Starring Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan and Sam Spruell.Directed by Rupert Sanders.
★★★
Kristen Stewart is a good actress. I know she doesn't seem like it in the Twilight movies, but in everything else she does, there's more to her. I point to Panic Room, Adventureland and The Runaways as examples. Here, she's Snow White, a princess imprisoned by her evil stepmother Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron). Snow White escapes one day, and with good timing, for Ravenna is planning on taking her heart as part of a spell to grant her immortality.
Snow White makes it to the Dark Forest, and the Queen sends her men to find someone who can track her down. They bring to her the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), a drunken widower who on his good days is an effective tracker.
Eventually the dawrfs come into play.
Stewart doesn't quite get there in all her scenes. There's a rousing speech she gives her people before battle that doesn't really work. Theron, meanwhile, owns the movie as Ravenna, remaining young by stealing the youth from others. I liked Hemsworth as the Huntsman. I think he'll prove to be a better actor than Sam Worthington.
And then there's the dwarfs. I loved the dwarfs. This one goes the Lord of the Rings route by taking regular actors and using makeup, CGI and camera tricks to dwarf them. Bob Hoskins stands out as the oldest, wisest, blind dwarf, but Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, Eddie Marsan, Nick Frost, Toby Jones, etc., all get their moments.
This visually arresting fantasy brought to mind some of those 1980's classics like Ladyhawke and The NeverEnding Story.
1 comment:
Good review John. It was stylized in a more dark and gritty way, than we usually see from fairy-tale movies, but I still liked that about it even when the story started to get weaker. Also, just couldn't take my eyes off of Theron.
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