Due Respect

In the view of Hollywood Reporter critic Todd McCarthy, Snow White and the Huntsman (Universal, 6.1) “is a film of moments, of arresting visuals, marked seriousness, sometimes surprising imagination and with nothing on its mind, really, except to provide the conventional reassurance of installing a rightful royal on the throne.

“It’s also a film in which you can’t help but behold and compare the contrasting beauty of two of the most exceptional looking women on the screen today, Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron. Director Rupert Sanders studies both of them closely and from many angles, with Stewart nearly always maintaining her ethereal air clenched by angst and determination and Theron expressing a will and mercilessness to rival any despot. Despite the narrow ranges their roles require, both command one’s attention throughout.

“Required in their own ways to be gaze-worthy, Chris Hemsworth and Sam Claflin bear up in far more constricted parts.”

18 thoughts on “Due Respect

  1. Saw it yesterday evening.

    I’ll be in the minority, I’m sure (not that I care) but I actually quite liked this.

    It’s fairly slow and “arty” if you will, which I liked in this day of frenetic blockbusters, and the visuals are absolutely stunning. I enjoyed Theron in full-on vamp mode and Stewart was better than I’m used to seeing her.

    Ultimately, the film is betrayed by its last 30 minutes which are almost laughably bad. Once Snow White picks up arms and gathers the troops in a proto-feminist empowerment cliche it turns into another movie….Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” to be exact. It didn’t work then and it certainly doesn’t work now.

    Still…I enjoyed it for the most part, which frankly sort of surprised me. Good ambience and all the effects work (especially the dwarf stuff) is first-rate.

  2. ThriceDamned, I had sort of the opposite reaction in that I was looking forward to the movie, but found its slow (pseudo-)artiness kind of pointless and empty. Sure, I appreciate that it wasn’t frenetic and while it does have what now plays as very music-video-y imagery, it doesn’t have that music-video/ad-director hackiness you sometimes see with a director who wants to make sure something is hip and exciting and marketable. But as McCarthy points out, there is very little else going on with it, and the mood it creates isn’t really distinctive enough for this movie to function as a mood piece. Characters are introduced, have a little bit to do, and then sort of fade into the background. Even Stewart (who is OK; not to much miscast as a victim of a movie that seems unsure how to play to her strengths) and Theron (who is pretty strong) feel a little adrift. The Huntsman, who has a co-starring title role, is never more interesting than in his first scene. That’s true of most of the characters.

    As such, the last 30 minutes to me don’t play appreciably worse than much of the first 90, because while I was definitely more invested in the movie in the first 30-40 minutes, it’s very much heading toward that totally boring, mostly meaningless final conflict the entire time.

    Frankly, and I know it’s internet-nerd sacrelige to anything short of despise Burton’s Alice, but I had a much better time at that movie than I did at this one. They both have cool design work, but Alice had characters, however thin, that I actually found somewhat unpredictable and strange and interesting on some basic level; nothing much unexpected happens after you’re acclimated to the (very strong) visual world of Snow White and the Huntsman. I even preferred Tarsem’s Mirror Mirror, which has a bit more personality even as the sets and stuff aren’t as seamless.

    This is more like a Burton movie played absolutely straight, and as much as people like to disparage the “quirk” of Burton/Depp, at least that EXPRESSES something beyond: here is a fairy tale taken very seriously and told in two hours rather than ten minutes.

    I didn’t have an awful time at the movie, but it is weirdly inert for something with so much craft in its visual details.

  3. Having only seen previews to judge from I know that I’m going to have problems. And its strictly because of Kirsten Stewart who looks absolutely RIDICULOUS in that suit of armor as did Mia whats-her-name during the climax of Alice. I can’t buy he as a warrior, I’m sorry. Elizabeth Olsen. Scar Jo. Jennifer Lawrence — hell yeah, they look like they could kick your ass. K Stew — uh uhh. Not happening.

