Review of The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016) by Hannah L — 27 Apr 2016

This was a very pretty kind of stupid that didn't really have much war in it. The actors here are all fine, even if the dialog is corny as anything from time to time, and as with its predecessor the dwarves are great. Plot wise, it's kind of predictable, but usually amusingly so which made it better. I honestly think the effects were a step down from the prior film, as there's nothing that matches the elk scene from the first and the ice effects were very plastic. Still, it does mostly look quite good, and the actors carry the film pretty well. The costumes are also rather gorgeous.

Where it suffers most, though, is pacing and fight choreography. As I alluded to, there's not much war/fighting in this, so there are long periods of time where characters are just traveling towards their next action piece. Now, that travel time, especially once the female dwarves join the group, are fairly amusing. Even so, it often feels like they're just biding their time. Then, when you get to the action sequences, they're not well done. Most of the fight sequences are done quick edit style, where a punch/blow comes from one angle, then quickly cuts to a different angle. It's easier to follow than some recent action movies (Tak3n), but it would have been nice to have had a wide shot on occasion. The final battle was also a letdown, as it was entirely predictable and rather clunky in it's setup.

On a final note, it's rather awkward how they keep referring to Snow White here. The film starts off as a prequel, but then jumps to several years later after the events of the first movie. However, they could not get Stewart to revive her role, so she's only ever referred to and not really seen except very briefly in a couple of flashbacks.

If you liked the original, there might be something here for you. Personally, I did not like the first one, and did not like this much either. That said, I do actually slightly prefer this one on the strength of the actors and the dwarves in particular. At least here they didn't have trebuchets shooting at a charging cavalry. Had the action and pacing been a bit better, this might have been pretty good. As it is, the dwarves make it watchable, but I needed a bit more substance.