The Huntsman: Winter's War - movie review

The Huntsman: Winter's War

Plot: Eric and fellow warrior Sara, raised as members of ice Queen Freya's army, try to conceal their forbidden love as they fight to survive the wicked intentions of both Freya and her sister Ravenna.
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Charlize Theron
Director: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan
Rating: 12A
Runtime: 1hr 54 mins
Release Date: Friday 8th April 2016

Why was this movie made? Seriously, there was no demand for a sequel to 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman. An argument could be made that it was created for the sole purpose of making a considerable amount of money, but that in itself doesn't make sense because the original film was considered a moderate success in the box office. So again, what is the point? Having reasonably liked the first movie, I never even thought that a sequel was necessary and after having seen this sequel, I still don't have a clue.



Notably missing from this line up is Snow White herself, Kristen Stewart. This is probably one of the best decisions that Stewart has made in her career and that's saying something considering she starred in the catastrophically disgusting Twilight films. I didn't really care that she wasn't in the film mostly because I just didn't care about anything for this film but her presence really isn't that missed. Instead of Stewart, Chris Hemsworth takes the lead as he smiles and swings his way through the painful dialogue. Hemsworth is fine in the role, in fact, he gives the second best performance but he can do so much better than this. Excluding his depiction of Thor, I think the only great performance Hemsworth has given is in Rush. I'm not sure if it's just that he isn't quite leading man calibre or he's not choosing the best roles for himself, but it's clear to me that he's struggling outside of the MCU. As The Huntsman's love interest and fellow warrior is Jessica Chastain giving the most confusing and strange attempt at a Scottish accent I've seen for some time. Chastain is satisfactory in this film but she does falter in places but I don't put the blame on her in the slightest. From reading a report about Chastain's involvement with the film, it reveals that she was contractually obligated to appear in this film due to her starring in another movie. This may be incorrect but from hearing this, it does reveal why she seems so uninspired for most of the film. It has to be said though, her and Hemsworth do share some adequate romantic chemistry so I did buy them as lovers yet it wasn't as convincing as it should have been. Giving the best performance and probably the best aspect of this lousy film was Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna. I really enjoyed Theron's performance in the first film and she manages to retain the maniacal nature in this installment. However, Theron really doesn't appear until the last act of the film and whilst it serves as a welcome relief from the boredom, the way her character is reintroduced is so messy and clumsy that I became distracted from her actual performance. Rounding out the main cast is Emily Blunt as Ravenna's sister, Freya. I think Emily Blunt is an amazing actress and could easily be a contender for one of the best actresses working currently but in this, Blunt is horrendous and I would go as far as to say that this is the worst performance Blunt has ever given which is a painful thing to write. It doesn't help that her character is so terribly written but Blunt seems tired all the time and would go from one extreme of whispering to the other by screaming at the top of her lungs. The film also subjects us to more of the dwarves. I didn't care for them in the first film and I sure as heck didn't care about them this time round. They try to provide some comedic relief but it just falls flat on it's face.

The Huntsman: Winter's War has been advertised as 'The story before Snow White' and it fulfills that. That is, only for the first half an hour. From then on, the film changes from a prequel to a sequel/spinoff. Sound messy? We're only just getting started. The short prequel only serves to add some more exposition to these characters by subjecting Emily Blunt to a horrific tragedy leading her to lose her shit. We see Hemsworth and Chastain bond and that's basically it. When we return to the current timeline, the writers decided that it would be a good idea to spend roughly half the entire runtime on the search for a mirror. This could have been accomplished effectively, I mean look at The Lord Of The Rings, but instead, these forty-five minutes felt like I was watching all three of The Lord Of The Rings films in their extended editions. It was so tremendously boring and dull that I contemplated falling asleep. At least that would be more eventful. By the time we reach the third act and Theron finally appears, I was too far gone to even enjoy the culmination and was hoping for it to be over. The entire film (the third act especially) is riddled with plot holes and major discrepancies that contradict the events of the first film. So not only is this a mess of a film, but it even causes its predecessor to fall apart.
  

With lacklustre performances and a horrendous story Winter's War manages to find some salvation in how it looks. The costumes and sets are very vibrant and extravagant and the film does look very pretty and smart. Considering that the director was the special effects consultant on the first film, the visual effects of this are pretty solid. There isn't a moment where the green screen is too noticeable and when the Queens are using their given powers, it looks fairly real. But with a budget of $150 million, I would expect the effects to be this good. Seriously though? $150 million was spent on this film and they expected it to succeed? Whoever was in charge of budgetary control for this film needs to be fired. Why would you even think that this film is likely to make a profit? The action featured in the film is average. It is basically your run-of-the-mill fantasy sword fights so there is nothing new on show here but if you really admire that sort of thing, this shouldn't disappoint too much. Taking all that into account, I think that a comparison could be made between this film and a polished turd. It may look appealing and impressive but at it's very core, it's still a turd, and that is what this film is. It looks very nice and that might impress some, but it can't hide the fact that it's simply bad.

Unless you are a dedicated fan of the first film and you cannot wait to see this, I would suggest finding something else to watch instead. Theron is the best part of it all and most of the actors manage to leave unscathed apart from Blunt who needs to avoid roles like this in the future. Effects, set and costumes are all visually appealing but the messy story just cause it all to collapse in upon itself. To makes matters worse; they'll probably make a third film.

My Verdict: 3/10

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