on THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER’S WAR (2016, 114 minutes, PG-13)
The Quick of It -
When I sat down, I should have realized what I
was getting into. By that I mean, you
could hear the chatter of girls and mothers in the dark theater…
WINTER’S WAR is a sequel and prequel, bookending
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN. Director
Cedric Nicholas-Troyan worked as an assistance director on the first film and
took the helm for this one. Chris
Hemsworth reprises his role as The Huntsman, Eric. You get to see his origin story while finding out he was secretly
married to another Huntsman, Jessica Chastain.
Just another reason to be jealous.
The first thing I noticed when prepping to write
this review, the writers of the film come from two very different worlds. Evan Spiliotopoulos comes from the Disney
stables (a ton of work credited with them).
Craig Mazin is a polar opposite with credits like SCARY MOVIE 3 and 4,
THE HANGOVER PART II and III, and IDENTITY THIEF. The final product definitely shows Disney had full control of the
wilder Mazin. Although I think they
should have further consulted with Evan Daugherty on the worldbuilding
aspects. There was very little added to
the lore, which I find a shame since that was the best part of the first film,
the attention to detail. Only the new
‘goblins’ seemed worthy of mention.
To round out the heroes, the dwarves featured
this time for comedic entertainment has Nick Frost (Nion) returning, and then
adding Rob Brydon (Gryff), Alexandra Roach (Doreen), and Sheridan Smith (Mrs
Bromwyn). Although Nick and Rob were
great, it was Sheridan’s presence that stood out.
The two queens, Emily Blunt as Queen Freya and
Charlize Theron as Ravenna, matched the elegance of their stations and the
grace shown on camera. One of silver,
white, and ice. The other gold, black,
and metallic. They were the true
driving forces of this movie.
This film was not as good as the first, more
drama and romance elements involved, taking away from the story that I was
drawn to and hoping to see. The tale
spun around the concept of love lost, and the suffering that comes with it, and
the strong female characters that learn to persevere. Like I said, should have guessed…
Grade: C
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