“The Huntsman: Winter’s War” is one of those movies that is unnecessary on nearly all levels.
Perhaps that sounds harsh, but why, four years and one Kristen Stewart cheating scandal later, does the world need a second installment to the decidedly OK “Snow White and the Huntsman”?
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There are a number of technical answers to this—money, contractual obligations and studio interests being three of the most likely. As a worthwhile piece of entertainment, though, there can’t possibly be much justification for this overly ambitious and ultimately anti-climactic epic.
The film opens with a flashback set seven years before the events of “Snow White.” Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) counsels her sister, Freya (Emily Blunt), to end an illicit affair with an engaged man, even though she is carrying his child. The love-struck Freya refuses and gives birth to a baby girl, only to have that same baby burned to death by her lover. In a rage, she spontaneously develops her wintry powers and shoots spikes of ice into the lover, shattering him into a million little pieces.
It’s a pretty heavy 10 minutes of exposition, to say the least.
Freya is subsequently heartbroken and pulls a pseudo-Elsa, shutting herself up in a frozen castle to create—no joke—an army of children, seized from local villages at a young age and trained to never feel love.
“There is only one rule in my kingdom,” she intones icily to her flock of child soldiers. “Do not love.”
But lo! Flash forward to the present and, against all odds, the titular huntsman, Eric (Chris Hemsworth), and Sara (Jessica Chastain) grow up to be both ridiculously attractive and the most talented fighters in their age group—and they simply can’t help but fall in love. Chaos and bloodshed ensue.
Admittedly, there are a few highlights throughout the course of the film. Hemsworth and Chastain, despite sporting bizarre Scottish-ish accents, have that sexy warrior-type chemistry that’s almost impossible to dislike. One minute she’s holding a knife to his throat, the next they’re making out in a hot spring. it may be an overdone trope, but it’s undeniably satisfying. The visuals are also stunning at times, featuring sprawling English meadows and bubbling rivers of molten gold.
But despite a solid cast and pleasant CGI-effects, “The Huntsman” struggles to strike the right genre-balance between an adult action movie and the saccharine fairy tales it’s based on. On the one hand, there’s an abundance of bone-crunching battle scenes and overwrought moments of sexual tension; on the other hand, the plot is quite literally contingent on the idea that the power of love conquers all.
You can’t take kids to the theater to watch baby burnings and forest sex scenes, but most adults won’t be content with the dopey, sentimental resolution. So that begs the question: Who is this movie even for?
1.5 stars.
Rated PG-13.
Emma Krupp is an intern of The Mash, RedEye’s sister publication.