Snow White and the Huntsman - Part 1

[Iceman]

imo it looks more catered to men than girls

dark fantasy elements and otherworldly creatures and bad ass dwarves and huntsman

and queen looking as evil as ever

not to mention the very lord of the rings visual look and battle scenes

trailers excited me lol

Yeah, I like all that! If they're trying to cater it to me they're doing a good job. Evil Queen never looked so good.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Thanks mate.

Hemsworth a 9! That guy is going to be huge one day.

Sounds like Stewart was convincing. Was a bit worried about that although she looked fine in trailers. Was hoping for something crazy from Theron. Loved everything I've seen of her in this.

Queen's bro? I need to brush up on my Snow White lore lol.

Hemsworth really has the all round package to become a top leading man.

The Queen's bro was the classic ugly, sleazy baddie type, not sure if he's in the original story though.

HR, did you really prefer Stewart in the movie over Theron? Interesting. Not that I disliked Stewart in it.

From an acting perspective I felt she produced more out of her role, Theron was doing the type of thing good actors can do in their sleep, a Rickman/Walken type of over the top shouty villain.

Was it just me or did they seem to hint at the possibility of [BLACKOUT]some kind of incestuous relationship between the Queen and her brother when she said she had given him all also.[/BLACKOUT]

Oh yeah, and her "Have I not given you everything?" line only cemented the ick factor.

 

[Hypestyle]

...they missed the chance to do a "you must be grumpy" joke to one of the dwarves.. ah well.. ..just who all played the dwarves?

...I wanted to see more of the bridge troll.. heh..

I would have liked to see a longer fight between Snow and Ravenna at the end..

.. I see that Snow White chooses no "prince charming" at the end-- instead exchanging a knowing glance with Huntsman (and to a lesser degree, William).. this perhaps fits with post-feminist sensibilities..

 

[danoyse]

.. I see that Snow White chooses no "prince charming" at the end-- instead exchanging a knowing glance with Huntsman (and to a lesser degree, William).. this perhaps fits with post-feminist sensibilities..

This feminist would have totally leaped into Thor's arms at any point in the movie.

 

[SuperSoldier985]

This movie impressed me quite a bit--as to say, it gave me more than I was expecting, however it's by no means amazing. With that said, I still have to give this movie credit where it's due.


Script/Technical: 7.5 - The movie looked great and it sounded great. As for as the writing was concerned, I tried to cut the movie a little bit of slack given its material. Some of the characters felt a little underwritted and flat (i.e. Snow, William,..), but from the material they had to work with. Despite this, I was pleasantly satisfied with how they chose to bring these characters to life and develop them in an otherwise tight adaptation with quite a large ensemble to work with. However, as mentioned, the technical side of this movie truly compensates for any gaping holes this movie had script-wise. The makeup and visual effects were top grade, the score by John Newton Howard was great, the cinematography was great, the set designs, the costumes were all top notch. The movie just really felt like it was done by a group of talented people who had just the right amount of time and money to put all they could into this project and it really shows. I enjoyed the fight sequences and for a PG-13 movie, I'm glad they did as much as they could with the violence.


Acting/Dialogue: 8 - I think everyone was really good in this. Charlize Theron shows why she's at the top of her class when it comes to actresses working today. She had a lot of fun in the role and you could tell she wanted to portray the Queen, Ravenna, the best she could. I thought she really sold this dark, tragic, and terrifying character for me. Surprisingly, this was also one of the better roles Kristen Stewart has had in years and even though she didn't have a ton of lines, she shows a lot of dramatic range when she has too--the same with Hemsworth, who manages to show more emotion in this than I've seen in any of his previous movies. The dialogue was nothing overly special--however, the great actors, even those in supporting roles, did very good work with what they had. I think it overall fit the atmosphere and tone quite well of the story, only limited by its fairy tale intentions and characterization here and there (i.e., evil people speaking evil tongue).


Pacing/Fun: 6.5 - The biggest downfall of the movie is its pacing and its running time. The movie starts out quite quickly with a battle scenes, death, and chasing. It is near the second act where the movie slows down a lot and you start to feel it. This is a movie that intentionally wants you to soak up its surroundings, take its story and its character seriously, in an otherwise straightforward fantasy film, which is asking a lot of the audience. The third act however is very pleasing. The climax and final showdown is intense and doesn't drag-on as a viewer, felt quite satisfying--making all the build-up work worth the wait.


Final Thoughts: All in all, I think SWATH was one of the bigger surprises of this year for me. Maybe I had lower expectations---but I think most people did. I feel that anyone who cared less for this movie were probably ones coming into the movie with a lot of "Twilight" baggage and excessive cynicism towards its LOTR influences. Personally, I brought none of those expectations in with me and I watched the film for what it was--a well made and interesting adaptation of the classic fairy tale.

