Ensign Lestat's Film Log, 18/06/2012
Hollywood has off-late taken it upon itself to re-imagine and update many classic tales. Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland' featured a teenaged Alice, getting set for battle. Even 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian' updated its original text to make best use of the age of the actors. Unfortunately for that film its marketing campaign and predecessor invited children to watch the film, only for them to be traumatised by the goings-on.
This year we've had two Snow White adaptations. My thoughts on 'Mirror Mirror' are evident in my review of it here. That film was light fare, it didn't take itself seriously at all, and I think that the campiness of that film just rubbed me the wrong way.
'Snow White and the Huntsman', the second Snow film to hit theaters this year is the complete contrary to its brightly coloured counterpart. This version is replete with dark, bleak cinematography, depressive weather, evil characters and a general air of betrayal and mistrust.
When I watched 'Mirror Mirror' I had thought to myself that in the 21st Century dark, despairing storylines are much more welcome than something happy and sunny - because life is bleak and depressive. Characters who successfully emerge from this darkness are characters we can identify with.
In 'Snow White and the Huntsman', Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is locked up by the evil Queen, Ravenna (Charlize Theron). Ravenna possesses magical powers that allow her to maintain her youth; it also makes her a complete whack-job.
When Snow comes of age, Ravenna's magic becomes hard to sustain. She orders the death of Snow, but the girl escapes from her prison and finally gets lost in the Dark Forest. Enter the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth, dirtied up to play the devil-may-care anti-hero), who is fetched by the Queen to retrieve Snow from the forest. He agrees when she promises him a reward his heart yearns for.
But things go sideways when the Huntsman does find Snow. He reacts violently to the Queen's attempted betrayal and ends up agreeing to guide Snow to Duke Hammond's castle. Hammond has an independent army, and Snow wishes to take this army to revolt against Ravenna.
In the meantime, news floats through to the Duke (Vincent Regan) that Snow is still alive. The Duke is an old man with no wish to tempt fate, but his son, William (Sam Claflin) was a close friend of Snow's before he thought her to be dead. He takes it upon himself to find her again. He uses, what I thought anyway, a rather unconventional route to get to her.
The cinematography of this film is stunning, but familiar. In fact, much of it felt similar to other films. It especially evoked the aforementioned 'Prince Caspian', and the first Narnia film, 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, the Wardrobe'. Ravenna is much like the White Witch in those films, an evil creature that dries up the land and its people. The set-pieces also feel like 'Caspian', especially Ravenna's castle and the fairy forest (I'll get to that later). The villages looked like they'd walked out of 'Mirror Mirror' - not good.
Oh, and the film starts with voice-over narration. This too in Chris Hemsworth's fake Scottish drawl. He's telling us the story of Snow White, and trying to sound gritty doing it. It just doesn't work together.
While the gritty, evil updation is welcome, the film doesn't make full use of it. Ravenna maybe powerful and ruler of the land, but she is also as nutty as a fruitcake. She often tries to make a sympathetic case for herself, and she always just about wins the audience over before doing something crazy - like offing some hapless sole in her vicinity. It is a stroke of genius on the part of all-concerned that Ravenna can be so human in such a fantastic setting. [SPOILER ALERT] I liked how the audience is privy to an intense conversation Ravenna is having with her 'mirror'. But when we change points of view to her brother, Finn (Sam Spruell), we see her talking to thin air. [END SPOILER]
Also, Ravenna is essentially ineffectual throughout the majority of the film. The first act is almost exclusively about her. Her marriage to the King, her rise to power, her dealings with the people, her need for the death of Snow. But the moment Snow gets out, we focus on a myriad of characters other than Ravenna. I would have liked to see her take on her waning powers head on. Kill more youths, perhaps experiment by sucking the life out of some male youths (just for a change) as well. Wage war on nearby states just to gather a larger stock of life-force. The few glimpses we get of her however, are her complaining bitterly about her aging and lying about in despair. She leaves the most important duty, that of killing Snow, to her brother, who has proven himself to be incompetent.
[SPOILER ALERT] The only time she takes things head on is nearing the end when she knows that Snow is bringing an army to battle her. We see Ravenna weaving her way through dozens of limp bodies. It is evident then that she has drunk to reach an optimum level of efficiency for the upcoming battle. It was very reminiscent of Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki) readying his body to host Lucifer at the end of season 5 of 'Supernatural'. Yet another moment when the events of the film felt familiar. [END SPOILER]
The promos for the film basked in the glow of an armoured Snow White, but it takes a while for her to get to that stage - and in between she appears to do nothing to hone any skills to wage war. Everyone just falls back and trumps her up to be the great saviour and bringer of peace, but there's no prelude to this belief.
