Snow White & the Huntsman

I expected to like this film if for no other reason than I expect Charlize Theron films to be of a high caliber--also, I like fairy tales. I was not disappointed; in fact, I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting something like a fantasy-horror film, but it turned out to be much heavier on the fantasy element than is typically seen in contemporary mainstream movies. This worked out quite well for me because I enjoy fantasy. In fact, the movie reminded me of The Lord of the Rings trilogy in a few places, if only for the epic scene shots.In terms of the characters, Charlize Theron's Queen stole the show. She was a character with some real depth, more fully fleshed out than I think I've ever seen the "evil queen/stepmother" character portrayed. The Queen ended up being a far more compelling character than Snow White, in fact, because she felt more human. She's not just some woman who turned to dark magic because she was vain and evil for the sake of being vain and evil; she's a traumatized, fearful woman who became cruel in a world SHE percieved to be dark and cruel. As evil as she was, I pitied her--and THAT is a good villain. Theron did an excellent job bringing this character to life, and was, as always, stunningly beautiful. I particularly like what she did with her voice, making it deep and round--it gave her a real presence.I've seen some reviews that complain about Kristen Stewart's role, but the truth of the matter is that Snow White is not the real protagonist of this movie in my opinion. Snow White is written as a grail maiden in this film; a living embodiment of goodness and purity (and they're not subtle about it). She has no flaws and does not grow at all during this movie, because she does not need to. Her only real "journey" in this film is literal. She is a plot device. I think Stewart pulls this role off competently, if not with Theron's skill.The true protagonist of Snow White and the Huntsman is the Huntsman. The Huntsman is an interesting character. In the fairy tale, he pities Snow White and so lets her escape, fooling the Queen into believing he has killed her. He takes a more active role in this movie. It is his choices that allow the movie to take shape, and he is the character who grows the most in the film. He makes an interesting foil for the Queen--they've both been shaped by trauma and bitterness and anger, but while the Queen embraces her bitterness, the Huntsman...well, I won't spoil it. But HE is the character who has an inner journey, thus, to me, he is the protagonist; incidentally, he is also the narrator. Helmsworth pulls the character off nicely. He's always fun to look at, and he's managed to bring the charaters he plays to life in unique ways in every movie I've seen him in. In fact, even though I recognized him, I had to double check that he was who I thought he was because his Huntsman was so different from Papa Kirk and Thor. And I really enjoyed the accent (although I admit I probably wouldn't be able to recognize a bad one if I heard it).One of my favorite things about this movie is its take on love. In the fairytale, it is true love's kiss that awakens Snow White from death. In this movie, I don't think they mean for that love to be seen as 'romantic'. I'm not sure how to explain it without spoiling the movie, but I enjoy the nontraditional presentation.There are a few things I think could have been done better. I would have liked the film to either make Snow White more of a character and less of a plot device, or fully embrace the Huntsman as the main character. It waffled, and that's the reason that the villain was the most impactful character in the movie. I also would have liked to see them do more with the other characters. The dwarves were interesting, but William and his foil, the Queen's brother, had potential they didn't really live up to (I think the actors did a good job, but the characters just weren't given the chance to develop fully in the plot)--and most of the other characters were just background. The movie had some breathtaking scenes, but was a little too heavy on the computer graphics at the same time. But overall I really enjoyed the movie.

Chances are, most people are aware of the Snow White story from the Disney cartoon. This is a much different take on the story. The movie stars Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna, the evil queen who can drain the life from people to stay young and beautiful. Kristen Stewart is Snow White, the "fairest of them all" who, if Ravenna can kill her, will allow Ravenna to stay young and beautiful forever. Ravenna gets the Huntsman (played by Chris Hemsworth) to track Snow White down after she escapes the castle Ravenna has had her imprisoned in since she was a child. He ends up helping her and along with the seven dwarves (who are not a large focus of the story), help Snow White fight Ravenna.The movie looks and sounds great in HD. There are a ton of great visuals, and the movie makes great use of CGI to, among other things, transform actors like Toby Jones, Nick Frost, and Bob Hoskins, into dwarves. The movie is well written and acted, with Theron basically stealing the show. Stewart gave a good performance as well. Probably not as good as in some of her lower-budget and indie roles, but better than she did in Twilight (although the source material she had to work with there was not exactly stellar).For those who get the Blu-Ray, the extras include a commentary track on the movie by the director, the visual effects supervisor, and one of the editors of the movie. Then there are several making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes that range from just over a minute in length to just over twenty minutes. Around an hour's worth of material, give or take.Overall, the movie is very good. Theron is definitely the highlight of the film, but all the actors gave good performances, and it told a good, original, version of the story. It definitely had set up for more stories to be told in that universe, but because of the controversy that came out after the movie was released it only got Huntsman focused spinoff that largely ignored Snow White's existence. Even so, it is still a good movie that had a good blend of action and drama, and is definitely worth watching.