By Bernie ‘The Movie Guy’ Ment
Love is a weakness to be overcome or else it will doom you. No, Wait. Love conquers all. Or does it? This movie tries very hard to balance itself on both of these ideals and it balances them fairly well.
This movie is part prequel and part sequel to the hit movie “Snow White and the Huntsman” which did very well in theaters back in 2012. Gone this time, though, is the one-note actress Kristen Stewart who mopes very well, but can’t seem to conjure up any emotions other than angst.
This time, the story revolves around the failing relationship between morally twisted queen sisters Ravenna (who the Huntsman does-in during the events of the first movie) and Freya, whose intentions are twisted when her child is murdered during the prequel portion of the unfolding events.
Turning into an Ice Queen, Freya establishes her own realm which triumphs in the wake of her sister’s demise even during the rise of Snow White’s reign to the south.
In Freya’s kingdom, all love is forbidden which creates a very interesting quandary for young huntsman Eric (Chris Hemsworth of mighty “Thor” fame) and his beloved Sara (Jessica Chastain).
Despite being two of her best warriors, Freya tries her best to separate the two star-crossed lovers and in the process, imprisons Sara and banishes Eric to the adventures he will experience in the Snow White installment.
The action segues to a point seven years later when Eric once again encounters Sara and a terrible truth about the events of that fateful day years earlier. All was not as he had assumed for either of them and a rift has been formed in their feelings for one another.
Eric has been sent to recover the evil mirror that lent its power to Ravenna in her quest to conquer Snow White. It is Freya’s desire for the mirror that prompts strong concerns about the reflective object’s future.
Along for the ride are one of the seven dwarves from the first movie, Nion (Nick Frost, who often stars opposite his good buddy Simon Pegg in their raucous adventure movies) and his brother Gryff (Rob Brydon) who is none too happy to be part of this gregarious group.
Eventually joining this motley crew are two dwarf women, Mrs. Bromwyn (Sheridan Smith) and her handmaiden and friend Doreena (Alexandra Roach) the former of which is a shrewd mercenary treasure seeker who packs a hard bargain with her taller castmates.
As you can imagine, the group will eventually pair up with different levels of sexual attraction and tension building between them. Of course Freya and her feelings about the forbidden emotion will play a strong part in her efforts to drive our heroes apart.
Chris Hemsworth is really relishing his days as an action hero. You can just feel him chewing the scenery here and he and Jessica Chastain are a good chemical fit as the two heroes of the story.
Charlize Theron’s presence can be felt even in the scenes where she doesn’t appear. However the A-list actress has what barely amounts to more than an extended cameo, appearing for about 15 minutes total for the entire length of this nearly two-hour movie.
Those 15 minutes, though, are all she really needs to remind us of just how malevolent her character is and we can almost yearn that her demise could have been truly final in the closing moments of the first movie.
The unenviable task of playing her sister, though, falls to actress Emily Blunt, and she is more than up to the task. Rather than bask in Theron’s shadow, she stretches forth with a portrayal that truly makes this installment hers for the taking.
But despite excellent acting, the melodrama truly sets the tone of this story and unfortunately also makes it horribly predictable. That, I suspect, is the reason that it was kept from a summer time slot and instead relegated to a late April opening and a certain disappearing act in short order to make way for the summer explosion-fests.
I however enjoyed this movie thoroughly and hope that the produces are inclined to make a third installment. I give “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” four out of five stars.