The problem comes from the fact that the makers of the film decided to stick with fantasy, but used that fantasy element in an incorrect fashion. There is this ridiculous scene, reminiscent of a dream sequence in 'Prince Caspian', where Snow, the Huntsman and the dwarves wander through a fairy forest. The fairies are creepy little creatures, and the forest is all beautiful and in bloom. Then Snow walks up to a deer, or some such, and Bob Hoskins as one of the dwarves goes on and on about her being some peace-bringer or something. It is a laughable scene. It doesn't fit in to the atmosphere of the film and adds absolutely nothing to the overall story. Would've been better to have a scene where everyone is discussing battle strategies, and then they're attacked. Feel free to have them find a peaceable area of forest to strategize in, but the inclusion of a pointless scene that completely alienates the young adult audience the film is catering to is frustrating.
The more interesting character is the Huntsman. He remains nameless during the film, which adds to his mystique. He is a drunken cad, the result of a broken heart. But he is loyal and honourable as shown in subsequent scenes. He is handy with his weapons, and teaches Snow her sole combat move.
The fourth principal character is William. He enters the fray halfway through the film. His character is essentially the foil for the Huntsman (not the other way around). He is beautiful, courageous and a fierce follower of Snow. But, his character felt much like it had to be there. Prince Charming is an integral character in all fairytales, so he's inserted here as well as the eventual love interest for Snow.
The dwarves are included almost as an afterthought in this film. They are not in the least bit interesting, but offer some information to Snow and also gee up her courage to take on Ravenna. More interesting, I found, were the warrior women who rescue Snow and the Huntsman. But we don't see them after their village is attacked, so I fail to see why they were there at all. Might as well have replaced that village with one that included the dwarves, allowing that principal set of characters to enter the fray sooner.
I know I've complained about this film bitterly so far. I think my disappointment comes from it not living up to its potential. It seemed to me the writers were straight-jacketed by the original tale. A lot of what was in the film felt forced; the writers wanted to run riot with what they had, but wanted there to be a tangible connection with the fairytale. It ruins what could have been an immensely fun film.
Some points of contention I have already mentioned, but some others include the whole mirror factor. The mirror doesn't form a face and talk to Ravenna, it liquefies partly to form a hooded figure. Why go through all that trouble? Why not just have a face? Or, if you want a 3-Dimensional figure, go the whole hog and shape it as a human being, or something from Ravenna's past that encourages her to do what she does. The makers establish that she's batty, but don't roll with it.
I also don't know if they had to go through the whole, 'mirror mirror on the wall' bit. It just sounds so silly. I understand that we can construe the line to be a key to open the mirror, but it still sounds really silly. And Ravenna says it twice during the film, which is really daft.
[SPOILER ALERT] There was one aspect of the fairytale that the makers used to their advantage. In the beginning of the film, we see William and Snow playing a game with an apple. This is a plot device used later on. In the classic scene in the fairytale, the Queen, disguised as an old woman offers Snow a poisoned apple that leaves her in a coma. In 'Mirror Mirror' Snow doesn't take the apple, but in this one, being hung up on the original story came in handy. Snow, lost in thought in the forest, bumps into William who has only recently joined the group. They share stories of the past and he offers her an apple. She recalls the game they used to play and bites into it. Before falling into the coma she finds out that it is the Queen. I like this re-imagining of the scene. Snow wouldn't trust an old woman in a forest, but she trusts her old friend. Claflin is superb in that scene - he looks marvelous and plays the evil self convincingly. [END SPOILER]
I felt throughout that the writers were more interested in Ravenna and the Huntsman, as both these characters carry an air of mystery around them, and attempt to win/ lose the audience alternatively. These two characters were definitely more interesting than Snow herself, who is useless up until the battle. There was great potential there, but it was wasted.
William as the Prince Charming avatar seemed to be a belated inclusion, because he essentially plays just a soldier who happens to have a history with Snow. As mentioned, he is a foil for the Huntsman, but for someone who was there in the original fairytale, he gets a bit of a raw deal.
