[Review] The Huntsman: Winter's War

The Huntsman: Winter's War should get an award for the best cast in a bad movie. Standing awkwardly as both a prequel and a sequel to the decent but unspectacular Snow White and the Huntsman, the film kills two birds with one stone by being both a prequel and a sequel that we didn't need.

Even with a heavy lean on the narrator, it still isn't crystal clear what's taking place in the plot. But basically (after several time-hops), The Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) and The Warrior (Jessica Chastain) team up in order to defeat the reign of The Ice Queen (Emily Blunt) and her sister The Evil Queen (Charlize Theron).

There's a layer of camp that the film can't escape, making the experience verge on parody at times. Emily Blunt's performance is so über-serious that it almost becomes unintentionally funny. Chris Hemsworth doesn't do much to switch things up from role to role when he's in the fantasy genre, so it mostly just feels like Thor stumbled into the wrong movie. Charlize Theron is the only one who makes the best out of the substandard material, so of course she has the least screen time of them all. That is, except for Snow White, who isn't even really in the story. Her absence isn't what bothered me though, because it's evident that this thing has gone into full spin-off mode. Not to mention, I'm sure Snow White will be getting her own film again soon.

If you're willing to accept the computer-generated sheen, the settings actually look pretty cool in this realm, but they aren't any more breathtaking than what you might see in the newest "Game of Thrones" episode, which is time much better spent. The fighting and action sequences in The Huntsman are underwhelming and uninspired, so you can bet on how dull the rest of the duration is. The film peaks when Chris Hemsworth wrestles with a horned beast in the forest and gives it the Stone Cold Stunner. And unfortunately even that isn't enough to save this mess.

4.6/10