Wayhomer Review #121: Snow White and the HuntsmanBy Widge - posted 06.02.12 @ 5:02 pm
Episode #121 for Snow White and the Huntsman, in which our protagonist bemoans the fact that a well-placed cast can't save everything, bemoans the fact that you really shouldn't inflate your running time to show off your art design, and really thinks it's a bad idea to remind people there are fantasy movies out there better constructed than yours. Direct link for the feedreaders. Downloadable iPod version here. Want to subscribe to our Wayhomers as a video podcast? Here's your link. Want to subscribe to all our video podcasts in one fell swoop? Here's your link. Special thanks to PhantomV48 for the closing animation. Read More About:
Chris Hemsworth • Ian McShane • Movies • Nick Frost • Ray Winstone • Reviews • Snow White • Toby Jones
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A Mob Numbering 12
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Man you were pretty spot on Widge. They should have used the space in the movie from the LOTR shots to add more depth to there characters. It definitely felt like there was one really good writer out of the 3 that created good bits. Unfortunately that did not include Snow White/Kristen Stewart's rallying speech. It felt like at 2-3 separate tones going on. One that didn't embrace magic and one that did. It just made the film feel very disjointed.
Maybe they could have used some of the art direction budget to hire more extras for the Duke's Army at the end. It felt like with the catapult and arrow barrages there should be only 3 people left to finish storming the gate.
Comment by Dan Donald — June 2, 2012 @ 9:05 pm
2.Dan: Stewart isn't a bad actress, but she doesn't have the experience necessary to sell a speech as flat as that one. And agreed on the final assault being a bit weird from a body count point of view.
Comment by Widge — June 3, 2012 @ 3:48 pm
3.Dan, I had the same feeling; as if there were two stories.
The first was full of gritty realism, where the princess escapes to the Duke's castle and rallies to army to throw out the usurper. In the end, she wins the heart of the duke's son.
The second story had a magic horse, where the nature princess reaches the greenworld and uses her life-sustaining powers to combat the evil queen's life draining ones. This story had the Huntsman and the dwarves and an awesome troll.
Unfortunately, in this battle between narratives, gritty realism won,and the fairy world seemed to disappear without a trace.
Comment by Christopher Walker — June 4, 2012 @ 9:20 am
4.Christopher: I think they blew their fairy budget and couldn't afford to have the fairies riding mossy tortoises into battle.
Comment by Widge — June 4, 2012 @ 12:35 pm
5.What I felt was really out of place was when she prayed "Our Father". Who was she praying to? The deer that turned into butterflies?
Comment by Josue — June 4, 2012 @ 7:38 pm
6.Josue: Ha! Nice.
Comment by Widge — June 4, 2012 @ 10:30 pm
7.i agree Josue the Lord's Prayer seemed very incongruous with the theme or premise of the film.
Comment by Dan Donald — June 4, 2012 @ 11:22 pm
8.I agree with the video, but disagree with your comment that Stewart is a bad actress. I was willing to give her a chance in this film, but paying to see it helped explain why Charlize Theron had 90% of the trailer screen time and the remaining 10% was divided between silent scenery of Stewart and Hemsworth. 1.) Their accents were waning in and out 2.) no amount of experience could give Stewart what it takes to tackle a character with THAT much dynamic (Snow White as the sweet teenaged Joan d'Arc savior). Most of her scenes were blips of hard breathing and doe-eyed gazing. I remember a particular scene in the Forbidden Forest where she was supposed look frightened, but Stewart looked more annoyed at the thought of having to tread the swamp. Not once did she say anything clever or intriguing which would make the audience more interested in her character development. In fairness, her lack of character development is the writers' fault more than anything. For once I agree with Ayn Rand that sometimes one mind (and often a genius) is better than 2, or in our case, 3 minds.
And am I the only one pissed off about the troll? So Thor, erhm I mean the Huntsman wielding an ax is less frightening than a teenaged girl who's been locked up in a tower most of her life? Don't even get me started on how absurd it is that she runs from bad guys for 80% of the movie, but manages to be Xena in the last 20%.
Comment by Mad I Wasted my Money — June 7, 2012 @ 5:29 pm
9.Mad: I don't know that she's a bad actress--hell, you're more critical of her in your comment than I think I was in the video. :-) Anyway, you're dead on target. The one moment she has to actually do something besides just stand around--her Let's Go Kick Some Ass Speech--is flat. But it wasn't well written, so you'd need somebody with serious chops to make a silk purse out of that sow's ear. As I point out constantly: who came out of the Prequel Trilogy smelling like roses? Christopher Lee, Liam Neeson and Ray Park primarily. Who didn't need a director? Lee and Neeson. Who basically directed his own big scene? Park. People who needed direction: Lloyd, Hayden, Portman (at the time), fell flat. So yeah, maybe not a bad actress but needs a lot more experience. Thanks for the comment.
Comment by Widge — June 7, 2012 @ 7:03 pm
10.Um...my wife will drag me to this at some point. If I get to see Charlize Theron covered in, well, whatever that white chocolatey-looking stuff is, I'll go home with my glass half-full.
Comment by B. Smith — June 8, 2012 @ 8:40 am
11.I had no idea Kristen Stewart was in the movie. I never saw her in the trailer. When she appeared on screen i was like "shit not her!!" I tried to keep an open mind but she delivered what I expected of her. The same unemotional, blank, frigged, unconnecting acting she gives in all her roles. She needs to really polish her acting skills. Now Charlize Theron there's an actress. She was really great, so believable.
Comment by Ebz — June 9, 2012 @ 10:05 pm
12.Ebz: Yes, Theron grounded would could have been an insane role and only turned the dial to 11 on occasion. Would have been very easy to make the character a cartoon villain. Between this and Prometheus, she's got a really good showing for the year, IMO. Thanks for the comment.
Comment by Widge — June 9, 2012 @ 10:15 pm