Just keep on being disappointed: Snow White and the Huntsman
Man, I had really hoped this would be good. It seemed like it was going to be such a dark interpretation of Snow White and a film where Kristen Stewart could redeem herself and hey, there's Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth. But sadly, I ended up feeling very irritated with the execution and the lack of emotional connection to the characters.
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I guess I went in not expecting it to be that amazing, because I know that I have such high expectations of fairy tale adaptations/twists/versions/renditions, that if I went in expecting to be happy I'd be expecting a lot.
Oh, Kristen Stewart. How I wished that this would be a good role for you. But instead, she got pretty much the same role that she had in Twilight.
Word. :(
and it was a shame 'cause I love Hemsworth's eyes acting
Even more word. XD I will say, even though we had exactly zero character/story/motivation to work with, I still liked the Huntsman and wanted to watch what happened to him, because I believed there *was* character and story and motivation there and he just wasn't ever given the chance to tell us about it out loud. That's legitimately impressive on CHems' part, because looks alone aren't enough for that - I didn't believe that about Snow White and I love KStew too.
I was happy with the visuals, and how striking a lot of it was - but I agree that there wasn't nearly enough world-building. And I hadn't thought about the camera angles at all, but omg you're right. That was part of the problem. And I especially thought all the magic elements were wasted: the Queen's powers are never really analyzed, the whole "she is Chosen/the only one who can kill the Queen" seemed contrived so that the plot would move the way they needed it to. And ... yeah, don't visually quote Miyazaki unless you're prepared to be compared to him, guys. :/
I also seriously could only think of Elisabeth when I saw the bathing scene. XDDD And then afterwards with all the peasants outside fighting for water ... yeah. XD
And I was also super disappointed that there was no chance to access the characters. Just because it's a fairy tale/archeypal story doesn't mean there can't be three dimensional people in it! Even a few simple dialogue changes would have helped: I liked the Prince, but either he should have been developed the way you said, where he wants her to be Queen because of politics, which makes him human and flawed and less boring immediately; and the Queen could have been legitimately close to her brother. Maybe he was the only person she trusted because he was the only one who hadn't screwed her over in life, but it would show that she was human too, that she cared about some things and would only emphasize the way it was a normal human being twisted by pain, instead of making her a typical histrionic, scenery-chewing villain. The scene when he dies and she isn't strong enough to save him would have been legitimately moving that way, I think.
But really, a real Snow White story would have involved the Huntsman and the Prince and the army - and, more poignantly, the dwarves - following Snow White because of her beauty; then we would believe the Queen when she says beauty is a source of power, and it would bring home the real darkness of the moment after the Queen falls, and Snow is left standing looking at herself in the mirror (the one shot I legitimately was in love with, because that IS the real meaning of the story, and that shot ACED it, but nothing in the rest of the story led up to it). Like, when Snow White's all "I'm everything you're not", the answer should have been: "not yet". Otherwise the story becomes misogynist on the side, where the Queen's traditional femininity is evil and Snow White's combat gear feminity is good, and the thing is, neither is better, they're both in a patriarchal society that decides whether they're good or evil, and that's the point. /ANYWAY now this turned into an essay
OH! Since I mentioned the combat gear though. That is one thing I loved about the movie. Legitimately it had the best costumes I've seen in forever, I loved all of KStew's outfits and I died of joy at the combat gear and I LOVE that moment when the Huntsman finally makes a move and he's like "I, uh, I really like you in mail" and I was like GET IN LINE, CHEMS, and she's like *awkward bro nod* *like, I appreciate that and I reciprocate your feelings but now is not the time*. XD
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THIS. And *especially* that answer of "not yet" - oh man, I got chills just thinking about it. Because yes, this story is about that dark truth that no one seems to want to acknowledge in Hollywood, that women are still seen as tools and things and not people. *pouty angry huffing sigh*
and she's like *awkward bro nod* *like, I appreciate that and I reciprocate your feelings but now is not the time*. XD
It was so cute and yet so ridiculously placed but still so cute XDDD I want those two to do a different movie together 'cause I think they had an interesting dynamic that definitely was not explored in the movie.
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