Review of The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016) by Medieval_Girl — 06 May 2018

Lord the Rings was a massively popular trilogy, and there are lots of Fairy Tales to sex up, so why not make a dark and brooding sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman- featuring lots of cool special effects and The Huntsman! Why not indeed? To be fair, 'Snow White and the Huntsman' was a reasonable film, if a little overdone, but it left little scope for a sequel and so the makers of this one had to invent new characters, and literally resurrect old ones to form the basis of the story.

This however just fell flat. They basically decided to make a test tube baby with Lord of the Rings and Frozen, peppered with some unnecessary language and sex thrown in to make it seem 'grown up' and 'badass'.

Visually, it took after its Epic Fantasy dad (the Snow Queen's habitation more than a passing resemblance to Edoras, combined with Isengard and a couple of pointy tower thingies nicked from Peter Jackson), with a few shots that seemed like direct copies. Add a lot of fight scenes against an assortment of ugly mythical beasties, and you have the overused fantasy combo.

Emily Blunt (who is a good actress) was basically wasted here as the Live Action version of Elsa, right down to her ice-coloured costumes, and clever defense strategy of firing sharp icicles.

The impressive CGI, however, did not really make up for the shallow plot, poor characterization and hideous fake accents from the lead characters. Ham Caledonian-Irish is bad enough, but mumbling in said ham accent- ugh. Without subtitles, it was nigh on impossible to actually hear what the Hero and heroine were saying half the time- not that they said much worthwhile. Yeah, its all about lurv- lurv conkers all Laddie- and apparently giving someone jewelry when skinny dipping in a convenient pool makes a marriage.

Maybe that's why they don't allow Jewellery in public swimming pools. You might come back hitched!

Maybe not such a great plan, the resulting offspring might be the next Fairytale Adaptation. Cinderella with Goblins, vampires, foul-mouthed dwarves and a red-haired warrior woman called Merida- fighting Orcs and the White Witch in Dol Goldur.