[SPOILER ALERT] William plays second-fiddle to the Huntsman in all aspects in the film. Snow doesn't really take time off to evaluate her feelings for William or the Huntsman. I'm thankful for that, because that would have killed her character. William's presence is almost taken for granted by Snow, but the Huntsman is very helpful for her. Once I realised that the makers were playing the love-triangle card, I knew which way they would go. It was no surprise then that William's sorrowful kiss to a comatose Snow has no affect, but the Huntsman's kiss does. This has of course been done before, in 'Enchanted' of all places, where Prince Charming doesn't charm the Princess awake. It was still a nice play on the fairytale. Who Snow chooses at the end, if anyone at all, remains a mystery. [SPOILER ALERT]
The battle at the end of the film also felt very 'Caspian'-esque, right down to the dwarves being put in charge of raising the gates. It felt like 'Caspian' was being re-shot. But they still tried, I'll give them that.
[SPOILER ALERT] Snow White gives the rousing pre-battle talk to her people in this film. And she starts off with a whimper before finding her voice. That was a nice touch - after all she's been locked up for years, but now is looked upon as the bringer of all things good. I also like the fact that she saves the day in the end. While the Huntsman and William are trapped by magical soldiers, she has to fight Ravenna, and uses her skills to do so, rather convincingly. [END SPOILER]
The acting by all is passable. Theron hammed it up a bit from time to time, which was a bit annoying, and Kristen hardly changed her expression. Claflin, for the little time he is on screen is quiet and unassuming, but extraordinarily good-looking. Chris is the only one who seems immersed in the role, but then he does have a lot to explore in his role.
I wasn't really looking forward to this film, but didn't mind the idea of watching it. Thanks to time-constraints I didn't have long to mull over the ignominy of walking up to the counter to ask for tickets to 'Snow White' (my sister was going to spare me by using the self-ticketing machines, but I was sure they wouldn't work so went to the counter). It wasn't flat-out disappointing like 'Prometheus', but then I wasn't expecting all that much from it to begin with. For a first-time director, Rupert Sanders does a passable job. But, like a lot of debutant creations there's a tendency of putting in too much; trying to reach out to too many people; and just basically overdoing it. If some of the ideas had been shelved, there could have been a more compact, more intense film. Also, we could have done with some humour, the film is almost absent of humour, which really is never a good sign. The makers had some big ideas, but kept stopping short of them. [SPOILER ALERT] For example, there is definitely something fishy about Ravenna and Finn's relationship, because she alludes to giving up a lot for him, but we never find out what. There's a lot of darkness hinted at in the film, but none of it is explored. Having said that, had it been explored I may have been rather traumatised, so maybe the makers realised that too. [END SPOILER]
A lot was tried in this adaptation of the fairytale, but not all of it reached its potential. This film wasn't great, wasn't bad, wasn't disappointing, but wasn't memorable either. With all the hype concerning the two Snow Whites of 2012, we're left with nothing tangibly different. Pity.
Hollywood has off-late taken it upon itself to re-imagine and update many classic tales. Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland' featured a teenaged Alice, getting set for battle. Even 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian' updated its original text to make best use of the age of the actors. Unfortunately for that film its marketing campaign and predecessor invited children to watch the film, only for them to be traumatised by the goings-on.
This year we've had two Snow White adaptations. My thoughts on 'Mirror Mirror' are evident in my review of it here. That film was light fare, it didn't take itself seriously at all, and I think that the campiness of that film just rubbed me the wrong way.
'Snow White and the Huntsman', the second Snow film to hit theaters this year is the complete contrary to its brightly coloured counterpart. This version is replete with dark, bleak cinematography, depressive weather, evil characters and a general air of betrayal and mistrust.When I watched 'Mirror Mirror' I had thought to myself that in the 21st Century dark, despairing storylines are much more welcome than something happy and sunny - because life is bleak and depressive. Characters who successfully emerge from this darkness are characters we can identify with.
In 'Snow White and the Huntsman', Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is locked up by the evil Queen, Ravenna (Charlize Theron). Ravenna possesses magical powers that allow her to maintain her youth; it also makes her a complete whack-job.
When Snow comes of age, Ravenna's magic becomes hard to sustain. She orders the death of Snow, but the girl escapes from her prison and finally gets lost in the Dark Forest. Enter the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth, dirtied up to play the devil-may-care anti-hero), who is fetched by the Queen to retrieve Snow from the forest. He agrees when she promises him a reward his heart yearns for.