7.3/10


Cliff Notes: Better than expected. Good performances, great visuals, and cinematography. A lot of pacing issues in the second act. Some flat and underwritten characters.​

 

[Rowsdower!]

I was pretty disappointed in this film. It's by no means terrible, but it just felt underdone to me. The characters were okay, but they all seemed to need more development. Snow White in particular barely had a personality. Whether that's due to a flawed script or whether they just cut a bunch of Stewart's lines, I don't know, but either way... most of her scenes were pretty unimpressive. The Huntsman and the Queen fared better, but even they seemed to be underutilized. Even the cool Mirror Man was barely in it. Most of all though, I just felt like the movie was paced horribly. It just seemed like everything took WAY to long to happen.

I remember the scene in Clerks 2 where Randal was making fun of The Lord of the Rings because it was three movies about people walking. But those movies were thoroughly entertaining, while SWATH truly felt like a movie about a group of people walking. The end battle was thoroughly unimpressive, and the coronation scene at the end was so awkward it was off-putting.

All in all, I'd still say it was worth seeing but I expected more. 6/10

 

[SuperSoldier985]

You wanted to see more of the "cool mirror man"? That's pretty ironic if you've seen the movie...

and I think Snow White's character/personality is a fault of the script and how they wanted to handle the third act "turn" for the character. Also, I wouldn't have expected much of a personality out of a girl who's been forced to live in a tower, isolated for ten years....but that's just me.

 

[Rowsdower!]

There is a lot you can do with a character who has been locked away in a tower/dungeon/prison for his/her entire life or for a long period of time if you know how to write the character. The Man in the Iron Mask, Rapunzel, The Count of Monte Cristo, Bane... there are a number of directions you could go besides "girl with perpetually confused expression and quivering lip."

 

[Asteroid-Man]

This movie impressed me quite a bit. It's by no means amazing, but I have to give credit where it's due.


Script/Technical: 7.5 - The movie looked great, it sounded great. Some of the characters felt a little underwritted and flat (i.e. Snow, William,..), but from the material they had to work with. Despite this, I was pleasantly satisfied with how they chose to bring them into the movie and develop them in an otherwise very tight adaptation with quite a large ensemble to work with. However, as mentioned, the technical side of this movie truly compensates for any gaping holes this movie had script-wise. The makeup and visual effects were top grade, the score by John Newton Howard was great, I enjoyed the acting in it, the cinematography was great, the set designs, the costumes were all top notch. The movie just really felt like it was done by a group of talented people who had just the right amount of time and money to put all they could into this project and it really shows. I enjoyed the fight sequences and for a PG-13 movie, I'm glad they did as much as they could with the violence.


Acting/Dialogue: 8 - I think everyone was really good. Charlize Theron shows why she's at the top of her class when it comes to actresses working today. She had a lot of fun in the role and you could tell she wanted to portray Ravenna the best she could and she really sold this dark, tragic character for me. This was also absolutely one of the better roles Kristen Stewart has had in years and she shows a lot of range when she has too--the same with Hemsworth, who manages to show more emotion in this than I've seen in any of his previous movies. The dialogue was nothing overly special--however, the great actors, even those in supporting roles, did very good work with what they had. I think it overall fit the atmosphere and tone quite well of the story, only limited by its fairy tale intentions and characterization here and there (i.e., evil people speaking evil tongue).


Pacing/Fun: 7 - The biggest downfall of the movie is its pacing and its running time. Near around the second act, the movie slows down a lot and you start to feel it. This is a movie that intentionally wants you to soak up its surroundings, take its story and its character seriously, in an otherwise straightforward fantasy film, which is asking a lot of the audience. The third act however is very pleasing and the climax and showdown is intense and as a viewer, quite satisfying--making the build-up work worth the wait.


All in all, I think SWATH was one of the bigger surprises of this year for me. Maybe I had lower expectations---but I think most people did.


I feel that anyone who cared less for this movie were probably ones coming into the movie with a lot of "Twilight" baggage and excessive cynicism towards its LOTR influences. Personally, I brought none of those expectations in with me and I watched the film for what it was--a well made and interesting adaptation of the classic fairy tale.


7.7/10

I was actually excited for this movie and I give it about a 5.75/10.

 

[Rowsdower!]

I wonder if the director of this was (consciously or subconsciously) influenced by The Neverending Story. The scene where the horse gets stuck in the swamp and the turtle with moss growing all over it looked like they were straight out of that film.

 

[Fanticon]

Surprisingly very good! 7.5/10
The positives:
Kristin Stewart barely had any lines and was good throughout.
Hemsworth was awesome.
The Dwarves were great.
Charlize Theron went all out!!!
Good swashbuckling action, Good visuals and Good score.