  4. Most exceptional looking women in film today? Hyperbole much? I guess it’s frustrating that the majority of film critics are men and men tend to look at women in film like they’re checking out the meat counter at Gelson’s. I know it’s to be expected, they are beautiful women, but Hollywood is full of beautiful women. I guess – well, I guess I expected more depth in that regard.

  5. Wait? is the review supposed to be serious? I saw the film and it’s truly awful. Badly acted (Therzon is WAY over the top) and horribly boring. Then you add the single worse example of miscasting I’ve seen is years That of Stewart as Snow White. The one with the body of a 14 year old boy who always looks and acts like she had a tooth pulled. The laughable part is when she turns into Joan of Arc at the big climax. We’re supposed to believe that this tiny girl with the one sudden expression on her face is going to inspire men into battle? yeah right

    I had a bet with some friends on how many times he smiles in the film and I won. I said twice and the second time in the final scene is more of painful grimace than a smile actually

  6. Sasha — Charlize Theron is both stunningly beautiful AND one of the best actresses of her generation. Stewart is, well, whatever…but I’m not really sure about your point here. Should critics not comment upon actresses’ appearances AT ALL — would that make you happy? Fact of the matter is cinema is a VISUAL medium so wouldn’t it be somewhat neglectful of a critic to not make any mention of this aspect in a review at all — especially one in which the focus (one can only rightfully assume) is not on telling an original story with a unique atmosphere?

  7. “I guess it’s frustrating that the majority of film critics are men and men tend to look at women in film like they’re checking out the meat counter at Gelson’s.”

    Have to disagree with you in this case, Sasha.

    Similar comment to Kaned, but the whole POINT of the story is that the Queen fancies herself to be “the most beautiful in the land.” Beauty, both outer and inner, is really one of the main talking points of “Snow White”… if not the *main* one. While the review IS clumsy… you absolutely cannot get away from discussing the leads’ appearances when it comes to this story. (Also compare to the talk about MIRROR, MIRROR, and whether or not Julia Roberts was attractive enough to play the Queen. In that case, it actually works better, IMO, though I haven’t seen this new version — Julia played wildly insecure in that one, which was a nice contrast to Snow White)

    So, not only are the character differences important, but so are their physical differences. Statuesque, blond ice queen… or earthy, relatable young brunette? The point is, they are *both supposed to be strikingly beautiful*, moreso than any other woman alive. That’s inherent in the story, isn’t it?

  8. ^^Yeah, Sasha, the major question of Snow White is “Who’s the fairest of them all?? Looks play a critical role in the film and it’s legitimate to bring them up, especially since McCarthy was complimentary. The dickheads who keep mentioning how Stewart isn’t attractive enough to keep up with Theron are the irritating ones.

  9. The myth of Snow White and McCarthy’s fixation are not the same. You can’t tell a girl about the Snow White myth, fellas. We are raised on that shit. But I expect more from male film writers than to point out the obvious in a somewhat embarrassing fashion. Thassall.

  10. A woman bringing up the old “females are slabs of meat” angle?

    Yeah, nothing going on here folks. Moving RIGHT along…

  11. “But I expect more from male film writers than to point out the obvious in a somewhat embarrassing fashion.”

    I think you’re reaching here. Others have posted why above. But let’s see any review of Magic Mike this summer without comment on the men’s looks. It won’t happen, because – as with this film – the attractiveness of the actors is the point of the movie.

  12. With all due respect, this was a film on autopilot. It only succeeded during scenes that were more surrealist fantasy than a direct narrative. I had no doubt what would happen in any given scene because there was nothing but the artifice of Snow White’s goal being resisted. The logic makes no sense unless the story were to function as a dream. Why does Ravenna take over the kingdom? Why does she not kill Snow White immediately? She is the direct heir to the throne, after all. Why does it suddenly occur to Snow that there is a nail just outside the window of her cell and, by golly, she could escape with it? Did the intervening years not present the opportunity already? Why does the Hunstman hunt for Snow, find Snow, and the ally himself with Snow in one very short sequence? The antagonist literally reveals his duplicity without any reserve whatsoever. If evil is that retarded it makes you wonder how an evil queen came to power to begin with.


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