Snow White and the Huntsman

The second modern telling of the classic Grimm fairy tale to be released this year, Snow White and the Huntsman is a surprisingly satisfying summer action movie. Despite its uninspiring lead performances and the standard bleak and heavy tone of most modern action movies, there is a well-paced story here that is engaging and followable. Kristen Stewart has far too contemporary a look for the film’s medieval world, but part of the fun--and their isn’t too much fun in this movie--is getting to see a modern, kick-ass Snow White. Despite her look, the filmmakers have kept the character fairly simple and innocent, which is refreshing, as one would expect her to have all the attributes and perspectives of a modern teen, as in the disastrous Mirror Mirror from earlier in the year. As the titular Huntsman, Chris Hemswirth (Thor) is nothing very special, but he’s perfectly serviceable. More impressive is Charlize Theron as the well imagined Wicked Queen, Ravenna.

And there are dwarfs, played by no less than the likes of Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsen, Johnny Harris and Brian Gleeson! Though the dwarfs don’t get nearly enough screen time, this casting is quite impressive. What is best about this film is that it is structured and paced like a proper adventure story with both involving dialogue scenes and effective action scenes. It is refreshing to see well directed and properly edited battle sequences, staged with credibility and consequences that make them rather exciting. The film relies too much on CGI and digital color (or non-color, more like) but there are some scenes of real magic--some light, most dark--that capture the imagination. It’s too bad the filmmakers couldn’t inject a little joy into the film as well, but that is clearly not what they’re going for. Still, one could do far worse than this version of Snow White, and anyone who had to sit through Mirror Mirror did.