But things go sideways when the Huntsman does find Snow. He reacts violently to the Queen's attempted betrayal and ends up agreeing to guide Snow to Duke Hammond's castle. Hammond has an independent army, and Snow wishes to take this army to revolt against Ravenna.
 |
| Chris Hemsworth as The Huntsman - Gritty! |
 |
| Sam Claflin as William - Pretty! |
Oh, and the film starts with voice-over narration. This too in Chris Hemsworth's fake Scottish drawl. He's telling us the story of Snow White, and trying to sound gritty doing it. It just doesn't work together.
While the gritty, evil updation is welcome, the film doesn't make full use of it. Ravenna maybe powerful and ruler of the land, but she is also as nutty as a fruitcake. She often tries to make a sympathetic case for herself, and she always just about wins the audience over before doing something crazy - like offing some hapless sole in her vicinity. It is a stroke of genius on the part of all-concerned that Ravenna can be so human in such a fantastic setting. [SPOILER ALERT] I liked how the audience is privy to an intense conversation Ravenna is having with her 'mirror'. But when we change points of view to her brother, Finn (Sam Spruell), we see her talking to thin air. [END SPOILER]
Also, Ravenna is essentially ineffectual throughout the majority of the film. The first act is almost exclusively about her. Her marriage to the King, her rise to power, her dealings with the people, her need for the death of Snow. But the moment Snow gets out, we focus on a myriad of characters other than Ravenna. I would have liked to see her take on her waning powers head on. Kill more youths, perhaps experiment by sucking the life out of some male youths (just for a change) as well. Wage war on nearby states just to gather a larger stock of life-force. The few glimpses we get of her however, are her complaining bitterly about her aging and lying about in despair. She leaves the most important duty, that of killing Snow, to her brother, who has proven himself to be incompetent.
[SPOILER ALERT] The only time she takes things head on is nearing the end when she knows that Snow is bringing an army to battle her. We see Ravenna weaving her way through dozens of limp bodies. It is evident then that she has drunk to reach an optimum level of efficiency for the upcoming battle. It was very reminiscent of Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki) readying his body to host Lucifer at the end of season 5 of 'Supernatural'. Yet another moment when the events of the film felt familiar. [END SPOILER]
The promos for the film basked in the glow of an armoured Snow White, but it takes a while for her to get to that stage - and in between she appears to do nothing to hone any skills to wage war. Everyone just falls back and trumps her up to be the great saviour and bringer of peace, but there's no prelude to this belief.
The problem comes from the fact that the makers of the film decided to stick with fantasy, but used that fantasy element in an incorrect fashion. There is this ridiculous scene, reminiscent of a dream sequence in 'Prince Caspian', where Snow, the Huntsman and the dwarves wander through a fairy forest. The fairies are creepy little creatures, and the forest is all beautiful and in bloom. Then Snow walks up to a deer, or some such, and Bob Hoskins as one of the dwarves goes on and on about her being some peace-bringer or something. It is a laughable scene. It doesn't fit in to the atmosphere of the film and adds absolutely nothing to the overall story. Would've been better to have a scene where everyone is discussing battle strategies, and then they're attacked. Feel free to have them find a peaceable area of forest to strategize in, but the inclusion of a pointless scene that completely alienates the young adult audience the film is catering to is frustrating.
 |
| These be fairies! Yeah right, in your nightmares, you mean! |
The fourth principal character is William. He enters the fray halfway through the film. His character is essentially the foil for the Huntsman (not the other way around). He is beautiful, courageous and a fierce follower of Snow. But, his character felt much like it had to be there. Prince Charming is an integral character in all fairytales, so he's inserted here as well as the eventual love interest for Snow.
The dwarves are included almost as an afterthought in this film. They are not in the least bit interesting, but offer some information to Snow and also gee up her courage to take on Ravenna. More interesting, I found, were the warrior women who rescue Snow and the Huntsman. But we don't see them after their village is attacked, so I fail to see why they were there at all. Might as well have replaced that village with one that included the dwarves, allowing that principal set of characters to enter the fray sooner.
I know I've complained about this film bitterly so far. I think my disappointment comes from it not living up to its potential. It seemed to me the writers were straight-jacketed by the original tale. A lot of what was in the film felt forced; the writers wanted to run riot with what they had, but wanted there to be a tangible connection with the fairytale. It ruins what could have been an immensely fun film.
