Snow White and Thor (the Huntsman)

If you've read my review for "Mirror Mirror," then you'll know that I'm not too fond of the story of Snow White, or at least what most adaptions make it out to be. Sure, most Grimms Fairy Tales are turned from their dark and gritty origins into what they are today...NOT dark and gritty. Even if they have some elements from the original dark story, it doesn't quite live up to it's source material. The only film in the past fifteen years, the best example of a film that's been faithful to it's source material was Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hallow." Since then, no other film has come close to the faithful brilliance that Burton brought to his movie. Last year's "Red Riding Hood," directed by Catherine Hardwicke, attempted to do re-capture that magic, but the finished project was nothing more than a "Twilight" clone that Leonardo DiCaprio will probably not put on his production resume. Not too long after that film's release, there's been word of ANOTHER "Twilight" clone was on the way, and that it was going to be Snow White.

I've heard much about the casting, and I was not too happy with it. Kristen Stewart in the role of Snow White was probably a major mis-cast, since her performance in those "Twilight" movies was just unbearably boring. And when I saw the trailers, when she appeared, I thought she was going to give the same performance. However, I did see some hope shining up on this movie, at least for me. After his performance in "Thor," Chris Hemmsworth made me think that he might do an okay job as the Huntsman. Not to mention, it had some A-list actors in it like Bob Hoskins, Nick Frost, Ian McShane, Toby Jones, Charlize Theron, Ray Winstone, and many others. But even then, I was just not looking forward to this movie, because it just wasn't enough. However, after witnessing "Mirror Mirror," I thought to myself, "Maybe this won't be as bad as that film."

So when I went into the casino theater, I bought my ticket and drink, took a seat in a packed theater, and...I'm happy to say that this film was not only good, it's one of my favorites this year, hands down. "Snow White and the Huntsman" has practically EVERYTHING good in a movie.

The film is the story of Snow White, but has unique turns to it. Snow White's birth mother accidentally pricks her finger on a rose, wishing for her child to be in the description Snow White is. During childhood, she befriends a boy named William, but soon her mother dies of an illness the next winter, and the King is sent to fight an army that's more fragile than glass. When the King finds a woman named Ravenna, she's taken back to the kingdom as Snow White's step-mother. She then kills the king, has her men take over, and has Snow White locked away in the tower. Years later, the evil Queen Ravenna now needs Snow White's heart in order to become immortal with eternal beauty. But Snow White escapes, and now travels with the Huntsman, who was originally sent to kill Snow in exchange for his deceased wife, to Duke Hammond's castle, and gather an army to defeat Ravenna.

Now as much as I said how good the movie was, that's not to say the film's got some gripes. First off, some of the edits in this movie are a little clunky, and it does tend to distract for one or two action scenes, and that's not in the film's favor. Not to mention, I felt like some scenes were cut out, especially with one line at the end feeling unfinished. Maybe it will be added back in for its Blu-Ray release. Also, let's not forget, Kristen Stewart is not hotter than Charlize Theron. I call bullshit on that! Another thing, was the CGI, while not bad was a bit overused. In some scenes it looks great, but when they CG'd animals in there, it just made the film look a bit lazy in terms of not getting actual animals. But the biggest thing that bugged me, was in one scene where Snow meets this mythical creature, which is said to be a supposed-god of nature. I wouldn't have mind that, but...the thing looks EXACTLY like the forest god from "Princess Mononoke," and I just grew irritated by that. Out of all the animals you could have used in your fantasy film, you chose to steal one from one of the greatest films of all time and from the greatest animator and storyteller, Hayao Miyazaki, then that's just pathetic.

However, despite the bad stuff I hated in the movie, it got trumped by everything else that was good in the movie. Charlize Theron as Ravenna, the evil queen, just stole this movie. She gave a brilliant performance that was intimidating, but at the same time, over-the-top. And when she does, it's hard to take seriously, and you can't help but laugh. But most of the time, her performance sent chills down my spine, just looking into her eyes that basically tell you she's been through hell and back. Plus, when she gives Snow the apple in the movie, it's done in a different take. THAT worked out perfectly, I loved that scene, and it actually made me feel sorry for what would happen to Snow.

Chris Hemmsworth nailed the role of the Huntsman, and gave a surprisingly better performance in this than he did in "Thor" or "The Avengers," like this was just a walk in the park. Hemmsworth is on fire this year, after being in three great films this year, and I'm guessing it will keep going from here on out. What sells it the most for me, is when he confesses about his backstory and his wife. I felt really bad for the guy, and that scene was what made me find this Hemmsworth's best performance in a movie.

The make-up they used in this film was downright great with Ravenna, the dwarves, and many others. The dwarves were also pretty good in this film, with the make-up and effects they had done here. Though it does bother me that they used CGI instead of real little-people for the role. At least "Mirror Mirror" was capable of doing that, but I digress. Now going back to the CGI, most of it was amazing. I was just blown away by most of the effects and fight scenes, and when it's used right, it blew my mind. I honestly thought James Cameron was apart of this. I was a bit curious why they called "Snow White and the Huntsman" instead of "Seven Dwarves," but now I understand. The main focus is more on the Huntsman and Snow White.

Speaking of Snow White, who's played by Kristen Stewart, you're probably expecting me to say that she was just as bland as she was in "Twilight." But no, she did a brilliant job in this role. She may use the Bella Swan performance on some parts, where it looks like she's been through troulbe, but in this case IT ACTUALLY WORKS! In "Twilight," she basically had all this bad stuff happen because of HER! In "Snow White," she acts this way, because she's been locked away in a tower for over ten years. It actually feels like a performance. She prays, she feels desperate, she has that monotone voice, which feels hard to deal with. Everything in that performance was done right. However, with her to be considered the fairest of them all is a bit hard to believe, but I digress.

The action scenes in this film were simply amazing, and the camera work is what adds to it. Whomever the director or cinematographer was that did this, they did a brilliant job with it. The film was produced by Joe Roth, who also produced Tim Burton's version of "Alice in Wonderland," which marks this as Roth's second fantasy action film. In my mind, this makes "Alice" look like "Mirror Mirror" in terms of action. If they actually went all out to show blood in this, this would have made this an 'R rating' without a doubt.

Overall, "Snow White and the Huntsman" is by far the best dark fairy tale movie I've seen since "Sleepy Hallow." It's action packed, it's well-paced, it's got good story, it's got excellent characters, and it's just a great movie. I highly recommend it, if you want to see a film that may look like "Twilight" but better.

Rating: 9/10