Negatives:
Kristin Stewarts motivational speech
The movie seemed to sure of itself that they'll get a sequel...when it really doesn't need one.
The FX in the Dark Forest and Enchanted Forest.
Also the Enchanted Forest scene with the fairies and the God of Nature or whatever...that scene was odd, where Bob Hoskins was saying something like "she's the chosen one."
And why was Snow White praying to a christian god in the beginning...that was really out of place in this fantasy world.
Needed one more good monster scene like the Troll.

Overall, good acting and directing was the key in this movie and it was really well done. So far two movies this summer that I had low expectations for have actually turned out better than expected.

 

[Liam_H]

Movie didn't really set up for a sequel unless you count those couple of looks at the end.

 

[Project862006]

$56.1Million OW
http://www.deadline.com/2012/06/sno...idnights-from-1092-theaters-better-than-mib3/

 

[Fanticon]

I wonder if the director of this was (consciously or subconsciously) influenced by The Neverending Story. The scene where the horse gets stuck in the swamp and the turtle with moss growing all over it looked like they were straight out of that film.

Haha..yeah I was thinking "Artax!!!!"

 

[danoyse]

Haha..yeah I was thinking "Artax!!!!"

I was thinking that exact same thing.

 

[Fanticon]

Movie didn't really set up for a sequel unless you count those couple of looks at the end.

I read in Entertainment Weekly a few months back that they are planning a trilogy out of this...but they should have ended it like you would end a first movie just in case they don't get that opportunity. Thankfully that's a promising opening weekend. But again they left some unresolved stuff there at the end and I think they did this because they were planning on making more. Just left me a bit under served.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Haha..yeah I was thinking "Artax!!!!"

Haha, yeah me too.

 

[Liam_H]

I read in Entertainment Weekly a few months back that they are planning a trilogy out of this...but they should have ended it like you would end a first movie just in case they don't get that opportunity. Thankfully that's a promising opening weekend. But again they left some unresolved stuff there at the end and I think they did this because they were planning on making more. Just left me a bit under served.

I think they were talking sequels involving the Huntsman, like he would be in more fairy tail adaptations. Which is kinds of funny considering this movie was being sold as a strong female character but a possible franchise would be without her.

 

[Wolfwood]

I wonder if the director of this was (consciously or subconsciously) influenced by The Neverending Story. The scene where the horse gets stuck in the swamp and the turtle with moss growing all over it looked like they were straight out of that film.

I thought the same thing. I was having emotional flashbacks when the horse got stuck, I was ready to start weeping again.

 

[Doctor Jones]

...they missed the chance to do a "you must be grumpy" joke to one of the dwarves.. ah well.. ..just who all played the dwarves?

...I wanted to see more of the bridge troll.. heh..

I would have liked to see a longer fight between Snow and Ravenna at the end..

.. I see that Snow White chooses no "prince charming" at the end-- instead exchanging a knowing glance with Huntsman (and to a lesser degree, William).. this perhaps fits with post-feminist sensibilities..

Wait, so now we live in a world where women don't want to sex Chris Hemsworth because of post feminism?

I think even the most stauch feminist would want to sex Chris Hemsworth.

Hemsworth is pretty much the man of all women's dreams. Especially as Thor. Long, blonde, flowy hair and huge muscles with a deep voice who fights and speaks eloquently. My God, you might as well spray him with pheromones and dip him in chocolate.

 

[Project862006]

him and charlize should of hooked up

there child would of been destined to have long blonde hair, gorgeous, and tall lol

 

[sgaana]

I think even the most stauch feminist would want to sex Chris Hemsworth.

Hemsworth is pretty much the man of all women's dreams. Especially as Thor. Long, blonde, flowy hair and huge muscles with a deep voice who fights and speaks eloquently. My God, you might as well spray him with pheromones and dip him in chocolate.

*raises hand* Yeah, I'm with danoyse on this.

That said, I didn't mind where they ended it. It made it intriguing. And the romantic rivalry wasn't SO forefronted that it demanded resolution, which I thought was an interesting way to play it.

I'll just say that I was looking forward to the movie a lot, but I'd strictly tempered my expectations before going. I wanted some specific things out of the movie, and it gave me all of those things (it was very pretty, Theron was hot, and Hemsworth was hot). The rest was just gravy (like, I thought Stewart was fine; this is the first thing I've seen her in). I enjoyed the heck out of it, and really wasn't ever bored.

I'm not trying to argue that it was a very good movie or anything. I can understand the negative reactions, I guess, but it worked for me.

 

[Wolfwood]

I like to point out that technically there was a lesbian kiss in this movie and that's awesome.

 

[Liam_H]

The whole apple scene just felt so forced, its part of the lore so they felt like they had to do it.

 

[Schlosser85]

So...

What happened to

Spoiler

Ravenna

?