantastic (but some reason, Jessica Chastain just looks out of place in this film to me, don't hate), the costumes and cinematography are beautiful, but it can't save a story that's apparently been completely butchered for the sake of not recasting one actress.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

I have pretty much always thought that it was both a sequel and a prequel, so that doesn't bother me at all.




X

 

[lithiumkatana17]

It wouldn't bother me as much if the story weren't completely skewed from the first movie.

 

[Tetsujin]

The German dub seems to keep using anglicized names for the characters.

That's...fucking stupid. It's literally based on a German fairy tale you twatwaffles

 

[lithiumkatana17]

There's a preview of the score by James Newton Howard up on iTunes, if anyone's interested. The soundtrack will be released tomorrow. It also comes with a movie version of 'Castle' by Halsey.

The snippets of the score sound good, as expected of a composer like Howard. I really liked his score for the first movie, so I may get this one as well, even though I don't like the premise behind this film at all.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Oh maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, this was so good. SO good. The lady and I loved the hell out of it.




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