The Huntsman: Winter’s War (2016)

Review

114min

Genre:     Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Director:  Cedric Nicolas-Troyan

Cast:       Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt…and more

Writers:   Evan Spiliotopoulos, Craig Mazin, Evan Daugherty… and more

-Synopsis-

The beautiful evil queen’s actions unleash the wrath of her “Ice Queen” sister upon the land, only to be defied by her greatest warriors and their allies in this spin-off prequel/sequel to the 2012 fantasy “re-imagining” of the Snow White fairy tale ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’.

In an unorthodox structure that straddles both sides of 2012’s re-imagining of the Brothers Grimm fairytale; Chris Hemsworth’s “Huntsman” and Charlize Theron’s “Queen Ravenna” return to be joined by Jessica Chastain’s “Huntswoman” and Emily Blunt’s ‘Frozen’-like “Ice Queen”, in a lavish fantasy which starts as an origin story to then gets thrown past the events of ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ into full sequel mode.

Like many others, we were surprised when this sequel to a moderately profitable and lukewarmly received film was announced. But thanks to the talents of a few well-loved comedic British actors, ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’ strikes a somewhat lighter tone that makes it one of the rare sequels that’s better than the original… if only slightly.

Not to mention the unintentionally comical and inexplicably persistent hybrid “Celtic” accent from Chris Hemsworth, which seems to have spread among the huntsmen.

 Armed with a big budget; former visual effects artist turned 1st-time director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan unsurprisingly crafts a visually impressive spectacle. But forced to go beyond the fairytale into uncharted territory,  the result is a meandering narrative that takes from virtually every fantasy film of the last 30 years but offers a story that fails to engage on the most basic level.

Not even the impressive cast that fight like ninjas and overact to their heart’s content can truly bring the characters to life or provide any real tension.

‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’ is no doubt a beautiful looking film; impressive CGI coupled with meticulous production design, beautiful and elaborate costumes worn by even more beautiful stars… and that’s the problem.

The film is too beautiful for its own good and no amount of window-dressing can compensate for the uninspired and underwhelming narrative and the cringeworhty “love-conquers-all” message that it beats into the audience. Ironically the filmmakers seem to have forgotten the core message of this entire story; obsession with beauty forsakes all else and leads to destruction.

The Bottom Line…

Although a visually impressive presentation that matches its predecessor, ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’ is all style and fails to engage beyond a moderately entertaining way to kill a couple of hours, let’s see if Universal Pictures finds one more way to skin this cat and complete their trilogy.

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Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

Big-budget 21st century re-telling of the classic Brothers Grimm fairytale, where the Huntsman betrays the evil queen to help Snow White and her allies to end her reign of terror.

Directed by Rupert Sanders and starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron among others.

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