However, I have to say I'm rather disappointed. Whatever potential it had was squandered and we end up with a pretty bland movie. The least interesting element of Snow White and the Huntsman for me was the Huntsman. I really don't think Chris Hemsworth can carry a movie, and luckily in Snow White he didn't have to. But here he does, and he doesn't do a great job of it. His accent is pretty awful, but Jessica Chastain's is far worse. Now, I like Jessica Chastain, I thought she was brilliant in Interstellar, but she's not given much to work with here and all of the characters, except one, lack depth and chemistry. Acting is subjective of course like anything in art, but Hemsworth and Chastain fail at carrying this movie and providing us with protagonists that we can become invested in.
Moving onto the villains of the movie. Freya, the ice queen, and Ravenna who we have already met in Snow White unleash terror on the land and blah blah blah. The whole premise of the movie was that it was the story BEFORE Snow White... but it isn't. The prologue of the movie takes place before Snow White, but the rest of the movie is set six years after the events in SWATH. Ravenna is underused, and when she is used she becomes a caricature, lacking the depth she managed to convey in SWATH. Now, moving onto Freya. Of course Emily Blunt does a fantastic job with what she is given. I have to say Freya is the only character I warmed to in this movie. I tend to gravitate towards villains anyway, but I can't really class her as a villain. She's taken for a ride more than anything else and ends up discovering her powers in the process. Elsa comparisons aside, the character is very interesting and there are HINTS at depth and Emily conveys that through her facial expressions and how she carries herself. Sometimes it reminded me of how much Martin Freeman could express what Bilbo was feeling just through his facial expressions. She also looks incredibly beautiful in character.
Now moving into more spoiler territory - stop reading if you want to watch the movie for yourself:
The main plot point of the movie is that the mirror has been poisoning Snow White. We don't see her, just a little shot from behind but I doubt that's Kristen Stewart. Snow White orders the mirror be taken to a place called sanctuary. Prince William, now King, finds The Huntsman and informs him that the mirror was lost on its way to sanctuary along with the soldiers who were carrying it. He goes on the hunt with one of the dwarves (Nick Frost - sorry I can't remember the character's name) from Snow White and they track down the mirror. A series of events unfold and he is reunited with his lover Sara who we heard about in SWATH and who we see in the prologue of the movie supposedly being killed. They distrust each other at first, but come to the realisation that they were both deceived by Freya. Now, excuse me while I go back and discuss the prologue.
The prologue I think breaks continuity with SWATH and retcons Ravenna's motivations. In SWATH, Ravenna is desperate to achieve immortality and we see her draining the beauty and youth from a number of people. This is never mentioned or depicted in this new movie. Freya was never mentioned in SWATH and also Ravenna's brother is never shown in this movie. After watching Snow White I got the impression that Ravenna was incredibly old, and we see her age drastically when she's killed at the end of the movie. But in this, she doesn't appear much older than Freya. Also, I thought they came from nothing, yet they're in a castle. I guess the castle is Ravenna's, belonging to the King who married her and who she then promptly murders. But does Freya need to drain the life from young women too?
This is never explored at all in the movie. Fast forward a bit, Freya has fallen in love with a duke and they plan to marry. She's already carrying his child at this point. But, he's already promised to someone else. Freya receives a letter stating that he wants to marry her instead and that he would meet her outside the castle. Freya of course, madly in love, goes to him but discovers he's not there. She turns and sees her daughter's chamber on fire. She runs, and her daughter has been killed. Don't worry its not graphically depicted - this isn't Game of Thrones. The audience is lead to believe that it was the Duke who murdered Freya's daughter for whatever reason and Freya unleashes her powers and he is frozen and shatters on the floor.
Now this would have been an interesting plot twist... but it was ruined by the trailer months before release. It feels so central to the story too, and instead of surprising the audience they gave it away. In fact, if you watch the trailers they're just shortened versions of the movie. Literally everything is in those trailers. I think the entire prologue sequence is nearly 30 minutes, which is pretty long for a prologue.
Now going back to the mirror:
They hunt the mirror down and yay it all looks good for our heroes. There's an interesting aspect introduced where the mirror is almost like a horcrux or the one ring, possessing and eating away at those near it. It's not explored in any depth and then fast forward a bit, we find out Freya is aware that the mirror has been found and she arrives soon after to take it away. In this moment we find out that Sara - Chastain (The Huntsman's "wife") was actually working for Freya all along and was only after the mirror. Again, this twist has no weight. It wasn't spoiled, but I just wasn't invested in either Sara or Eric and really didn't care. Freya takes the mirror away and summons Ravenna from within.
Here we find out that Ravenna managed to escape death by sealing herself in the mirror and Freya was able to release her by saying the words "mirror, mirror on the wall, etc". The CGI Ravenna coming from the mirror is pretty fantastic and is a really great visual treat. The two sisters seem sort of happy to be reunited with each other, then in the next scene together they start bickering. I wouldn't really call it bickering, but Ravenna sort of takes over and Freya stands her ground.
Fast forward a bit and action unfolds... I'm actually getting bored writing this whilst trying to remember the movie. The ending is pretty meh and it doesn't feel satisfying. Freya discovers that Ravenna was the one who murdered her daughter and she then sort of helps Eric and Sara a bit but is killed in the process. Freya's last scene is actually pretty sad I have to say. As I get older these scenes seem to have more of an effect on me. But then Ravenna is killed again by Eric who smashes the mirror with his axe. All is happy in the land again because the two evil Queens are dead! YAY! Pan up from some boring celebration scene and we see a golden Raven flying above hinting that Ravenna is still alive... again. DUN DUN DUNNNN!!
And that's it.
To sum up:
Cast: With the exception of Emily Blunt, they were all pretty bad in this movie. I'm not sure if that's down to direction or if its a case of there were more scenes that helped develop the characters but the studio cut it out to be more "streamlined". Emily isn't at her best here, but she portrays Freya in just the right way I think and its a shame that the character was underused in this movie. I know this isn't really oscar worthy material, but I think with a more experienced director this movie could have been so much better.
The title and trailers: The title of Winter's War doesn't really make sense. We hear of a war going on in the background. Freya is apparently creating an empire by slaying all the Kings just like her big sister used to do. But The War itself isn't really important to the plot. Like I mentioned above, if you watch the trailers you're watching a shorter and better version of the movie.
Story: boring and mostly forgettable.
Visuals: Fantastic. You can't fault the movie on its visual aesthetic.
Production design: Again, the sets, props and costumes are all amazing. Colleen Atwood is a fantastic costume designer. Freya and Ravenna's costumes are the stand out pieces of the movie.
Music: ... I can't remember much of the music to be honest I don't really remember any stand out themes except for a small piece that plays at the end during Freya's death scene.
Those are my thoughts on the movie. Sorry the post is a long one. Have any of you guys seen it? What did you think?
:th