 From the Producer of Alice in Wonderland comes a new vision that turns a legendary tale into an action-adventure epic. The evil Queen Ravenna (Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron) will rule forever if she can take the life of Snow White (Kristen Stewart), so she dispatches the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to track her down. But the wicked ruler never imagined that the Huntsman would train the girl to become a brave warrior, skilled in the art of war. Filled with intense battles and spectacular visual effects, Snow White & the Huntsman is a thrilling experience that "shouldn't be missed" - Shawn Edwards, Fox-TV. Storyline: Snow White, imprisoned daughter of the late king, escapes just as the Magic Mirror declares her the source of the Evil Queen's immortality. The Queen sends her men, led by a local huntsman, to bring her back. But upon her capture, the huntsman finds he's being played and turns against the Queen's men, saving Snow White in the process. Meanwhile, Snow's childhood friend, William, learns that she is alive and sets off to save her. Written by G.C. Bendixen Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown, August 24, 2012 -- Soooo... this is awkward. Alright, let's just be done with it. Snow White and the Huntsman will forever be known as that flick where K-Stew cheated on R-Pat with her director! Once again, a celebrity's private life has been thrust upon us by a ravenous media culture and, once again, the ensuing personal drama has distracted filmfans from the only thing that really matters: the movie itself. Is it any wonder Universal is considering a Stewart-less sequel? Or a Huntsman solo outing with a different director at the helm? This isn't a case of a studio handing down a moral edict from on high, as so many have tried to suggest. It's simply a case of a studio wanting to make a second film rather than set the stage for another ridiculous media frenzy; a successful sequel that isn't burdened from the outset by the unfortunate baggage of its predecessor. Frankly, though, Stewart's lip-locking is neither here nor there. Snow White and the Huntsman has enough problems without dragging an actress' lapse in judgment and a first-time feature filmmaker's infidelity into the arena. Gorgeous and evocative as its visuals may be, Rupert Sanders' dark fairy tale is a sumptuous but fundamentally flawed fantasy pic that's essentially three or four different Snow White adaptations condensed into one ungainly epic. The kingdom of Tabor has long been a realm of light and prosperity, ruled by the noble King Magnus (Noah Huntley) and the beautiful Queen Eleanor (Liberty Ross, Sanders' wife). When the queen succumbs to illness, though, Magnus is heartbroken; so heartbroken that he's easily manipulated into falling in love with another woman: the lovely and seemingly innocent Ravenna (Charlize Theron). But Ravenna isn't the angel she appears to be. She's a calculating immortal and powerful sorceress who kills the king on their wedding night, slaughters his people, imprisons his daughter Snow White (Stewart) and claims the throne as her own. Under the reign of Ravenna, Tabor descends into chaos and darkness; an era of despair only threatened by the young Snow White, who comes of age, escapes into the Dark Forest, and discovers she alone has a heart pure enough to defeat the evil queen. With the help of a huntsman initially tasked with her capture (Chris Hemsworth), an exiled bowman and childhood friend (Sam Claflin) and a rough-n-tumble band of dwarves (Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Johnny Harris and Brian Gleeson), the fugitive princess has to mount a rebellion, reclaim her kingdom and restore Tabor to its former glory. It comes as little surprise that Snow White and the Huntsman's script is credited to three screenwriters -- Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini -- or that its otherwise clever, smartly tweaked take on the classic Snow White tale is so episodic and disjointed. There are distinct, oft-times jarring shifts in tone, pacing and storytelling; so distinct that they should trigger an emergency message along the bottom of the screen. Warning! Sharp Turn Ahead! The first comes when the Huntsman is dispatched to the Dark Forest to track down Snow White, and not just because it literally takes all of thirty screen-seconds to find the girl. (Keep in mind the queen required the Huntsman's services because it was too difficult for her soldiers to navigate the forest swamps. He takes note of a few footprints, walks in a straight line and, voilą, there lies his frightened, snow-skinned prize. The queen's soldiers and brother even come along and have zero problems keeping up.) The first act of the film is mesmerizing. Spellbinding even, bolstered by aching visuals, stunning fantasy-scapes, and bold and wondrous imagery. Ironically, it's the film Tarsem fans were expecting when Mirror, Mirror was announced; the polar opposite of the campy Julia Roberts vehicle that arrived in theaters. For the next twenty-five minutes or so, it's an action piece, decent enough but seemingly the makings of an entirely different film. Along the way, a bridge troll (lifted from a Guillermo del Toro sketchbook) steals the show, Stewart's beauty evolves from sleepy to pouty, and Hemsworth remains the sole source of charm and charisma. (Love and passion are still, and