Snow White and the Huntsman

It began with posters in my local cinema. Kristen Stewart standing in a dark approximation of the Disney princess's iconic gown or creeping through a Grimm-esque forest; the beautiful Chris Hemsworth performing that rugged smolder he seems to have been born with--compelling images all, and sprinkled innocuously enough to whet my appetite without my fully being aware of it. Insidious and worthy of my reluctant respect. I admit that my gut reaction to any cast member of the unfortunate Twilight franchise is a mix a pity and amusement; nevertheless, I thought casting the homely Stewart as "fairest of them all" an interesting choice and was curious to see how she would fare in what I believed would be a gritty retelling of Snow White and her Seven Dwarfs. Charleze Theron as the Queen and Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman, while not obvious choices, fell well within the realm of the expected. I was unsurprised, but still excited to see how everything would come together. How honest to the Grimm's tale would this film be? As television ads grew more frequent, my anticipation grew. In retrospect, I must tip my hat off to whomever managed the advertising for the film. I, with all my skepticism and practiced pessimism, did not realize I was being reeled in. Snow White and the Huntsman would usually have been the textbook image of the sort of teenie bopper, "edgy" fairy tale retelling I avoid on principal. But it was handled with just the right amount of gravitas, important while still realizing what it was, and I found I could not help myself.

Dear Kirsten Stewart, please pick an eye color
Credit: Hollywood Reporter

The film began with a voice over by Hemsworth, following in the footsteps of the "Once upon a time" tradition. I note with some amusement that the writers of Snow White and the Huntsman were obviously aware of the original Grimm's tale--their introduction proves it; they merely chose to ignore it. Once the film was over, I was left with the vague inclination that something had just happened, perhaps a film. This is not to say that Snow White and the Huntsman was a horrible film. On the contrary it was fine. But I find that even now as I reach back for details there is not much to sift through. Honestly, I thought I would have more to say about this film than I do, but it was a very "blah" film. Visually, it was stunning. The landscapes, from dark forest to light (called the Sanctuary in the film), and the creatures that inhabited them, faeries and trolls, were beautifully rendered. The cinematography was properly epic in scope and the notable landmarks properly dark and dirty. Charleze Theron was fiercely beautiful, as expected and Kristen Stewart was a pleasant surprise as the beautiful princess. She was, in fact, beautiful. Everything was beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. But my impressions from here grow less distinct.

I recall enough to be able to say I found Hemsworth a treat. Theron occasionally skirted the overacting line, but on the whole was wonderful to watch and listen to. Stewart surprised me with a monolouge before the final battle, that may or may not have been accidentally brilliant. I think she sounded quite daft as she delivered it and if that was an intentional choice... then it would seem I have gravely underestimated her. Of course her being virtually monosyllabic throughout the entirety of the film until that point did lend to the shock factor.

The "prince" was a non character and dwarfs even more so. But I did enjoy all of the folk tale references the film made. From the prince being named William and being an archer (see William Tell) to the Fae stag. Yes, this movie gave nominal winks to an awful lot of folklore; that might be why it seems to be such an amorphous blob in my memory. There was simply too much it was trying to do and consequently the story itself was compromised. The dialogue did little to help the situation. While not falling to the level of James Cameron's Avatar and "unobtainium,"

Snow White and the Huntsman's dialogue was not exactly delightfully witty or particularly well written. Snow White's final and only speech, while full of feelings, did not make any particular sort of sense and William's ruse to sneak into an enemy band of mercenaries was punctuated by the unfortunate waste of a perfectly set up comedic/bad-ass moment, to name a few offenses.

Snow White and the Huntsman is what I now call a "Mini- Epic." Not Lord of the Rings, but still a tale that follows the coming of age or growth of a "chosen" savior figure. The most interesting aspect of this film was not the savior- hero dynamic--that remained as tried and true as ever--rather it was the fact that these typically male roles were filled by women right down to the hero led siege/ battle and the "We are not so different, you and I" tactic often employed by the villain. The movie was surprisingly un-gender biased and that was refreshing. But as a film that forced my friend to ask, "Continuity, what is it?" and brought me to helplessly reply, "Not a thing that happens in movies," Snow White and the Huntsman still falls short of perfection.

Long story short, she gets a solid B from me.
 
This review will appear as a comment in my "Let's go to the movies" section.