User reviews

'Snow White and the Huntsman' from personal opinion was neither a good or awful film. It was visually stunning and had a terrific Charlize Theron, but suffered from a badly miscast Kristen Stewart, a clunky script and muddled story.

'Huntsman: Winter's War' was at times enjoyable, but uneven prequel/sequel. It has elements that are superior, but also some inferior elements too. The best asset is the production values. The film is very beautiful to look at, with luscious but also atmospheric photography, Gothic but also elegant and rustic set and scenery design and lavish costumes, particularly Ravenna and Freya. Most of the special effects are fine, especially the ones for the golden mirror liquid and ice. There is an exception and that was the forest beast, which had a cheaply rendered video game look and didn't mesh with the background.

Once again, James Newton Howard's score complements very well, it's beautifully orchestrated, rousing, elegiac, atmosphere-enhancing and very involving. This said, the one for 'Snow White and the Huntsman' is better and more inspired, the score here also has a few forgettable moments and doesn't really stand out among other fantasy-adventure scores and occasionally derivative. There are good performances here, Emily Blunt's sinister and moving Freya standing out. Another standout is Charlize Theron, Ravenna is far less developed (Freya is a much more interesting character here, and the only one that's developed well) and somewhat one-dimensional as a villain, but Theron makes the most of her limited screen time, bringing great energy, an at times camp edge (though mostly there is more subtlety) and menace.

Rob Brydon, Nick Frost and Sheridan Smith bring some welcome comic relief, this could have easily jarred but was actually a breath of fresh air. The final twenty minutes are thrilling, and the action is slickly edited and choreographed.

Other elements are mixed. Cedric Nicolas-Troyan's direction has solid moments and shows a mastery of visual style, more so than Rupert Sanders for 'Snow White and the Huntsman', but he isn't quite so good stopping the pace flagging or smoothing over narrative cracks. Was mixed on Chris Hemsworth and Jessica Chastain. Hemsworth does have brooding charisma and looks more comfortable, but has a tendency to slur his words and his accent sounds like three different ones constantly changing. Chastain is a great actress and does bring pathos and nuances to her character, but again her accent is unconvincing, with a mix of Scottish and Irish. Their chemistry is much stronger than Hemsworth's and Stewart in 'Snow White and the Huntsman', due to that there actually is some.

Elements here underwhelm drastically. The script is underwritten, simplistic and clunky, with many awkward parts and only properly shining with the dwarfs. The story has some exciting moments, but the pace badly flags too often with a rambling beginning, over-explanatory narration and stretches that feel meandering and muddled. Again the forest beast is poorly done, only Freya is developed well, there are continuity errors meaning that the film just doesn't fit within the storytelling and time-line of 'Snow White and the Huntsman' (while it was a good idea not having Stewart's dead-weight presence in the film, the absence of Snow White- mentioned only in passing fleetingly- does leave a gaping hole in the plot) and Sam Claflin is both underused and out of place.

All in all, uneven film with things that are both good and bad. 5.5-6/10 Bethany Cox

The cast is nice , Chris Hemsworth , Charlize Theron , Jessica Chastain and Emily Blunt are all accomplished actors and they did their roles well. The story had an obvious ending and an obvious twist but then that's not what the movie was all about. If you want to watch an action packed fantasy drama with some decent CGI effects and decent acting , well you cant discount this film . I personally found this better than the first one as the first one was tad slower and seemed to drag on a bit perhaps more so because of snow white and her frozen acting . Here the frost queen acted more fluidly . I did enjoy the CGI as well because it was not over used and the colouring of the gold with black in contrast with the ice queens blue and white went really well. In my opinion its definitely worth a watch.

Some people really need to get over themselves, judging by some of the reviews for this film. It is a fantasy based on children's stories - what the hell were they expecting, Hamlet or Henry V?

It was a fun ride with plenty of action, plenty of humour, and a great cast - Chris Hemsworth brings his usual cheery action hero to the mix, Jessica Chastain was a good addition as The Huntsman's wife, and Emily Blunt played the fragile Ice Queen wonderfully well. The Dwarfs were comic relief as always, but it worked well with fewer of them and a couple of females in the mix.

