SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Grade: B-
Starring: Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Sam Spruell, Ian McShane, Toby Jones, Vincent Regan and Noah Huntley
PREMISE: While running from the evil queen who killed her parents, Snow White decides she must aid hidden rebel forces throughout the kingdom and fight.

RATED PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, blood and brief sexual content

The first thing I can do when reviewing Snow White and the Huntsman-a new, grungy take on the popular Snow White fairy tale-is sigh. That's right: siiiigh. Here's a movie with an embarrassment of riches--a well-known, intriguing story, two high-energy performers (Oscar-winner Charlize Theron and Thor's Chris Hemsworth), some superb special effects, an effective visual style, and even a legitimately-interesting love triangle--that woos the audience, carries them along, dares to entertain them, then falls FLAT on its face. Does part of the blame fall on the shoulders of superstar actress Kristen Stewart (of Twilight fame), who struggles to give her titular character a personality? Yes. But the rest, I believe, falls squarely at the feet of the three credited screenwriters (Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, and Hossein Amini), who fail to give the film a satisfying ending--in fact, they fail to give it much of an ending at all.

The sad/frustrating thing is: they had me. I liked the visual style, the actors, liked the direction it was taking, was ready to give it high and hefty praise, and then....sigh...

Plot: So, you know the basic stuff by now: girl with white skin, red lips, black hair, really nice, lacks parents, is kept locked in a secluded tower by an evil queen stepmother with supernatural powers who repeatedly asks her equally supernaturally powerful mirror if she is the fairest woman in the kingdom. In this case, the apparently immortal queen is Ravenna (Theron), the gorgeous widow of the late king. She rules the kingdom with her pale, slimy brother Finn (Sam Spruell) doing her bidding. She's so evil that, an early voiceover tells us, once she began her rule, "nature turned on itself and died", leaving the kingdom stuck in endless winter and the common people dirt poor. Locked in the tower, Snow White (Stewart) is all but forgotten until the magic mirror tells Ravenna she need only consume Snow's still-beating heart to become immortal and, officially, Fairest of them all. Learning of this plot, Snow escapes, fleeing into the dark, enchanted forest on the kingdom's border. Learning of this, the queen has her brother find someone who can navigate his way in the forest and find the girl. He provides her with a Huntsman (Hemsworth), whom the queen bribes with an unimaginable reward. The Huntsman finds Snow soon enough, but, enchanted by her kindness and her bravery (even if it's of the slightly feeble kind), he decides not to kill her. Together, they learn that some of the kingdom's nobles have amassed an army, and Snow could be the symbol that truly inspires them to fight to overtake the queen. And that's important, since she, of course, is the only one who can kill the queen.

What About Kristen Stewart?
I recently reviewed Catch That Kid, a low-rent spy caper Stewart starred in when she was 13. In my review of that film, I wrote that "she's not a particularly expressive actress. If you're looking for animation, look elsewhere". I stand by that comment after her performance in Huntsman. She knows how to show emotion, and she's clearly willing to try anything, but I'd be willing to bet she hasn't had a lick of classical acting training. I mean, like, no school plays--nothing. She can be very bland and unexpressive. However, it must be said, in this film, the screenwriters give her astonishingly little to work with. I mean, she's playing Snow White in a Snow White movie, wanna give her more than one page's worth of dialogue? You get that she's nice, and you get...oh, wait, that's it. It's a shame, especially considering Stewart has a moment during a rallying speech where she seems to tap into a strong, raw energy, a spark that's very different from her duller portrayals. It's surprising, and it makes you wish, both before and after that moment, they just gave her more to do. Maybe the key is for her to stop playing characters that everybody and their brother has heard of (like Snow White and Bella Swan), and has expectations for, so she can create a character on her own. Just a thought. Anyway, I don't think Stewart stinks up this movie; I think the screenwriters do.

What Works?
The film's other stars, Theron and Hemsworth, don't suffer from Stewart's semi-comatosery. Theron really gives it her all; she's a terrifying force of nature when she's glaring, screaming, cursing, killing... I don't think anyone doubts that, in a late duel between Snow and Ravenna, if Snow wasn't supposed to win (since the movie's about her), the queen, as played by Theron, would rip her apart. Theron is the only principle actor in the film who is really given their due, dialogue-wise. Like Stewart, Hemsworth really isn't given that much to do, but he's a sturdy, likeable screen presence and he nails his character's big emotional moment. Anyway, the actors are all credible, but the visual style is really the winner here. A troll the titular characters encounter is a spectacular creation-something out of Guillermo Del Toro-and even a slightly silly sequence involving fairies and other woodland creatures looks gorgeous. There's also this live-action-flick's redoing of the famous Disney scene in which Snow, overcome by the terrifying spectre of the forest, collapses; it's effective. Theron's aging makeup/effects are all impressive, her costumes sumptuous; if it was released later in the year, this movie would likely dive-bomb the technical categories (costumes, makeup, art direction) at the Oscars.

What Doesn't Work?
Well, that ending, which I will say no more about after I simply state that it is very underwhelming (people in the row behind me were going "What? Really?" as was I). Like I said, it's barely even an ending. The screenwriters also fail to give Stewart and Hemsworth any room to develop chemistry. Sure, you can see that they like each other (as in, tolerate each other), but for him to be in love with her by the time he says he is--what the heck do they know about each other? They don't really have any intimate conversations or anything. Nothing that would warrant, say, True Love's Kiss. A lot of the movie has that feeling of disconnect, though: a reappearance by a character thought to be dead draws nothing but vague enthusiasm from other cast members, and the climactic battle barely raises the pulse. Basically, Huntsman looks so good and starts out so promisingly it takes a while for you to realize it's not as good as it seems (and then the non-ending happens). Remember that March's Mirror Mirror, 2012's first Snow White movie, had so many things going for it I thought it ended up a little over-indulgent and silly.

Content:
This is a dark PG-13, foregoing cuss words and sex but containing a lot of evil, unsettling deeds (almost all of them done by Theron). Characters are poisoned, people get shot with arrows, people are bludgeoned, people get their souls sucked out...It's the film's mood that might make this questionable for younger viewers, more than anything else--the violence is all done shaky-cam style, so you don't really see much.

Bottom Line (I Promise):
I really, really enjoyed a lot of Snow White and the Huntsman, but I waited for a stand-out moment that would elevate it from good to great. It never came. Theron and Hemsworth are good, and Stewart's not bad, but, while this movie was solid, I'd ultimately say Mirror Mirror was the more entertaining Snow White adaptation this year.

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Directed by Rupert Sanders
Written by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, and Hossein Amini
Rated PG-13
Length: 127 minutes