Movie Review: Snow White and the Huntsman (aka: How This Movie Made Me a Fan of Sam Claflin)

In a twist to the fairy tale, the Huntsman ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen.

DISCLAIMER: We here at Two Girls, One Blog, Many Obsessions (Henceforth shall be known as 2G1BMO ←- this isn’t going to work, is it?) are a pro- KStew site. Meaning, we support and adore anything and everything Kristen Stewart does -- but we can be impartial (maybe) to her body of work.

It’s SUMMER! One of the best things about Summer are the movies that come out during the months of June through August. Summer movies usually consist of Blow Em Up Blockbusters alongside sequels to movies we loved in Summer’s past. SWATH actually doesn’t fall into either of these categories. Sure, it made money and it had it’s opening stint at number 1 and yes, it’s boasts big screen box office actors Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth and my girl, Kristen Stewart but it wasn’t really listed as a summer must-see by most and certainly not by critics. It did achieve a notable thing, however, it got ME to the movies. Let me take a moment to lament the loss of my movie-going spirit. In summers past I went to the movies every week, sometimes twice. I’d catch ALL the blockbusters on opening day just to say that I did. Nowadays, I’m lucky I see a movie in the theater twice a year. A YEAR. So sad, it makes me want to cry. In fact, SWATH is actually only the third movie I’ve seen in the theater in 2012. The other two were The Hunger Games (meh) and The Avengers (KICKED ASS).

Damn kids ruin everything.

I’m kidding, of course, I love my kids, they just don’t give me much time to go to the movies anymore and waiting for DVD releases are EXCRUCIATING. I do make special provisions to see the movies I REALLY want to see which usually takes a lot of planning and several acts of GOD for it to happen. I had been personally looking forward to seeing SWATH since I heard Kristen Stewart was cast in the role of Snow White. I mean, honestly, how can there be a more perfect ass-kicking Snow White than Kstew? (I know someone who will say “Rachel Bilson” but this opinion is in the minority so sorry, your voice will not be heard)

Charlize Theron as Ravenna

SWATH turned out to be everything I thought it would be with the exception of one very pleasant surprise. I’ll get to that one thing later, but I want to be clear about my thoughts on the movie overall. I liked it. I really did. I didn’t LOVE it. You all know how adamant I can be about something I love and although I found the movie enjoyable and pleasant, I wasn’t ready to head back into the theater to watch it again (like Avengers -- which I am STILL DYING to re-watch). It had good action, stunning cinematography and decent acting. I think Charlize Theron can do NO WRONG (but I haven’t yet seen Prometheus) and she was phenomenal as the evil Queen Ravenna in this movie. She commanded every scene she was in and was genuinely frightening in many of her scenes (baby birdy hearts will never be the same to me again). And she was gorgeous. Just stunning. The costuming should be nominated for awards. The wardrobe for Charlize alone was enough to keep me invested in the movie just to see what her next outfit will look like. And it seems like the movies I’ve seen this year has one common thread: HEMSWORTH.

Apparently, I don’t waste any time on a movie without a Hemsworth in it. And this Hemsworth, Chris, plays the Hunstman so deliciously well. He was every bit the drunken sailor I envisioned him to be. Like Thor, but...dirtier. I have to admit, he was very one-dimensional to me. Actually, most of characters didn’t develop enough for me. This was perhaps in preparation for this movie as the first in a trilogy but it left me wanting to know more about everyone, especially the Huntsman. Overall, he did the job I thought he was going to do and did it valiantly and well.

And what can I say about Kristen? She was made for this role. I can definitely tell the physical part of the role she tackled she did so with guts and no glory. There were stunts she did and I was like, “surely that wasn’t really her??!” but it was and I was happily amazed that the audience could tell it was really her riding a horse and climbing and falling into ravines. She was great. In one scene she gives a rousing speech to the crowds of people and I wanted to stand up and clap and grab a sword and join in the fight, but didn’t want to lose my popcorn. She was also stunning as Snow White, giving Charlize a run for her money. This movie had a lot of pretty women in it.

Sam Claflin aka Prince William

But here’s my big huge “WUT?!” moment of the entire film: Sam Claflin as Prince William. I mean, I’d seen him in the press junkets for the movie and his picture has been around and the stories of him being a fan of Marcus Foster were cute but there was just nothing especially stand out about Sam. I mean, he seems like a nice guy and he’s easy on the eyes and all. However, seeing him as the Eomer of the movie, riding off with his bow and arrow doing desperate things to find the girl he lost...Wow. There’s a part (and if you’ve seen the movie, you know what part I’m talking about, “Do you need a bowman?”) that just made me drop my jaw and immediately (for lack of a better term, I apologize) I was Team Prince William. That was definitely a nice surprise.

One more thing that I noticed in the movie, nobody ever referred to Kristen’s character as “Snow White” they would call her Princess or “the King’s daughter” but nobody every addressed her by name, not even her childhood friend, William. I thought that rather odd. Also, the Huntsman has no name (though in the script he is called “Eric”). I just thought that was kind of weird but not distracting from the movie.

So all in all, a good movie, decently acted, will buy the DVD because I am a fan of Kristen, but nothing to obsess over. I give the movie 3.5 out of 5 stars (If I do that sort of thing).

T's 2 cents:

I managed to see SWATH a day after Jeannie did and, after her reassuring me that she liked it, I was pretty excited for it. Granted, I've been pretty excited for this movie since seeing the trailer and getting a first glimps of the special effects.

And let me tell you, the special effects and stunning visuals just make this movie. Granted, it sure is lacking some things (i.e. explanations) and, overall, there's not enough dialogue for me but the pictures were pretty. And, as Jeannie keeps reminding me, the director of SWATH Rupert Sanders is a commercial director so he's used to catch peoples attention with visuals. (some parts also have a very Alice in Wonderland feel to it, I blame Joe Roth who's producer on both)

Overall, I have to agree with Jeannie. I enjoyed the movie, thought it was better than expected, but I wouldn't want to watch it in the cinema again. Also, in true Hollywood fashion, it left things wide open for the sequel everyone is already talking about.

One other thing that the friend I went to see it with said: This is a movie they could've done in 3D but luckily enough they didn't.

watch the trailer