Snow White and the Huntsman made for a good palate cleanser
between my third (and hardly final) viewing of Avengers. It had some things going for it that propelled it above the generic action/fantasy
movie crowd, but its weaker elements did everything in their power to drag it
back down again. Also, I’m going to be referring to it as “SWATH” from this
point forward, because come on, awesome acronym much?
SWATH was strongest when it stuck to its fairy tale roots.
At times it managed to capture, or at least allude to, the eerie beauty and
brutality of the old stories as imagined by the Grimm brothers. But then the characters
got thrown into a bunch of fight scenes, and then Chris Hemsworth was Thor with
an axe.
THERON! OPEN THE BIFROST!
One thing the movie excelled at was the visuals. Although
leaning pretty heavily on a dull brown palette at times, the sweeping wide
shots and artistic cinematography made this absolutely stunning to look at, and
that carried the film more than anything else at times. The set, costume, and
creature design were all very unique and gave the movie its own individual
flavor.
Yet for all that prettiness, the story is often less than
attractive. People do or say things merely because the plot needs them
to happen, and the uninspired dialog and generic action sequences make some of
the scenes drag on. Although they have their quirks, most of the characters
that populate this tale don’t bring anything new to the table. Much of the
dialog tries to hit certain emotional chords, but only succeeds a fraction
of the time. Sometimes it’s enough to get you to care about the characters, but
just as often it’s like watching the script ape out the action with a bunch of paper hand-puppets. In the end their attempts are enough to keep the emotional context of the film afloat, but
only barely.
As a feminist reboot of what is possibly Grimm's most vacuous princess,
it could have done better. Sure, Snow is running around in full armor lopping off heads for the last ten minutes of the movie, but she still manages to play a surprisingly passive role. She spends most of the
movie either languishing in prison, being lead around by a series of sweaty, leather-clad
dudes, or passed out on a stone slab somewhere. The evil queen, on the other
hand, does everything in her power to take down her pale, broody nemesis.
And while I’m happy to see any female character play an active, enterprising
role, it would have been nice to see those same qualities in the character we’re
actually supposed to sympathize with.
New life goal: own those pauldrons and wear them daily.
I was happy to see that the film didn’t turn Snow into a
surly emotionless shell in order to make her seem less feminine, which
moviemakers seem to think is equivalent to a “strong female character” (because
strong women shouldn’t remotely act like women at all!). Kristen Stewart did a good
job, although she layered on the angst a little thicker than I would have
liked. The part might have done better with more charisma and less heavy-lidded
brooding. She really shines in the scenes where she gets to yell or gasp or
snarl or do anything with her face that doesn't look like she’s suffering from
indigestion. Another bonus would be if Kristen got more
scenes with Charlize Theron, to capitalize on the chemistry they share in the various interviews. I really
want Stewart to do well, because she seems like a nice person and has some talent as
an actress; so although unspectacular, this role will be good for helping her
move away from the drunken irremovable tramp-stamp that is the Twilight
franchise.
Of course, Charlize Theron steals the show in her role as the evil queen with a
performance that is equal parts terrifying and deliciously campy. She swings wildly between murderous and pitiful, selling both sides of her
character equally well and then reconciling them into the kind of jealous
insanity that this kind of fairy tale villain demands. The fact that she had a
lot of fun with it definitely comes through.
Woah, looks like we've got a badass he—no, I can't even be sarcastic under the force of that glare.
Chris Hemsworth is, well, Chris Hemsworth. With his help, a
character that would otherwise be fairly uninteresting becomes likeable and
sympathetic; he also manages to fully capture the emotional spectrum from
belligerent drunk to mourning widower. Also, Irish accent.
Ahem.
All in all, SWATH wasn’t bad: it was fresh and insightful as often as it was misdirected, but in the end it's a tentative success. Also, DEFINITELY give Breath of Life a listen.
http://www.mtv.com/movies/photos/s/swath_trailer1/snow_white_hemsworth2.jpg
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/snow-white-huntsman-still10.jpg
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