Review No.105: Snow White and The Huntsman

So now onto the second of the Snow White films and the one that has possibly been a little more anticipated as it stars Twilight's Kristen Stewart as the eponymous heroine in Snow White and The Huntsman. The tone of this one is a lot darker as in the first ten minutes there is a full on battle scene as well as Charlize Theron's Queen Ravena killing off her King on her wedding night, how's that for foreplay. From there it goes a bit more traditional with Snow White being locked in the tower however this time Eric the huntsman is sent by The Queen to return her stepdaughter to her as she needs to rip out her heart in order to live forever. The brutish Eric, played by Thor's Chris Hemsworth complete with odd Celtic accent, agrees to do this in exchange for the return of his wife who has in actuality already been slaughtered by The Queen. When he discovers this he decides to team up with Snow White and together they negotiate the pitfalls of The Dark Forest before being captured by the dwarfs who have a vendetta with Eric. Soon learning Snow White's identity they discover that she is the only one who can lift the curse so banding together with her childhood sweetheart William they decide to battle only for her to fall foul of that old poisoned apple routine and has to be kissed by her true love but it doesn't take an idiot to find out who that is. Snow White then goes all Joan of Arc rallying her troops and her father's former subjects to take down The Queen once and for all in order to release her strangle hold on the people.

For the first half hour or so of Snow White and The Huntsman I found a lot to like mainly because Charlize Theron took the lead as the brilliant immortal Ravena. With all the bloodshed, seduction and magic it did feel like a PG-rated episode of Game of Thrones especially given the closeness in the relationship between The Queen and her brother Finn. Once Snow White escaped however things got a bit dull with both Stewart and Hemsworth not really connecting with me in the way that the two title characters should. Stewart's Snow White was to an extent a strong female character and her battle cries were convincing however she still seemed to quiver  like a schoolgirl whenever the man she loved looked straight in her eyes. Personally though I had no emotional involvement in either Eric or Snow so I was glad when the dwarfs came along to lighten the mood with Nick Frost and Ian McShane in particular impressing in a gang that also included Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone and Eddie Marsan. In fact I felt the dwarfs were used far too sparingly and I could've done with a few more scenes featuring them before the final battle. I did quite enjoy the battles with cinematographer Greig Fraser really focusing in on the action in the final conflict which made me care more than I would normally about a medieval skirmish. The Pembrokeshire scenery added itself well to the bleak story with its old-fashioned landscape lending the right tone to the film. This is Theron's show though and whenever Ravena is onscreen I was completely captivated and when she wasn't I wondered when she would be on next. This then is a bit of a problem when your lead actress doesn't make as much of an impact as your villain but that's what happens when you make you heroine an emotionally-detached Emo Joan of Arc rather than someone who the audience can actually connect with.

In terms of the battle of the Snow White films I feel this wins due to the darker subject matter and the fact that Charlize Theron could kick Julia Roberts' ass. Much has been made of the use of normal-sized actors to play the dwarfs however they added another element to the film that was missing with the diminutive sidekicks in Mirror Mirror. While not a great film more was made to make this a bit different with enough visual flair and great supporting performances to become more of a well-rounded movie.

Verdict: It's a shame this is called Snow White and The Huntsman as The Queen and The Dwarfs are what this film is all about so because of that I'll award this film a 6/10

Review No.50: The Hunger Games

So here we are the quarter-of-the-way mark to my 200 films and the 50th review is also one of the most anticipated films of the year in the largely hyped The Hunger Games. Though I'd heard some hype about it I wasn't aware that this film had been based on the first of a series of books that were popular among the same crowd who were into the better known Harry Potter and Twilight franchises. My companion to this screening was reluctant to accompany me as he feared another HP/Twilight type film and these are both franchises that he'd manage to escape for the most part. Though I'm yet to get his feedback he never seemed visibly bored throughout the film which I also found captivating especially the second half. For people like me who were unfamiliar with the stories The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian future where America is split into districts with those with the higher numbers being the most deprived. Following an uprising against the establishment every year each district is asked to offer up a boy and a girl aged between 12 and 18 as a tribute to compete in the annual Hunger Games an event which sees them try to kill each other off with only one surviving as the victor. The film's first half introduces us to our heroine Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, a girl who is a great hunter and who volunteers herself as Disrict 12's tribute as a replacement for her sister. The build-up to the games sees Katniss and male tribute Peeta journey to the capital along with eccentric escort Effie and Haymitch Abernathy the only District 12 tribute to ever win the games. While at the capital both Katniss and Peeta compete to impress the rich and influential and hope to gain sponsorship which will help them during the games with Katniss being ear-marked as one of the favourites. The film's second half is its strongest as we enter the games and Katniss has to use her wilderness expertise to survive while also befriending a young District 11 girl named Rue and also trying to save Peeta who recently expressed his true feelings for her.

Obviously The Hunger Games shares a lot of similarities with Battle Royale however the theme main theme here is survival and friendship rather than all out brutality although that is represented by District 2 nutjob Cato. What I mostly enjoyed about The Hunger Games was the contradciton between the wildly colourful and camp captial which is inhabited by strange rich types and the sparse wilderness of the games itself. Central to the film is the performance from Jennifer Lawrence who I've long admired since I first saw her as Kim Basinger's daughter in the underrated The Burning Plain she brings both a strength and vulnerability to Katniss which are both qualities this character needs to express. I think what I liked best was the fact that she never actively sought out violence and she only killed during the games when provoked by others. I have to say I cared less about Peeta as Josh Hutcherson was never a strong presence and therefore the romance between him and Katniss lacked credibility there were also some unintentionally hilarious segments where Peeta had to camouflage himself while in the games. While we're on cast members the campness of the film is reflected through Stanley Tucci as the horribly sugary TV host who treats the killing of young children as nothing more than part of a gameshow while the almost unrecognisable Elizabeth Banks was also fun as Effie Trinkett. It was Woody Harrelson who stole the show for me as Haymitch who was initially presented as a drunk but gradually became attached to both Peeta and Katniss and tried to aide their survival as much as possible. I thought the production design was great and James Newton Howard's score was also haunting and used to full effect during the scenes with no dialogue. At times I found that the plot dragged a little but I don't think there was enough appeal for me as there would be a fan of this franchise. But overall there was enough to keep me occupied and the film's final frame set up the sequel which is presumably on the way after the brilliant opening weekend The Hunger Games as enjoyed. I'm not yet sure what my friend thought of the film but suffice to say I myself was pleasantly surprised.

Verdict: While I'm not the target market for the film thanks to Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson and the production design I found myself drawn into the world of The Hunger Games and enjoyed myself enough to give this a 8/10