The story wasn't overcomlicated but if I want that, I'll go watch Memento. Chill out a little, folks.

The Huntsman: Winter's War is great fodder for fans of the genre; the slenderly plotted film moves along at a nice pace and the cast do a decent job with what they're given. Although it's undoubtedly a cash-grab sequel (do not believe the "before Snow White" marketing), it manages to argue its case for existing fairly well. Contractual obligations aside, Hemsworth and Theron resume their roles with great gusto, with Hemsworth arguably vastly improving on his performance in the first film. Throw in Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain and you're confronted with a pretty enviable - if surprising - cast for a film of this level.

The basic driving plot of the film is centred on Eric's (the previously anonymous Huntsman from the first outing) dubiously arranged quest to locate and return the powerful magic mirror, before it falls into the wrong (icy) hands. Accompanied by some foul-mouthed dwarfs, the scenes in the forests and fields are probably some of the better sequences in the film, if only for their tonal consistency rather than their originality. These portions of the film focus on action and comedy, and the camaraderie comes across well enough.

This quest is framed at both the start and end of the film by a strange and rather hastily delivered - yet nonetheless enjoyable - story of two sisters and a sad betrayal. Ravenna (Theron) and Freya (Blunt) are supposedly the closest of siblings who become parted by a very dark event that awakens a great power within Freya. Fleeing her sister's kingdom in a mix of despair, anger and confusion, Freya sets up home in the mysterious "North" and uses her new strength to gather children to train as her army. It is here that the two stories are tied together, with stolen children Eric and Sara (Chastain) growing to become two of her trusted Huntsmen. The scenes in the North are mostly effective and judiciously used; the muted colour palette here isn't allowed to become boring, and this mini saga is undoubtedly uplifted by Blunt's delicate performance.

If you have seen the trailers for this film and are keen to experience the full thing, go in with realistic expectations and you'll have a fun two hours; I am certain that the vast majority of prominent critics will despise this film, but it wasn't made for them. Yes, it's a patchwork production of popular elements from other sources and is generally a rather campy affair, but that's what makes it such an inoffensive and entertaining film. There is plenty to like here, if you give it a chance.

The Huntsman: Winter's War is not too unlike the first movie in one key way: it doesn't really stick too long in the consciousness once it's finished. It's not that there is a lack of quality in the craft in this (sigh) franchise - the first Snow White from 2012 got Oscar nominations for the costume design and visual effects departments, and it's easy to see why: the work put into the mirror on its own, this gold thing that can unfold in liquid on the floor is in the same ball-park as the T-1000 from decades past, and there is attention paid to all of the aesthetics in these 'kingdoms'. But with the stories, especially in the case of Winter's War, there is the sense of sensing a dearth of original plots. It's not even really a full plot in this film but plot points: this happens and then this happens and then and then and so on, and it cribs from Frozen so much that it's hard to ignore.

It's not that everything from the Disney movie is here, but when you start to describe what this story is about - two sisters in royalty are split apart when one of them (Emily Blunt this time as the sister to Charlize Theron's Wicked Queen) loses her son and takes over her kingdom... which is made of ice since she is the Ice Queen, and she decrees there can no longer be love because her love is lost, so then when two people (Hemsworth, returning as the Huntsman, and Jessica Chastain) fall in love, she splits them apart through trickery and then... it's actually not a prequel but a sequel which involves finding the mirror from the last movie (stolen/taken away, I forget which, it's explained in an exposition dump), and when a big reveal happens for Hemsworth that (spoiler! not really) Chastain is alive, they decide to go after the Ice Queen herself.