Some points of contention I have already mentioned, but some others include the whole mirror factor. The mirror doesn't form a face and talk to Ravenna, it liquefies partly to form a hooded figure. Why go through all that trouble? Why not just have a face? Or, if you want a 3-Dimensional figure, go the whole hog and shape it as a human being, or something from Ravenna's past that encourages her to do what she does. The makers establish that she's batty, but don't roll with it.
 |
| You looking at me, mirror? |
[SPOILER ALERT] There was one aspect of the fairytale that the makers used to their advantage. In the beginning of the film, we see William and Snow playing a game with an apple. This is a plot device used later on. In the classic scene in the fairytale, the Queen, disguised as an old woman offers Snow a poisoned apple that leaves her in a coma. In 'Mirror Mirror' Snow doesn't take the apple, but in this one, being hung up on the original story came in handy. Snow, lost in thought in the forest, bumps into William who has only recently joined the group. They share stories of the past and he offers her an apple. She recalls the game they used to play and bites into it. Before falling into the coma she finds out that it is the Queen. I like this re-imagining of the scene. Snow wouldn't trust an old woman in a forest, but she trusts her old friend. Claflin is superb in that scene - he looks marvelous and plays the evil self convincingly. [END SPOILER]
I felt throughout that the writers were more interested in Ravenna and the Huntsman, as both these characters carry an air of mystery around them, and attempt to win/ lose the audience alternatively. These two characters were definitely more interesting than Snow herself, who is useless up until the battle. There was great potential there, but it was wasted.
William as the Prince Charming avatar seemed to be a belated inclusion, because he essentially plays just a soldier who happens to have a history with Snow. As mentioned, he is a foil for the Huntsman, but for someone who was there in the original fairytale, he gets a bit of a raw deal.
[SPOILER ALERT] William plays second-fiddle to the Huntsman in all aspects in the film. Snow doesn't really take time off to evaluate her feelings for William or the Huntsman. I'm thankful for that, because that would have killed her character. William's presence is almost taken for granted by Snow, but the Huntsman is very helpful for her. Once I realised that the makers were playing the love-triangle card, I knew which way they would go. It was no surprise then that William's sorrowful kiss to a comatose Snow has no affect, but the Huntsman's kiss does. This has of course been done before, in 'Enchanted' of all places, where Prince Charming doesn't charm the Princess awake. It was still a nice play on the fairytale. Who Snow chooses at the end, if anyone at all, remains a mystery. [SPOILER ALERT]
The battle at the end of the film also felt very 'Caspian'-esque, right down to the dwarves being put in charge of raising the gates. It felt like 'Caspian' was being re-shot. But they still tried, I'll give them that.
[SPOILER ALERT] Snow White gives the rousing pre-battle talk to her people in this film. And she starts off with a whimper before finding her voice. That was a nice touch - after all she's been locked up for years, but now is looked upon as the bringer of all things good. I also like the fact that she saves the day in the end. While the Huntsman and William are trapped by magical soldiers, she has to fight Ravenna, and uses her skills to do so, rather convincingly. [END SPOILER]
The acting by all is passable. Theron hammed it up a bit from time to time, which was a bit annoying, and Kristen hardly changed her expression. Claflin, for the little time he is on screen is quiet and unassuming, but extraordinarily good-looking. Chris is the only one who seems immersed in the role, but then he does have a lot to explore in his role.
I wasn't really looking forward to this film, but didn't mind the idea of watching it. Thanks to time-constraints I didn't have long to mull over the ignominy of walking up to the counter to ask for tickets to 'Snow White' (my sister was going to spare me by using the self-ticketing machines, but I was sure they wouldn't work so went to the counter). It wasn't flat-out disappointing like 'Prometheus', but then I wasn't expecting all that much from it to begin with. For a first-time director, Rupert Sanders does a passable job. But, like a lot of debutant creations there's a tendency of putting in too much; trying to reach out to too many people; and just basically overdoing it. If some of the ideas had been shelved, there could have been a more compact, more intense film. Also, we could have done with some humour, the film is almost absent of humour, which really is never a good sign. The makers had some big ideas, but kept stopping short of them. [SPOILER ALERT] For example, there is definitely something fishy about Ravenna and Finn's relationship, because she alludes to giving up a lot for him, but we never find out what. There's a lot of darkness hinted at in the film, but none of it is explored. Having said that, had it been explored I may have been rather traumatised, so maybe the makers realised that too. [END SPOILER]
A lot was tried in this adaptation of the fairytale, but not all of it reached its potential. This film wasn't great, wasn't bad, wasn't disappointing, but wasn't memorable either. With all the hype concerning the two Snow Whites of 2012, we're left with nothing tangibly different. Pity.
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