Snow White And The Huntsman

Snow White and The Huntsman is the latest version of the fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm. This is director Rupert Sanders debut feature length film and boy does it show. Uneven acting, a pace that rarely gets above a crawl and a confused script suggest this might have been too much for him to handle. A two hour plus running time also suggests that he wasn’t getting much help from elsewhere or, if he was, he just chose to ignore it. The storyline is fairly standard stuff with Snow White (Kristen Stewart), Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) and Eric (Eric?!) The Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) getting up to the usual stuff in fantasy films of this nature. The fact that many well known actors were offered the role of the Huntsman and turned it down already tells you much you need to know. Let’s start with a few positives though. The special effects are well above average and a scene where  Snow White stumbles through a forest in a drug induced stupor is impressive stuff. On the acting front Theron continues her career MO of either putting in an average performance or one of pure quality. The good news here is that it’s one of the crackers as she’s great as the raging Queen and her performance is one of a convincing evilness. It’s actually a performance that the film doesn’t deserve. Sanders must have thought so as well as she is criminally side lined for far too long of the running time. There isn’t much to write home about after that. Having a load of well known British thesps playing the dwarfs (by having their faces digitally transmuted onto small bodies) isn’t quirky or funny. It’s just plain lazy (as well as being a bit politically incorrect according to some). As for Stewart, isn’t it time we actually asked quite a pertinent question in respect of her screen career: That of, can she actually act? This isn’t being snide, but she really only seems to have one facial expression, which to me looks like someone attempting a particularly complex algebra exam whilst suffering from mild constipation. Hemsworth himself challenges her on this front though and is so unmemorable in the role of the Huntsman that, despite being in the title of the film and one of the main characters, I could barely remember him even being in it a week or so after I had watched the film. Hardly surprisingly really as I saw him interviewed at a premier saying that he was caught by surprise when he read the script. I guess that was surprise he was getting paid so much to do so little.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
You’ll know that Stewart and Sanders had an affair during filming and that Sanders’ wife has forbidden him from working with Stewart again. Praise be to that. Rating: 4/10.