So there's a lot of plot here, a lot of twists and turns that do occur, but that main spine isn't too engaging. The Frozen element comes mostly with the Ice Queen and other characters having a love story happen where you don't expect it to (or, I should say, they *do* love each other, but things happen that makes one of them question again if it's possible and, oh, nevermind). What does still work is the humor; Nick Frost returns as one of the dwarfs from the last movie (the late Bob Hoskins is sorely missed though) along with Rob Brydon (remember him from The Trip movies), and both are spot-on with their comic timing, their deliveries, just finding the things in the scenes to naturally liven things up. Some of it's from the dialog, but a good deal of it feels improvised and when lady dwarfs get introduced into the film there's some fun stuff there as well.

All the actors are here to work, and I didn't see them exactly bored during this; Blunt does her best to give her Ice Queen Freya conviction and villainy (and, later on, some sense of true confusion and betrayal), but it's hard to go up against Theron when she owns this role once again of Ravenna. She's not on screen too long, and it feels just slightly contrived how she returns, but she makes her mark as a conniving, devilish presence with aplomb. Curiously Kirsten Stewart is out of this movie, though there are points where it feels like she *should* be in this, even as a cameo (there is one scene where technically Snow White is featured, but it's a double of course). This absence gets felt in a narrative that is all about the other characters, which is fine, except that the script lets them down with an adventure-cum-quest-cum-revenge story that feels watered down or half-baked. And there are even some moments, like with a creature that the characters come across to find the mirror, that isn't a terribly convincing special effect.

I almost feel like I need to write this so I don't forget most of the movie in a few days; it's not *bad* in the sense of it being too stupid or too illogical (though there are certainly points where you think 'yeah, that's a bad idea to, say, make that jump and hope to connect with that building even when you know and acknowledge that it's a bad idea'). If it's bad in any way it doesn't have really any artistic reason to exist aside from it being another check box for Universal studio's current Snow White universe property. To put it another way, when you have Liam Neeson narrating and delivering lines about fairy tales that felt hackneyed 60 years ago, you know there's an issue with something that should be made vs could. It's got entertaining bits but isn't worth rushing out to see unless you're a die-hard fantasy fan, and even with that there's the sense of derivation (if not from Frozen there's Game of Thrones as well).

The Huntsman: Winters War doesn't work well as a prequel to 'Snow White and the Huntsman' due to a number of anomalies pointed out by others, mainly relating to the lack of Ravenna's brother Finn in her past and the presence of a new sister. However, treat it as a separate film and it's pretty good. Chris Hemsworth plays his part well and Charlize Theron is the fairest of them all, if not the nicest. The special effects are well wrought and the adventure keeps you watching. As in the previous film, the dwarfs provide light entertainment. Enjoyable hokum and great escapism. I enjoyed it.

This film tells the story of a fierce huntsman who goes on a quest to stop the evil ice queen from getting the magical mirror that will make her invincible.

I am positively surprised by how much I enjoyed watching "The Huntsman: Winter's War". The visuals are stunningly beautiful. I find myself in awe of the marvels of the ice palace. The hairstyles and costumes of the queens, Ravenna and Freya, are super beautiful too. I was amazed by the scene where Charlize Theron has gold on her eyes, the whole image is stunning.

Seeing Emily Blunt as an emotionless icy queen is very interesting as well. After watching her in "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Sicario", I could hardly imagine her as a royally beautiful and majestic queen. Yet, she is perfect as the queen who is deeply hurt and hence deeply cruel.

I enjoyed every minute of "The Huntsman: Winter's War".

It's astounding how bad "Huntsman: Winter's War" is. From the preposterous title (it would appear that the story occurs in springtime, and that the one battle in the film is a tiny 10-person battle in a throne room) to the absolute lack of reason, sense, or skill, this coldly-received sequel to an already flawed film (Snow White & the Huntsman) is like finding a diamond in the rough in terms of bad movies. In a way it's almost good how bad it is. Almost.

The movie is narrated by Liam Neeson with empty phrases like "lands to the North" and "the Good Queen built a fortress around her heart." We meet the Evil Queen from the first movie (the absurdly over-the-top Charlize Theron who is the only fun role in the film) and her sister, Elsa -- I mean Freya, a woman who's heart was broken and uses her ice powers to turn her hair white, adopt an icy wardrobe, and reign in an ice castle on top of a mountain. Her ultimate character arc is the discovery that love can ultimately be a good thing. She didn't even have to sing "Let It Go" to figure it out.

