The Huntsman: Winter's War

Cedric Nicolas-Troyan’s The Huntsman: Winter’s War is proof that not only did Universal Pictures have a Frozen phase, but also they haven’t gotten over it yet, colliding the evil queen from the Brothers Grimm fairytale of Snow White with the Snow Queen from Hans Christian Anderson’s book of the same name. Produced by Joe Roth, the same producer of Robert Stromberg’s Maleficent (2014), which rewrote Disney’s greatest and simplest of villains (whose name means evil) into a good guy in a film with uncanny similarities to the themes and plot of Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck’s Frozen (2013). Are we sensing a pattern?

Chris Hemsworth gives a good performance of a charming and likeable hero, having understandably progressed from the contrasting representation of the character’s outlook and emotional state in the first film. Right from the beginning, the writing (and Hemsworth’s performance) portrays the character in this way, such as through his building rapport with children and his sense of humour interacting with other characters. That and his voice is deep and relaxing.

Introduced to the sequel/prequel is Jessica Chastain as Sara, Eric’s fellow Huntress and presumed-dead wife. Chastain portrays a confident, even cocky heroine, but it is notable how she conveys her character contrasting between early in the film and later. At first, she and Eric seem head-over-heels in love, but later on she has a bitterer and perhaps even traumatized outlook, but maintaining chemistry with Hemsworth’s character as their romantic arc goes on.

Emily Blunt plays as Freya, “the Ice Queen” (although she’s still supposed to be the Snow Queen). All future criticisms about the character aside, Blunt gives a fantastic performance as a cold, frighteningly steely yet sympathetic villain with moments of mother-like gentleness. She conveys the character’s mood following her tragic past so well throughout the picture.

Freya’s goal in this film is much the same as Ravenna’s in the first film: to take over the world one kingdom at a time. Her motivation is a little questionable though. She loses her baby in the first act, so she raises an army of warriors from childhood and refers to them as her children, which gives the audience a sense of her psychology that lends itself to the character’s sympathetic aspects. However, it doesn’t necessarily explain why she defected from her sister’s empire to start her own.

Of the seven dwarves from Snow White and the Huntsman, only one, Nion (Nick Frost), returns, accompanied by Gryff (Rob Bryton) and later by female dwarves Mrs. Bromwyn (Sheridan Smith) and Doreena (Alexandra Roach). Nion and Doreena’s minimalist but admittedly pleasant romance, contrasted by Gryff and Bromwyn’s humorous distain for one another, also contrasts to Eric and Sara’s marital problems.

Also returning to the sequel is the evil queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron). Her character in The Huntsman is a little different from when in Snow White and the Huntsman. Charlize Theron’s conveyance of angry outbursts in the first film was a bit hammy, but that was part of the charm of her portraying an evil queen gone mad with power. It certainly wasn’t a bad performance, as she appeared creepy, composed and at times sympathetic. In The Huntsman, she seems just as powerful and ruthless, but her outbursts, if any, aren’t as enjoyably over-the-top or intense. Her motivation seems less with being the fairest of them all or living forever – since she seems to have these bases covered with her glamorous design and ghost-like being – but rather to assume and maintain political power. With that, added to her new particular powers, Ravenna somewhat feels like a comic book movie supervillain.

It’s hard not to be reminded of other films while looking at the visual design, particularly surrounding the Ice Queen Freya. To its credit, it does show that she has victims encased in ice, like in Anderson’s book, although it is ultimately not as terrifyingly consequential. Her icy throne room looks somewhat similar to that of the White Witch from Andrew Adamson’s film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), but, to be fair, with a more beautiful look and serene feel to it. She also rides what looks like a white bear (or a warg from Lord of the Rings) reminiscent of the polar bears that pulled the White Witch’s chariot at the end of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. And then there are Freya’s ice powers. Like Elsa from Frozen, they don’t make a lot of sense; for example, her ability to use ice to create vivid illusions, and her power to create and see through the eyes of sentient owls made of snow.

An addition to the setting of this fictional world is the short buildup to and appearance of goblins at a point during the journey. The goblins are given a design that is good and original. One asks, however, if goblins can evidently craft arrows and armour out of gold, why they never use them in their attack on the heroes.

The storytelling is fairly done. Whereas the first film was based on an existing story, the setup and structure of the sequel – two warriors and a group of dwarves encountering goblins with tar for blood to find a golden magic mirror and stop a queen/witch – makes the story feel like a fairytale in its own right.

The story takes on several romantic subplots, but one feels there is one romantic story that has been left out. The end of the first film implied that the Huntsman was Snow White’s true love (or that he loved her), as it was his kiss that revived her, but they may not have ended up together due their difference in social status. Eric’s initial motivation for taking up his task in The Huntsman seems to be a personal need to protect Snow White. It’s a pity that Kristen Stewart didn’t return to reprise her role as Snow White, in no small part for her portrayal of the character in the first film, but also because it could have made for an interesting love triangle: a grieving widower loves a woman he cannot be with – a woman who reminds him of his wife – but is challenged by the return of said wife, who turns out to be alive.

A peev one might have is the film’s attempt to sequel bait the Huntsman for a third film, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though if the first film should have a closed ending, it should stand to reason that the sequel should be able to do the same without suggesting a continuation.

The Huntsman: Winter’s War, like Snow White and the Huntsman, is not a perfect film, and it leaves some questions in the subtext unanswered, but it has an atmosphere and charm to it that keeps its audience interested. Its actors give such good performances and the film is in no sense short on humour; between Eric’s charm, the romantic subplots and the four bickering dwarves, the film is quite uplifting to sit through. Said qualities, however, do not to detract from the dark tones from the film’s predecessor, keeping tonal and visual consistency between the two films. Its action scenes are energetic, having tension where needed, and the visual design is very beautiful. It has some sentimentality to its context, though this is not necessarily out of place. Overall, The Huntsman: Winter’s War is a welcome experience – great for casual viewership.