Plagued by Platitudes, ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’ Misses the Mark

“Huntsman” improves on its predecessor, “Snow White and the Huntsman“, by eliminating Kristen Stewart’s wan Snow White from the picture, but it shares with that film one big problem: Theron is fantastically perverse as a baby-killing villainess who is gorgeously outfitted in evil couture, but she’s barely in the movie. But, like the first film, the visuals are gorgeous and the costumes extravagant.

Find out more in our quick run down of the movie. “Winter’s War” has nothing whatsoever to do with “Snow White” other than a few character names, ignoring huge, important chunks of backstory for both the Huntsman and the wicked Queen, Ravenna.

To take over various lands – for no apparent reason other than being constantly irked – Freya recruits and trains an army of huntsmen, including young warrior lovebirds Eric (Hemsworth) and Sara (Jessica Chastain). She’s also banished love from her kingdom, which is a hokey way to set up a fight for romance by Chastain’s Sara and Hemsworth’s Eric. Debut director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan is an Oscar-nominated effects man who worked on “Snow White“, and he may have learned from that experience to keep the pacing quick and to lighten up on the Goth-rock attitude. Despite its cast and lavish presentation, The Huntsman doesn’t measure up to Snow White according to review aggregators Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. “He’s like, ‘Look, Mom, it’s Emily.’ And I’m like, ‘And your mother is right next to her!'”

The sheer abundance of on-screen ornamentation isn’t quite enough to make The Huntsman: Winter’s War a lovely film. It stitches together the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen by making Snow White’s evil stepmother a sister of the Ice Queen. Once you get past the digital shrinking of the actors, and the low-brow humor, they inject a much-needed levity, and Sheridan Smith nearly steals the whole show as the sassy Mrs. Bromwyn. “They have to be in some catsuit”, Chastain told the Radio Times. Eric and Sara fall in love there, but Freya, jaded, has only one rule: no love.

“The Huntsman: Winter’s War” is one of the more freakish sequels in recent memory.

Once again, the standout is Chris Hemsworth and his witty performance. I was on a stretch where I was doing a lot of films where the characters were going through a very dark time.

But none of that really matters, because the great delight of The Huntsman: Winter’s War is Charlize Theron, who as Ravenna seems damn near ready to eat the entire movie as an amuse-bouche before devouring the world. The Huntsman: Winter’s War seems to be firmly rooted in the collective unconscious of all fantasy-adventure movies of the past, borrowing everything but offering nothing. You don’t need to run out and see this movie, but if you’re looking for a solid, fanciful two hours of distraction, then you have come to the right place.