Simultaneously we have a remake of "Braveheart" occurring, as we meet the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth reprising his titular role) and his love affair with fellow huntswoman, Sara (with an off-again on-again Scottish accent). Declaring their love for one another in a forbidden encounter, the Huntsman all but states that he "wants to raise crops and God- willing a family" with his new lover. A stroke of misfortune leads him to believe Sara is brutally murdered, and thus the war is launched. I mean the battle that takes place in the last 3 minutes of the movie.

In reality, the plot seems to be about the group of heroes (the Huntsman, some of the dwarfs from the first film (whoever wanted to come back, I guess), and some other female dwarfs) on the hunt for the Magic Mirror, hoping to find it before Evil Queen Freya reclaims it for herself. Like the ruby slippers, it's said to have dangerous powers, but I am sure as hell unaware of what those powers could be (aside from being able to judge the hotness level of women like a caddy bitch). Why this is so important is never explained, nor are any of the plot details seemingly relevant at any one point. The story is vapid, lifeless, thrown together. As I was watching this film, things kept happening, but overall nothing was occurring. I began to doubt the reasoning for this movie's existence other than an attempts for a cash grab (the original made over $400 million in sales... This one barely made $160 million against a budget of $115 million. Ouch).

If you need an example of what is wrong with the Hollywood system right now, then "Huntsman" seems to be a textbook example. From the overly-choreographed fight scenes, Lord of the Ring's-inspired mythology (which seems to be the standard for fantasy films nowadays), and the rehashing of characters both living and dead with no regard to story (how many times can Charlize Theron come back to life without absolutely flushing brain power down the toilet?), the film churns along from one predictable beat to the next, and by the time it ends it's hard to remember that there are actually decent movies made anymore. To watch "Huntsman: Winter's War" is to lobotomize a part of your brain. Movies can be art, and they can be moving, and they can be thrilling. This movie is the cinematic equivalent of expired milk.

At first, I was really excited about this movie, because they seem to take a different route, and yet, in the end, everything is the same. "Love conquers all" What a total bullshit. Go ahead. Try to live only with love. You can see that it's a total nonsense. This movie can be a great movie, and yet they decide to ruin it by focusing on the cliché love story where Love conquers all. Not only it enforces the wrong idea that our cultures have, the love story is completely boring and rushed. I thought that this movie will focus on the fight between the sisters and not the story of a pair of love birds that I already saw over and over and over again. Isn't it enough? Why can't we just stop glossing over romantic love that's just nothing but a chemical reaction in our brain? Why do we keep spewing a stupid lie in our media? Why can't we see love as it is and not try to gloss it over? What's done is done. A boring forgettable movie.

I want to say at the very beginning that at the base of this prequel/sequel is a false premise, or a logical fallacy. If one does remember the first movie, there's no way this one can be truly connected to the same story and characters. This is simply a story line that was stretched and contorted so another movie could be created with Charlize Theron as the evil queen and Chris Hemsworth as the huntsman, everything else didn't matter, the producers thought they could get some more money from the struggle between these two and the rest simply had to fit in. I knew that before I went to see this one, and I was practically ready to hate it. I didn't. And once again, the main reason is the acting. To be more precise, it's the three actresses pulling this unlikely story from start to end. Charlize Theron, once again menacing and chilling as the evil queen, with less fragility and less humanity. Which is, in my book the worst fault of this movie: if one does decide to further develop the characters of the first movie, the starting point should've been the origins of Ravena's hate for all men, and of human emotions. The creative team didn't go this way, this in fact made Ravena a two dimensional cartoon. Only Charlize Theron brilliance manages to make her somewhat relatable. Then there's Jessica Chastain as Sara with a performance filled with subtleties and nuances, managing to look like a fierce warrior and still make us feel she has a beating heart in her chest. But both Jessica Chastain and Charlize Theron pale in front of the real standout performance of this film, that's the one of Emily Blunt. The truth is, she does have the best written role in the film, and she carries it and in fact the entire movie all the way through. If only they could do the same for Charlize Theron, this could've been a real something to see. But even as is, the movie is surprisingly engaging and entertaining.

