The Huntsman: Winter’s War
(2016)
(SPOILERS) The first Huntsman
movie, sorry, I mean Snow White movie
featuring the Huntsman, was a reasonably watchable affair that did better business
than most were expecting. Not Maleficent
levels, but enough to warrant a sequel. The arising question then becomes, why
put a sequel into production when it’s as broken backed in conception as The Huntsman: Winter’s War, and is virtually
guaranteed returns that render giving it the greenlight questionable?
Well, I guess the answer is: you never do know. After all,
that 300 prequel did surprisingly
well, so even not having Kristen Stewart on board for Winter’s War didn’t necessarily spell doom for a would-be
franchise… It’s a different matter if your plot is spinning around her absenteeism,
however, smacking of covering for the lead in a TV show when they’re indisposed
for a few weeks, but to the tune of about $100m more in price tag. Or like
making a Pink Panther movie without Peter
Sellers – no one would ever do such a foolish thing. Winter’s
War’s make-do quality is further emphasised by the piecemeal presence of
other characters (Sam Claflin cameoing as King William, dead-alive Charlize
Theron back again) adding to the sense that it isn’t a fully-fledged movie in
its own right, no matter how much writers Evan Spiliotopoulos and Craig Mazin
attempt to fashion a distinct (sub-Frozen)
plot about Ravenna’s sister Freya (Emily Blunt) and the Huntsmen she raised in
a pit of lovelessness (yes, this is an origins story, because we all wanted to
find out where Eric came from).
Blunt is fine. Theron is fine. The movie is better when both
are onscreen at the same time, so hopefully this won’t be the only time they
share it. Hemsworth, saddling himself with what I think is supposed to be a Scottish accent, but I can’t be entirely
sure, proves, where the likes of Sam Worthington and Daniel Craig have before
him, that bankability and star status in one franchise is no indication that
any old bog-standard hero role will be infused with their nominal charisma.
He’s dull, basically, and completely fails to spark any chemistry with Jessica
Chastain (as Eric’s estranged wife Sara).
Which means the best thing here is, weirdly, big screen
legend Rob Brydon, playing the returning Nick Frost’s dwarf cousin (could they
not get any other dwarves back, or was it simply that Frost was the cheapest?)
The dwarf make up is pretty basic – he looks more Klingon – but whether or not Brydon’s lines are
improvised, he makes a fair fist of getting laughs from them, which may simply
be down to his delivery.
One aspect of the picture that could be deemed a success,
depending on your measure of what constitutes a compliment, is that this does
rather recall ‘80s fantasy flicks, the questing likes of Krull and Willow, only
more watchable. Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, graduating from visual effects and
second unit to full director status, can’t muster anything amazing (some of the
effects, nay most of them, are pretty rank), and falls back on distractingly
choppy editing at times, despite it being evident that he has almost grasped a rhythm for the fights.
There’s nothing that could be called laudable on any level, or even vaguely
noteworthy, but The Huntsman: Winter’s
War passes the time, is largely inoffensive (unless you get offended by
jokes about ugly female dwarves, one of whom is Sheridan Smith, so not that ugly), and as unnecessary sequels
go, there are a lot worse out there, even among summer 2016’s offerings.