Lips, red as blood. Hair black as night. Bring me your heart my dear, dear Snow White....
Movie review By
Kristie Drennin Haigwood
Author of "Save My Soul" & her soon to be released "Forbidden Touch"
Justice for this
classic? I think so.
*Warning:
Spoilers Ahead*
I really wanted
to give Snow White and the Huntsman 5 stars. There were a few things that kept
me from it. There were a couple different scenes that I felt were unfinished,
as if more should have been added to them, or that there were missing scenes
altogether.
The effects are spectacular, truly mesmerizing at times. The
costumes were immaculate and I could tell they were very well thought out. The
battle scenes lacked... well, a lot. Most of them seemed to be too brief, and a
few appeared to lack common sense.
I had hoped that
Kristen Stewart (Snow White) would have done a better job of playing her part.
"Skin white as snow, lips red as roses, hair
black as a raven's wing..." While very pretty, and having no problem looking the
part of Snow, Stewart seems lazy or overconfident in her role. Her performance
gets a 3 star from me.
The movie brings
to life the classic fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but in a
dark, twisted way, I might add. After the death of Snow White's (Kristen
Stewart) mother, her father discovers a slave woman, dirty and locked in
chains, in a carriage. With beauty beyond measure, Ravenna (Charlize Theron) - who gets 5 stars
from me - takes his breath away, steals his heart, and within a day agrees to
be his Queen. On their wedding night, Ravenna
declares that her heart has been broken by a King before, and no other will
ever get the chance to do it again. She stabs him to his death.
Now, the Queen
for 10 years, Ravenna
has everything, including a magic mirror that could possibly answer any
question she could think to ask it. But her one nervous question, asked often,
is this, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is fairest of them all?" For
she would destroy any and all maidens who's beauty surpasses her own. To keep
her flawless, un-aging body, she has to suck the youth and innocence from young
girls like I would imagine a succubus or demon would.
One day the
mirror tells Ravenna
that Snow White's beauty will soon pass her own. So she sends her devoted
brother to the towers where Snow White had been imprisoned since her father's
death, leaving everyone in the kingdom to think that she was also dead.
Cleverly, Snow
White escapes and runs into the Dark
Forest. The dangers that
await her there are extreme, but not worth going back to face her evil
step-mother that will surely rip out her heart to gain immortality and beauty
forever.
Ravenna offers to bring back to life the dead
wife of the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) - who also gets 5 stars from me - if he
can bring Snow back to her. He reluctantly agrees, but after finding Snow he
listens to her pleas that the Queen is lying, and she will give him no such
reward.
The Huntsman
fights to save her from the Queen's brother and the dangers of the forest. And
just when you think they will be safe, something threatens their lives again.
They meet up with 8 dwarfs who try to help her, too. But the Queen seems to
always be one step ahead. Ravenna
uses a spell to transform herself to look like a close childhood friend of
Snow's. The Queen in disguise offers her a bright red, poisonous apple, and
after only one bite, it sends Snow to her death.
All her friends
grieve the loss of Snow White. Her childhood friend, William (Sam Claflin)
kisses her goodbye, then leaves her alone in the room with the Huntsman. The
Huntsman then begins to confess his undying love to Snow and admits to having
two loves in his life and failing them both. He kisses her goodbye and leaves
the room she is in.
Snow opens her
eyes, walks out to the crowd and plots to take back over the kingdom and kill
the Queen.
The
Queen finally falls to her own death by the hand of Snow White, but only after
the death of quite a few people along the way. The kingdom and the land are
restored to harmony, and the evil is lifted from the land.
Kristie Haigwood
Author of: Save My Soul & Forbidden Touch
Movie Plot
Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is the princess of Tabor, daughter of King Magnus (Noah Huntley) and Queen Eleanor (Liberty Ross). After his wife's death, King Magnus falls in love with the beautiful Ravenna (Charlize Theron) after rescuing her from the Dark Army, a fleet of invincible glass soldiers who have enslaved several of the neighboring kingdoms. The two are married but Ravenna - who is in fact a powerful sorceress and the Dark Army's master - kills Magnus on their wedding night after claiming that men like the King exploit the beauty of women and discard them. As Ravenna seizes control of the kingdom, Magnus' most trusted knight, Duke Hammond (Vincent Regan), attempts to help Snow White escape the Castle, but fails, and she is captured by Ravenna's brother and enforcer Finn (Sam Spruell). Snow White is then locked away in a small cell in the Northern Tower.Over the next several years, Ravenna uses the Magic Mirror (Christopher Obi Ogugua) to capture all the women whose beauty might surpass her own and drain their youth, in order to maintain a spell once cast by her mother, which allows her to use her beauty as a weapon as long as she is "the fairest of them all". Tabor meanwhile is left in ruins under her rule and Ravenna's abuse of magic results in her stolen beauty fading.
Fifteen years later, Ravenna learns from the Mirror that a now-grown up Snow White is destined to surpass her and that she must consume the young girl's heart in order to become immortal. She orders Finn to bring her Snow White but she escapes and is chased into the Dark Forest, where the Ravenna's forces ultimately lose her trail. Powerless in the Dark Forest, Ravenna locates Eric, the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), a drunken widower who survived a hunting expedition to the Dark Forest sometime before, and orders him to lead Finn and his men in pursuit of Snow White. In exchange she promises to revive his deceased wife Sarah...
Main Cast
- Kristen Stewart as Snow White.
- Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna.
- Chris Hemsworth as Eric, the Huntsman.
Readers comments welcome.
I really enjoyed this take on Snow White and the Huntsman. The cinematography is amazing. When Snow White enters the Enchanted Forrest, my eyes watered at the beauty, especially after seeing the horror of the Dark Forrest.
ReplyDeleteThe cast rocked. Kristen Stewart, with her dark hair and pale skin, made a beautiful Snow White. It was great to see her in an action film. Charlize Theron played the Evil Stepmother so well. She was terrifying but somewhat vulnerable. A perfect villain. And Chris Hemsworth...well, besides being easy on the eyes, there was never a moment I felt like he was acting. He was The Hunter, body and soul.
Great Review!
Thanks for leaving your review Kristin. Patti :)
DeleteI agree with your review! Except the title should have been The Huntsman and Snow White, LOL. For me Chris Hemsworth totally stole that movie right out from under Kristen Stewart. It was a fabulous take on Snow White and I agree, I will watch it again and again when it comes out.
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