Good movie for what it is. It had more humour than the original. Hemsworth is a cheeky gorgeous actor and Charlize Theron chews up the scenery nicely. Jessica Chastain is a good actress although I don't find her particularly engaging in this role. I liked Emily Blunt's understated performance, she was quite compelling. The best actress was the lusty female dwarf with the bad ass lines - she added real spark. Overall I missed Kristin Stewart and wish she could have played Chastain's role. I thought she and Hemsworth had better chemistry.

I thought Snow White And The Huntsman was serviceable at best with some nice visual effects and a good villain role by Charlize Theron. Naturally, I would probably not be interested in a sequel.

But as I am usually a sucker for fantasy and I was intrigued by the trailer and who was cast, I thought I would give it a chance.

I was going in with low expectations and felt pretty satisfied with what I saw. It is better and more enjoyable than its predecessor

The best things about it are definitely the costume designs and visual effects. You can tell hard work has been made with the costumes, especially for our main female characters. They are impressive to look at and definitely fit in with the magical kingdom that it is set in. Whilst admiring the costumes, the visuals around it fits in well and the general viewing experience is a highly positive one for the eyes.

Even the performances managed to boost my enjoyment. As I mentioned before, the casting choices for this film heavily influenced me in giving this a chance. Everyone involved I consider to be reliable choices that seem to make any potentially disappointing film worth watching. Chris Hemsworth continues to play the hero role well as The Huntsman. His fun and smiley presence makes it easy to root for him. I was really surprised to hear Jessica Chastain was a part of this and this seemed outside of her comfort zone. As a supportive role to Hemsworth, I thought she was perfectly fine on the whole, despite her questionable Scottish accent. Emily Blunt played the leading villain role well. I have been fond of Blunt's recent performances, especially in Edge Of Tomorrow. She was believable, threatening and even showed enough of a vulnerable side for us to also feel sympathy for her character. Charlize Theron is back as Ravenna, and is great as always. She constantly looks terrifying whenever she's on screen whilst also looking very attractive. There was also some solid minor roles by Nick Frost, Rob Brydon, Sheridan Smith, Sam Caflin and a nice surprise to see Colin Morgan on the big screen.

The only negative that was noticeable was the comedy used. It seemed out of place at first but managed to slowly fit in as the film went along.

Despite questioning the reasoning into a sequel being made, I was perfectly fine with the mash-up of the two fairy tales 'Snow White' and 'The Snow Queen' to give this sequel some logic as to why it is being made. Whilst giving this a lot of positives, it is mainly due to going into the film with low expectations. The best stuff is just not strong enough and the content does not bring anything new to the genre. It is lovely to look at, and the performances keep the film moving. If you look like the fantasy genre, then this will be a fine couple of hours.

I saw the first part and liked Charlize Theron as Ravenna and Chris Hemsworth as Huntsman Eric, but overall I was not too impressed by it.

This prequel/sequel takes what I liked about the first film and removed most of what I disliked to make a decent if not particularly special fantasy action adventure.

We learn about the Huntsman's background and his wife, Sarah, who was mentioned in the first film. Also, we find out Ravenna has a sister, Freya, played by Emily Blunt. Charlize Theron delightfully plays it up as evil Queen Ravenna again, and I am a little disappointed that she did not get more screen time. The first scene with Ravenna playing chess with her royal husband is the best scene in the film. Then she disappears for half the movie. Also, I wish she would have had more scenes with her sister to show more of their relationship. I don't remember if Ravenna had a sister in the first film, but even if she did, we knew nothing about her.

