Director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan
Genre Action | Adventure | Drama
Cast Jessica Chastain, Chris Hemsworth, Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron
Rating PG-13
Release Date April 22nd, 2016
“As a war between rival queen sisters Ravenna and Freya escalates, Eric and fellow warrior Sara, members of the Huntsmen army raised to protect Freya, try to conceal their forbidden love as they combat Ravenna’s wicked intentions.”
The Huntsman: Winter’s War is directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan. He did not direct 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman but he did serve as the visual effects supervisor and earned himself an Oscar nomination. That's impressive. Less impressive is the fact that the man that did direct the previous film, Rupert Sanders (in his directorial debut no less), had an affair with actress Kristen Stewart effectively ending his marriage, as well as her relationship with Twlight star, Robert Pattinson. The studio thought better of having Sanders or Stewart anywhere near the next film, which was probably for the best. Drama, drama, drama. The Huntsman: Winter's War stars Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Emily Blunt, and Jessica Chastain.
The Huntsman: Winter’s War is an overall enjoyable film that unfortunately fails to live up to expectations. Armed with a stellar cast, a big budget, and plenty of eye-opening CGI, audiences were lead to expect a final product that should at the very least improve upon Snow White and The Huntsman. Instead The Huntsman: Winter’s War took a few steps back, selling itself short and again suffering from consistent pacing issues. What felt like a weak and generally uninspired script kept the film from accomplishing the "wow factor" that is needed to make that leap from good to great. The cast was certainly an improvement, essentially replacing below average actress/homewrecker Kristen Stewart with love of my life and A-list actress Emily Blunt, who was fantastic as the Ice Queen. I also felt pretty good about the addition of rising star Jessica Chastain, who is quite possibly the most attractive redhead on this entire planet. Don't worry ladies, Chris Hemsworth puts his best foot forward yet again, and delivers some very impressive action sequences.
The quality of the acting in The Huntsman: Winter's War is well above average as expected. I would be hard pressed to find a weakness as far as acting is concerned. The film was actually a lot funnier than I expected and I had quite a few good laughs, mostly thanks to the chemistry between Chris Hemsworth, Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) and Rob Brydon. What I found interesting is the fact that Frost and Brydon, both of relatively average height 5'7 and 5'8 respectively, both play dwarfs that refuse to leave Hemsworth's side. As cool as the CGI was, turning these two into bantering dwarfs may have had the biggest impact on the entertainment factor of the film, at least in my opinion anyway.
I enjoyed The Huntsman: Winter's War, I did. But all things considered it was a bit of a letdown and that is difficult to ignore. Viewers simply deserved something better, something epic. It just wasn't meant to be. Fans of Snow White and the Huntsman, as well as Hemsworth, Blunt, Chastain, and Charlize Theron, will have plenty to appreciate, but average viewers might be better off waiting for the Blu-ray/DVD release. Perhaps amateur director Nicolas-Troyan was overwhelmed by the acting talent he had at his disposal and may have been better suited focusing on the visuals? We will never know for sure I suppose.