ever, in short supply in Sanders' Snow White.) Then the dwarves enter the fray, God love 'em. Seriously. Love 'em. They're fantastic, they're funny, they're loyal to the end. And they're played with gusto by the likes of McShane, Hoskins, Winstone and Frost; an ingenious and, thanks to practical and digital trickery inspired by Peter Jackson and company, a convincing dwarven ensemble if there ever was one. They just don't quite fit in the tapestry Sanders unfurls in his first act, or even thrill in battle later, when they take to leaping about like trained ninjas and running through the thick forest underbrush as quickly and nimbly as Hemsworth and Stewart. Their arrival also precedes the film's most colorful sequences, which don't feel out of place so much as they occasionally stumble into CG-animated cartoon territory. Fairies crawl out of bird bellies, tortoises and snakes are covered in moss, an enormous Miyazaki-esque stag greets a water-walking princess near a pond, and the film briefly begins taking its cues from Legend's unicorn encounter. There are other dramatic shifts -- Snow White's climactic siege of the queen's castle is as mud-and-blood as bloodless PG-13 fare can amass -- and the ending is so abrupt and sunny, without any sense of narrative closure, that it disappoints and underwhelms altogether. And therein lies the problem and, in some ways, the strange, dreamlike allure of Snow White and the Huntsman. Every hit is accompanied by a miss; the saving grace being that the hits are more memorable than the misses. The film's darker fantasies, breathtaking design-work, effective FX, and awe-swept visuals make it difficult to look away; its sometimes less-than-remarkable CG, occasionally pretentious shots, and shaky-cam action scenes tend to break the spell, if only for a moment. Its more agile performances delight: Hemsworth plays scene savior, the dwarves are a blast, and Theron is downright devilish as the evil queen. Its more wooden performances do not: Stewart shouldn't operate heavy machinery in such a drowsy state, Claflin is more Prince Caspian than Prince Charming, and Theron, who impresses when subtle and shrewd, loses steam the second she drops a register and shouts commands syllable by syllable. For every poetic flourish, there's a laughably cheesy one-liner or a dull stretch of dialogue. For every bit of absorbing fantasy world-building and mythos development, there's a baffling point of contention. (How exactly does Christendom, not the use of Christian symbolism but specifically the recital of the Lord's Prayer, fit into the high fantasy world of Tabor? It doesn't, and yet when we meet Snow White as a teen, that's exactly what she's whispering.) And for every disarming invitation that draws them closer to the heart of the tale, something else inevitably comes along to hold those same viewers at arm's length. Snow White and the Huntsman isn't a mediocre film by any means. It's just overly ambitious, and slowly but surely slips away from Sanders. This might even be the most critical I've been of a film I enjoyed quite a bit. It was that enjoyment, in fact, that I suspect made the movie's weaker elements as disappointing as they were. Flawed as it is, Sanders' Snow White is worth watching, if only for its visuals and carefully plotted, often unpredictable adaptation. The story, script and performances may be uneven on the whole, and the tone of the piece may be inconsistent, but it's still more than possible to be swept up in the magic of everything on screen. If nothing else, Snow White and the Huntsman thoroughly outclasses Mirror, Mirror and comes with the promising prospect of a sky's-the-limit sequel or spin-off. Distractions, distractions. Celebrity misdeeds muddy the waters of yet another movie. Try as I did to resist, I couldn't help but be pulled out of the film every time Sanders' cameras would linger on Stewart's face a bit too long. But don't blame the director or the actress; the public and private hell they're going through at the moment is punishment enough. Blame the media frenzy surrounding their indiscretion. If our tabloid culture ceased to care about such things, perhaps we could watch Snow White and the Huntsman without an US Weekly photo dancing in the back of our brains. Still, it doesn't take a media circus to sully this Snow White. The film has issues of its own, chief among them its inconsistent tone and wildly uneven momentum. Universal's Blu-ray release is much better, though, with a breathtaking video transfer, a monster of a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track, and a full and plentiful supplemental package. If you're anything like me, you may be able to look past the film's flaws and soak in the gorgeous visuals Sanders has on tap. At the very least, the film is worth renting. You might even find yourself buying into Sanders' vision wholeheartedly and, in turn, buying a copy to add to your collection. Cast Notes: Kristen Stewart (Snow White), Chris Hemsworth (The Huntsman), Charlize Theron (Ravenna), Sam Claflin (William), Sam Spruell (Finn), Ian McShane (Beith), Bob Hoskins (Muir), Ray Winstone (Gort), Nick Frost (Nion), Eddie Marsan (Duir), Toby Jones (Coll), Johnny Harris (Quert), Brian Gleeson (Gus), Vincent Regan (Duke Hammond), Noah Huntley (King Magnus). IMDb Rating (08/11/12): 6.6/10 from 52,469 users
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