Snow White and the Huntsman Review

A year after its release, I saw the movie Snow White and the Huntsman. I was planning to watch it with one of my friends, however we couldn't move further with our plans. Yeah, you could say we had busy lives and of course, this movie wasn't the latest adaption of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson or the Hunger Games which we simply couldn't miss. So yeah, we let it go. Like they say, you can't have everything, can you?

However, when it was on TV last night, I didn't skip it like last time. Because A] I was super bored and B] I figured that writing a review for this movie would be interesting enough.

PLOT: 

As expected, story's based on the Grimm brothers' fairy tale, only spiced up with amazing visual effects, far more violent dwarfs and a (?) clearer background on the Evil queen and the Huntsman. 

It starts off with the queen (Snow White's mother) gazing at a solitary rose blooming in the snow. While trying to pluck the flower, she pricks her finger and three drops of blood that oozed out form her cut fall onto the snow. The vivid red against the pristine white snow impresses the queen and she wishes that she has a daughter as fair as the snow, with black hair and rose-red lips.

Soon, her wish is granted and a daughter is born. She's precisely what her mother wanted her to look like. Then the queen falls ill and dies. The king marries beautiful but mysterious Ravenna (played by Charlize Theron) after rescuing her so that Snow White can have a new mother and he himself has fallen in love with her good looks.

However, Ravenna kills the king on their wedding night and takes control over the whole kingdom. She locks Snow White in the tower instead of killing her as she might be valuable to her. Snow White's friend, William escapes from the kingdom with his father but is unable to rescue her.

Years later, we see the kingdom in a ruined state and Snow White (played by Kristen Stewart) is locked up in a tower, trying to light a fire. The evil Ravenna retains her youthfulness and beauty by kidnapping young girls and taking in their beauty, thus leaving them as old hags, left to rot and die.

Ravenna, on consulting her magic mirror (which looks more like a gong rather than a mirror to me), finds out that Snow White is destined to destroy her. If Ravenna consumes Snow White's heart (um excuse me, but isn't that cannibalism?), then she can remain young and beautiful forever. Thus, she orders her brother, Finn, to go and bring Snow White.

Snow White (unlike the slack-jawed Bella Swan that I'm so used to seeing Kristen Stewart as) scratches his face and escapes her prison in a smart manner. I really like the way Kristen Stewart acted so vulnerably in this scene. You could clearly see the need to escape in those eyes of hers (which were pretty much expressionless in the Twilight movies).

Then the evil queen hires a drunken huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to find Snow White in the Dark Forest. Of course, then they find Snow White in a weakened state. The huntsman, who'd been lured into this scheme on the pretext that he'd get his dead wife resurrected, doesn't have a clue that this weak little thing is the rightful heir to the throne of a kingdom left in shambles. When he realizes that Ravenna and her men aren't going to give back his precious wife, he fights them. Meanwhile, our princess slips away.

After fighting the evil men off, the huntsman finds Snow White and then the both of them set off. I'm not going to write the summary anymore because A] I'm bored and B] What's Wikipedia for?

WHAT I LIKED: 

I loved the visual effects and the whole set. Even the direction seems good enough (No, don't scoff at me, I'm a girl with few expectations when I see a movie). But the best part I liked was how they twisted the whole story into something gory, sadistic and dark. Mirror, Mirror, another adaptation on the Snow White story seemed so bright and sweet - as though it's just been baked from Disney's oven. Snow White and the Huntsman was starkly different from Mirror, Mirror even though both of them are based on the same story!

It was intriguing - but mildly disturbing - to see the dwarfs as scary good fighters not as the cute little things you saw in the 1937 adaptation. I'd say it was unexpected, but still one of the best parts of the whole movie. Moving onto the portrayals, I really liked the queen. I admired how the actress portrayed her as someone who was merciless, horrifyingly cruel but really believable. I mean, what woman doesn't want to remain young and pretty forever? You have age miracle creams, plastic surgeons and Botox but still, the hunger to remain young forever is still there, it doesn't ebb away that easily.

As for Snow White, I didn't see her as Snow White. I saw her as the actress who played her. Yep, during the whole movie, I was staring at Kristen Stewart's face to observe any expression. Yes, there were! There were some expressions!

I'm sorry, but I had to descend into that level of madness after I watched the Twilight movies. Back then, I'd thought that the world would end before Kristen Stewart made an expression on her face. But after seeing this... okay, this girl can have expressions!

Okay, let's be serious now. She was nice enough. I'd say she stumbled a bit during the "motivational scene".

The guy who played William was Really. Cute.

The Huntsman was also amazing. He was one of the reasons why you'd want to watch the movie. Seriously.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: 

I just have one word: unexplored. 

I truly, truly believe that had the story been more detailed, this movie would have been fantastic. The queen's past, for instance. I didn't even realize her mother had cast a spell 'til I saw the plot summary on Wikipedia! You know, had they shown her back-story properly, instead of just putting at as a flashback, that would've done wonders to the movie. Same goes for the Huntsman. 

Also, the ending seemed highly unsatisfactory. Snow White's crowned as the queen and then that's it! No further info on the others, whether they died or lived or whatever. 

*SPOILER ALERT* 

I'd also like to mention that tribe of ladies who've scarred their faces so that they could live normal lives with their children while their husbands were at war. I liked that part! Why didn't the stupid director extend their appearance? Those scenes were the only ones in the whole movie that resembled something Snow White-ish (Yeah, I did say that I like this new, sadistic version but that doesn't mean I'm not a sucker of warm and lovely stuff). Like many others, that tribe was also unexplored. 

WHAT I FOUND WAS SERIOUSLY FUNNY (EVEN THOUGH IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SERIOUS STUFF): 

The war. I seriously couldn't stop laughing. The battle shown in the end is a joke. There wasn't much fighting and all Snow White had to do was to screw up her face and swing her sword - which didn't even hit the people. You'd expect a bit of training and more motivational talks from Snow, but it's mostly riding on horseback and swinging your sword randomly. 

No offence intended to those who liked the battle scene. 

~~~

Anyhow, that's all I'd like to say about this movie. I REALLY loved the queen. Pity she wasn't in one of those Twilight books. Or else she'd have finished off those sparkling fairies off for me. 

No offence intended to all the Twihards out there as well. 

Love,
Eerie Fairy
(I am seriously considering to change my username)