Le Chasseur et la Reine des glaces

This film tells the story of a fierce huntsman who goes on a quest to stop the evil ice queen from getting the magical mirror that will make her invincible.

I am positively surprised by how much I enjoyed watching "The Huntsman: Winter's War". The visuals are stunningly beautiful. I find myself in awe of the marvels of the ice palace. The hairstyles and costumes of the queens, Ravenna and Freya, are super beautiful too. I was amazed by the scene where Charlize Theron has gold on her eyes, the whole image is stunning.

Seeing Emily Blunt as an emotionless icy queen is very interesting as well. After watching her in "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Sicario", I could hardly imagine her as a royally beautiful and majestic queen. Yet, she is perfect as the queen who is deeply hurt and hence deeply cruel.

I enjoyed every minute of "The Huntsman: Winter's War".

The Huntsman: Winter's War is not too unlike the first movie in one key way: it doesn't really stick too long in the consciousness once it's finished. It's not that there is a lack of quality in the craft in this (sigh) franchise - the first Snow White from 2012 got Oscar nominations for the costume design and visual effects departments, and it's easy to see why: the work put into the mirror on its own, this gold thing that can unfold in liquid on the floor is in the same ball-park as the T-1000 from decades past, and there is attention paid to all of the aesthetics in these 'kingdoms'. But with the stories, especially in the case of Winter's War, there is the sense of sensing a dearth of original plots. It's not even really a full plot in this film but plot points: this happens and then this happens and then and then and so on, and it cribs from Frozen so much that it's hard to ignore.

It's not that everything from the Disney movie is here, but when you start to describe what this story is about - two sisters in royalty are split apart when one of them (Emily Blunt this time as the sister to Charlize Theron's Wicked Queen) loses her son and takes over her kingdom... which is made of ice since she is the Ice Queen, and she decrees there can no longer be love because her love is lost, so then when two people (Hemsworth, returning as the Huntsman, and Jessica Chastain) fall in love, she splits them apart through trickery and then... it's actually not a prequel but a sequel which involves finding the mirror from the last movie (stolen/taken away, I forget which, it's explained in an exposition dump), and when a big reveal happens for Hemsworth that (spoiler! not really) Chastain is alive, they decide to go after the Ice Queen herself.

So there's a lot of plot here, a lot of twists and turns that do occur, but that main spine isn't too engaging. The Frozen element comes mostly with the Ice Queen and other characters having a love story happen where you don't expect it to (or, I should say, they *do* love each other, but things happen that makes one of them question again if it's possible and, oh, nevermind). What does still work is the humor; Nick Frost returns as one of the dwarfs from the last movie (the late Bob Hoskins is sorely missed though) along with Rob Brydon (remember him from The Trip movies), and both are spot-on with their comic timing, their deliveries, just finding the things in the scenes to naturally liven things up. Some of it's from the dialog, but a good deal of it feels improvised and when lady dwarfs get introduced into the film there's some fun stuff there as well.

All the actors are here to work, and I didn't see them exactly bored during this; Blunt does her best to give her Ice Queen Freya conviction and villainy (and, later on, some sense of true confusion and betrayal), but it's hard to go up against Theron when she owns this role once again of Ravenna. She's not on screen too long, and it feels just slightly contrived how she returns, but she makes her mark as a conniving, devilish presence with aplomb. Curiously Kirsten Stewart is out of this movie, though there are points where it feels like she *should* be in this, even as a cameo (there is one scene where technically Snow White is featured, but it's a double of course). This absence gets felt in a narrative that is all about the other characters, which is fine, except that the script lets them down with an adventure-cum-quest-cum-revenge story that feels watered down or half-baked. And there are even some moments, like with a creature that the characters come across to find the mirror, that isn't a terribly convincing special effect.

I almost feel like I need to write this so I don't forget most of the movie in a few days; it's not *bad* in the sense of it being too stupid or too illogical (though there are certainly points where you think 'yeah, that's a bad idea to, say, make that jump and hope to connect with that building even when you know and acknowledge that it's a bad idea'). If it's bad in any way it doesn't have really any artistic reason to exist aside from it being another check box for Universal studio's current Snow White universe property. To put it another way, when you have Liam Neeson narrating and delivering lines about fairy tales that felt hackneyed 60 years ago, you know there's an issue with something that should be made vs could. It's got entertaining bits but isn't worth rushing out to see unless you're a die-hard fantasy fan, and even with that there's the sense of derivation (if not from Frozen there's Game of Thrones as well).

