Taglines: The fairytale is over.
Once upon a time, King Magnus and his Queen have a beautiful daughter, Snow White, who is raised with her best friend William. When the Queen passes away, the King grieves her death but has to fight against a dark invader army. He rescues a beautiful prisoner, Ravenna, and on the next day he marries her.
On the wedding night, Ravenna stabs King Magnus in the chest and brings the enemy army led by her brother Finn that destroys the King’s army. Ravenna imprisons Snow White in the Northern Tower of the castle while William, his father The Duke and a few survivors escape from the castle. Years later, the kingdom is completely depleted and Queen Ravenna, who is an evil witch, keeps her beauty by draining the youth of young ladies.
When the Magic Mirror tells that Snow White would be the source of her immortality, she asks Finn to bring the princess to her. However, Snow White escapes and flees to the Dark Forest. Queen Ravenna brings a Huntsman that misses his wife and she promises to bring her back to life provided he catches and brings Snow White to her. But when he captures Snow White, he discovers that the evil Queen lied to him and he becomes the protector of the princess.
Meanwhile William learns that Snow White is alive and he heads to join Finn’s men to meet her. The Huntsman and Snow White meet the eight dwarfs that bring them to the magic Fairytale Land. When they are attacked by Finn and his men, William also finds them and the group heads to the Duke’s castle with the intention of beginning an uprising against the evil Ravenna.
Snow White and the Huntsman is a 2012 American fantasy film based on the German fairy tale “Snow White” compiled by the Brothers Grimm. The film is the directorial debut of Rupert Sanders, with a screenplay by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini, from a screen story by Daugherty. In the film’s retelling of the tale, Snow White grows up imprisoned by her evil stepmother, Queen Ravenna, a powerful sorceress. After Snow White escapes into the forest, Ravenna tells Eric, the Huntsman that she will bring back his dead wife if he captures Snow White.
The cast includes Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, and Bob Hoskins in his final film performance. The film received two Academy Award nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design at the 85th Academy Awards. It was a success at the box office, earning $396.6 million worldwide against a $170 million budget. Although critics praised the production design, visual effects, Theron and Hemsworth’s performances, musical score, and action sequences; Stewart and Claflin’s performances received mixed reviews, and the screenplay was heavily criticized.
A prequel / sequel, titled The Huntsman: Winter’s War, directed by the first film’s visual effects supervisor Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, was released on April 22, 2016. Hemsworth, Theron, Claflin and Nick Frost reprised their roles and new characters were played by Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain. Stewart did not reprise her role, but appeared in archive footage.
Film Review for Snow White and the Huntsman
“Snow White and the Huntsman” reinvents the legendary story in a film of astonishing beauty and imagination. It’s the last thing you would expect from a picture with this title. It falters in its storytelling, because Snow White must be entirely good, the Queen must be entirely bad, and there’s no room for nuance. The end is therefore predetermined. But, oh, what a ride.
This is an older Snow White than we usually think of. Played for most of the film by Kristen Stewart, capable and plucky, she has spent long years locked in a room of her late father’s castle, imprisoned by his cruel second wife (Charlize Theron). When she escapes and sets about righting wrongs, she is a mature young woman, of interest to the two young men who join in her mission. But the movie sidesteps scenes of romance, and in a way, I suppose that’s wise.
The Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) is a heroic, mead-guzzling hunter assigned by the Queen to track down Snow White and bring her back to the castle. After encountering her, however, he is so impressed he changes sides. There is also Prince William (Sam Claflin), smitten since childhood, and the two men join in an unstated alliance.
The Queen lives in terror of losing the beauty of her youth and constantly tops up with the blood of virgins to restore it. She tests her success with the proverbial mirror on the wall, which melts into molten metal and assumes a spectral form, not unlike Death in “The Seventh Seal,” although its metallic transformation process reminds us of “The Terminator.”
The castle, which sits in eerie splendor on an island joined to the mainland only at low tide, is a gothic fantasy that reminds me of the Ghormenghast series. The Queen is joined there by her brother, somewhat diminished by his blond page-boy haircut, who does her bidding but seems rather out to lunch. Extras appear when needed, then disappear. The Queen commands extraordinary supernatural powers, including the ability to materialize countless black birds that can morph into fighting demons or shards of cutting metal.
All of this is rendered appropriately by the special effects, but the treasure of this film is in two of its locations: a harsh, forbidding Dark Forest, and an enchanted fairyland. Both of these realms exist near the castle, and the Huntsman is enlisted in the first place because he knows the Dark Forest, where Snow White has taken refuge.
In this forbidding realm, nothing lives, and it is thick with the blackened bones of dead trees, as if a forest fire had burned only the greenery. There is no cheer here and a monstrous troll confronts Snow White in a dramatic stare-down. After the Huntsman frees her from the Dark Forest, they are delighted to find, or be found by, the Eight Dwarves.
Yes, eight, although one doesn’t survive, reducing their number to the proverbial seven. These characters look strangely familiar, and no wonder: The magic of CGI has provided the faces of familiar British actors such as Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan and Toby Jones. While this technique is effective, it nevertheless deprives eight working (real) dwarves with jobs, which isn’t really fair.
The dwarves lead them to my favorite realm in the film, an enchanting fairyland, which is a triumph of art direction and CGI. Mushrooms open their eyes and regard the visitors. Cute forest animals scamper and gambol in tribute to a forest scene in Disney’s 1937 animated film. The fairies themselves are naked, pale-skinned sprites with old, wise faces. The spirit of this forest is embodied by a great white stag with expressive eyes and horns that spread in awesome complexity. This is a wonderful scene. The director, Rupert Sanders, who began in TV commercials, is clearly familiar with establishing memorable places.
As for the rest, there is a sufficiency of medieval battle scenes, too many for my taste, and a fairly exciting siege of the castle, aided by the intervention of the dwarves, and featuring catapults that hurl globes of burning tar — always enjoyable.
There is a great film here somewhere, perhaps one that allowed greater complexity for the characters. But considering that I walked in expecting no complexity at all, let alone the visual wonderments, “Snow White and the Huntsman” is a considerable experience.
Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Directed by: Rupert Sanders
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Sam Claflin, Sam Spruell, Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Liberty Ross, Nick Frost, Toby Jones, Johnny Harris
Screenplay by: Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock
Production Design by:
Cinematography by: Greig Fraser
Film Editing by: Conrad Buff, Neil Smith
Costume Design by: Colleen Atwood
Set Decoration by: Fainche MacCarthy
Art Direction by: Andrew Ackland-Snow, Alastair Bullock, John Frankish, Oliver Goodier, Stuart Rose, David Warren
Music by: James Newton Howard
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and brief sensuality.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: May 30, 2012 (United Kingdom), June 1, 2012 (United States)
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