There is a creative interpretation of goblins in this film, which I will not give away. The visuals are overall pleasing to the eye, especially the climax has some beautiful visual effects. I enjoyed it a lot more than the previous film's awkward fight in the end. That said, the fight scenes are shot with much too many cuts for a 3D audience, a common problem with films wanting to cash in on the 3D feature but putting no thought into how a film has to be shot differently from 2D for a 3D audience. There is a scene with CGI animals akin to what we saw in the first film, which went too over the top for my taste (and the animals don't look too convincing - you can see they are CGI).

The plot is very straight forward but apart from the common problem RPG pen & paper groups have, namely that not everybody has a reason to join the adventure, it was fine. Seriously, the dwarf characters were obviously there for comic relief but they added little to nothing to the plot and I did not understand why they accompanied the Huntsman in the first place.

The resolution comes too quickly in my opinion, it would have been better to linger more on the consequences of the second turning point. It feels rushed and doesn't explore the feelings of our characters very much, going rather straight to the action.

One thing the film does very well is including female characters as something other than decoration. There is a 50:50 gender split when it comes to the main characters (didn't catch if it was the same with extras, sorry) and the female characters have a purpose and motivation without being sexualised or treated as eye candy. This is something severely lacking in most fantasy films, so I want to compliment the film makers for doing a good job on that front. Well done!

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10. Enjoyable, decent fantasy flick, but nothing special. I would not necessarily watch it again, but also wouldn't be opposed if someone else wanted me to watch it with them.

It was watching colour by numbers. Formulaic dialogue. Formulaic plot. Absolutely nothing interesting about the story line. It wasn't unpleasant, but nothing about it makes me want to recommend it.

I don't know why people complain about this one. I went in expecting a fantasy romp with beautiful but evil queens ... and that's exactly what I got! In spades! The other thing that stood out is that the actors are all top shelf. For guys like me, seeing *three* of the most gorgeous actresses appear together (Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron, Jessica Chastain) in a movie is a feast for the eyes. And they all can act! The supporting cast is great (bunch of awesome British guys) as well. The dialog is light- hearted and the love story believable. On top of all this, the story is pretty linear and makes sense. (In a fairy tale-way, of course, but what do you expect?) Most surprisingly, I did feel emotionally attached to the characters. Each had clear motivations and I felt for their plight. Lovers get separated then reunited, a mother loses a child and something snaps inside her, an evil queen wants revenge and power.

Overall, I can only recommend this movie. You won't get bored for a second and might even get emotional by the end.

A sequel to Snow White and The Huntsman a film that I enjoyed, although I missed Kirsten Stewart Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt and the always fantastic Charlize Theron more than make up for her loss.

Hemsworth (awful Scottish accent aside) continues to make a great hero in this sword and sorcery romp through fairy-tale lands, there's comedy relief from Rob Brydon and Nick Frost reprising their roles as two of the 7 dwarfs ably supported by an absolutely fantastic Sheridan Smith.

The CGI was passable and the story drives along at a fair old lick, there's action, romance, a capable hero, his equally able female partner, deliciously evil queens and scary monsters, what more could you want from a fantasy film..?

The Huntsman: Winter's war is much worse movie, than Snow White and Huntsman was. Even it is beautifully set the story is quite empty. With it's dryish slap stick humor in it is mostly repellent and lame. It's supposed to be prequel movie to Snow White and Huntsman story, but you can hardly find any reference mark to first movie. Charlize Theron as evil queen is great, but she has regrettable too less of the screen time in this movie. Shaking shooting in some action scenes makes it hard to follow, which is unlucky to story telling. And those 3D glasses wont even make it easier to follow. Even the movie is quite visually beautiful, some of the monsters looks stupidly animated. Maybe most of the movie budget has spent to hire famous actors. In many times set feels like theater like set and doesn't feel very realistic. You may say, that it is a fairy tale and it shouldn't be realistic. But with this budget it should. Movie has flopped quite badly at movie theatres (even I Was with my husband alone in this screening) and it is not a worth of a movie ticket. I believe you will find this movie from Netflix quite soon, so maybe it is better to wit to see from there. At least you can pause it as many times you want to visit refrigerator. Even 3D won't give to you extra reason to see it in movies.