Review of The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016) by Orlando O — 21 Apr 2016

The Huntsman: Winterâ(TM)s War is the perfect continuation of Snow White and the Huntsman expanding on the universe of an evil queen. Winterâ(TM)s War does feel like a cheaper budget compared to its predecessor with a weak script, story direction, and some decent action sequences. Sure, the visual effects are still worth looking at and the stunning cast talent like Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, and Charlize Theron. First time director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan helming his big budget film of a prequel/sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman and moving up from visual effects supervisors to director in this movie. It is not always a good thing, when it comes to storytelling and a well-paced direction. This film does give a better backstory to Eric (Chris Hemsworth) and his love interests Sara (Jessica Chastain) how they are forced to fight for an Ice Queen Freya (Emily Blunt). Eric and Sara love for each other, both leaves them wanting to escape until Eric is deceived and left for dead. Several years later, after the events of Snow White and the Huntsman film. The golden mirror is stolen from Snow Whiteâ(TM)s castle and Eric is on the search for it before Freya can get her hands on it. Freya will release Ravenna (Charlize Theron) once again.

The fight and action sequences are decent and the visual effects were also okay. Eric does come across some familiar faces from King William (Sam Claflin) and Dwarf Nion (Nick Frost) along his journey of trying to find the mirror. It does feel like one of those cheap budget films when they try to avoid casting the actual actress again for a non-speaking role this time like Snow White, which was played by Kristen Stewart. Instead, the screenwriters completely have written her character out. It is no shame in that when the Huntsman character is way more interesting to see. Especially, the film focuses on a love story with Eric and Sara then Dwarf Neon and his lady dwarf and so on. When the storyâ(TM)s theme is focused on the power of love and how much it can change you.

The negative thing about the film that did not work well such as an uneven lack of depth in the script that did not let the story develop properly. Eric and the dwarves are on a journey through the forest and river searching for the mirror felt a little boring. It picks up when Ravenna returns in the final moments as a villain to push aside her sister Freya. Freyaâ(TM)s power as an ice queen is still a pretty cool concept. And the film is filled with neat ideas. The script and direction just did not know how to balance it into a better strong story. The Huntsman: Winterâ(TM)s War is a fair film with an awesome cast, some visual effects, cool concepts and an underused music composer James Newton Howard.