Some people really need to get over themselves, judging by some of the reviews for this film. It is a fantasy based on children's stories - what the hell were they expecting, Hamlet or Henry V?

It was a fun ride with plenty of action, plenty of humour, and a great cast - Chris Hemsworth brings his usual cheery action hero to the mix, Jessica Chastain was a good addition as The Huntsman's wife, and Emily Blunt played the fragile Ice Queen wonderfully well. The Dwarfs were comic relief as always, but it worked well with fewer of them and a couple of females in the mix.

The story wasn't overcomlicated but if I want that, I'll go watch Memento. Chill out a little, folks.

The Huntsman: Winters War doesn't work well as a prequel to 'Snow White and the Huntsman' due to a number of anomalies pointed out by others, mainly relating to the lack of Ravenna's brother Finn in her past and the presence of a new sister. However, treat it as a separate film and it's pretty good. Chris Hemsworth plays his part well and Charlize Theron is the fairest of them all, if not the nicest. The special effects are well wrought and the adventure keeps you watching. As in the previous film, the dwarfs provide light entertainment. Enjoyable hokum and great escapism. I enjoyed it.

'Snow White and the Huntsman' from personal opinion was neither a good or awful film. It was visually stunning and had a terrific Charlize Theron, but suffered from a badly miscast Kristen Stewart, a clunky script and muddled story.

'Huntsman: Winter's War' was at times enjoyable, but uneven prequel/sequel. It has elements that are superior, but also some inferior elements too. The best asset is the production values. The film is very beautiful to look at, with luscious but also atmospheric photography, Gothic but also elegant and rustic set and scenery design and lavish costumes, particularly Ravenna and Freya. Most of the special effects are fine, especially the ones for the golden mirror liquid and ice. There is an exception and that was the forest beast, which had a cheaply rendered video game look and didn't mesh with the background.

Once again, James Newton Howard's score complements very well, it's beautifully orchestrated, rousing, elegiac, atmosphere-enhancing and very involving. This said, the one for 'Snow White and the Huntsman' is better and more inspired, the score here also has a few forgettable moments and doesn't really stand out among other fantasy-adventure scores and occasionally derivative. There are good performances here, Emily Blunt's sinister and moving Freya standing out. Another standout is Charlize Theron, Ravenna is far less developed (Freya is a much more interesting character here, and the only one that's developed well) and somewhat one-dimensional as a villain, but Theron makes the most of her limited screen time, bringing great energy, an at times camp edge (though mostly there is more subtlety) and menace.

Rob Brydon, Nick Frost and Sheridan Smith bring some welcome comic relief, this could have easily jarred but was actually a breath of fresh air. The final twenty minutes are thrilling, and the action is slickly edited and choreographed.

Other elements are mixed. Cedric Nicolas-Troyan's direction has solid moments and shows a mastery of visual style, more so than Rupert Sanders for 'Snow White and the Huntsman', but he isn't quite so good stopping the pace flagging or smoothing over narrative cracks. Was mixed on Chris Hemsworth and Jessica Chastain. Hemsworth does have brooding charisma and looks more comfortable, but has a tendency to slur his words and his accent sounds like three different ones constantly changing. Chastain is a great actress and does bring pathos and nuances to her character, but again her accent is unconvincing, with a mix of Scottish and Irish. Their chemistry is much stronger than Hemsworth's and Stewart in 'Snow White and the Huntsman', due to that there actually is some.

Elements here underwhelm drastically. The script is underwritten, simplistic and clunky, with many awkward parts and only properly shining with the dwarfs. The story has some exciting moments, but the pace badly flags too often with a rambling beginning, over-explanatory narration and stretches that feel meandering and muddled. Again the forest beast is poorly done, only Freya is developed well, there are continuity errors meaning that the film just doesn't fit within the storytelling and time-line of 'Snow White and the Huntsman' (while it was a good idea not having Stewart's dead-weight presence in the film, the absence of Snow White- mentioned only in passing fleetingly- does leave a gaping hole in the plot) and Sam Claflin is both underused and out of place.

All in all, uneven film with things that are both good and bad. 5.5-6/10 Bethany Cox