zaterdag 16 juni 2012

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, Charlize Theron is fairer than y'all


Snow White and the Huntsman: ***/*****, or 6/10

Re-imagining fairy tales feminist style seems to be getting all the rage lately. After having young Alice don armour to fight the evil queen in Tim Burton's recent Alice in Wonderland, Snow White now gets to do the exact same thing (courtesy of the same producer, Joe Roth, no doubt). Considering her previous failure as a comedian in Tarsem Singh's Mirror, Mirror only two months ago, applying a more action oriented approach might not have been a bad idea. It obviously sets this Snow White apart from that disappointment. Unfortunately, the resulting Snow White and the Huntsmen still leaves a lot to be desired, and makes it frustratingly clear just how damn subjective the term 'fair' actually is.


Snow White and the Huntsmen does away with the overly feel-good style of both its comedic predecessor and the classic Disney version, instead traveling a grittier, bleaker and definitely gorier road, making it feel more like a Tim Burton or Peter Jackson flick at times. At least first time director Rupert Sanders took hints from his accomplished peers instead of slavishly rehashing the many versions of the Snow White tale that came before. His best card comes in the shape of casting Charlize Theron as the evil queen, in this version named Ravenna instead of just dubbed 'evil queen' as happens more frequently. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Sanders' biggest problem turns out to be Kristen Stewart's performance as Snow White herself, a rather soulless and bland piece of casting that fails to convince the audience to root for her as a brave and inspiring leader of men in their desperate struggle against tyranny. For this is basically what the tale of Snow White has been turned into in this film, a typical fight between good and evil that never leaves the viewer pondering whose side the characters are on since both terms are clearly delineated and leave no room for compromise.

The movie opens with a lengthy but intriguing flashback revealing the series of events that lead to the status quo as it is when the story truly kicks off. For unclear reasons this prologue is narrated by the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth largely reprising his role as Thor, playing an impulsive and stubborn though often foolish but ultimately likeable strongman, but with a Scottish accent this time), who takes no part in this background history himself, probably to give Hemsworth something to do before entering the movie after it has been running for 40 minutes already. The backstory tells of the birth of Snow White in a beautiful kingdom under the happy reign of her wise and beloved mother and father, before it falls into ruin and despair when the queen dies and her husband is tricked into marrying the beautiful Ravenna, only to be murdered by the treacherous wench on his wedding night. When this pretender usurps the throne, young Snow White is swiftly locked away and all those who oppose the new queen's reign are ruthlessly disposed of. The movie does not hesitate at all to portray Ravenna as a vile witch with no sense of good in her at all, while Snow White simply can do no wrong and is eventually heralded a female Messiah for the otherwise nameless fantasy realm the movie takes place in. It's this overly simplistic way of depicting both sides of the coin without any possibility for overlap to the other side from either character that makes Snow White and the Huntsmen loose touch with the older demographics the movie aims for- the film is rated PG-13 in the USA, while it's '12' in the Netherlands – since few people in the audience would ever swallow good and evil are so easily and strictly defined.


At least Charlize Theron got it easy, since her Ravenna is not just a wholesomely despicable person, but also dabbles in the dark arts, thus allowing the accomplished actress (who can currently be seen delivering another stellar performance in Ridley Scott's Prometheus) to have a ball playing this wicked witch, wearing impressive gowns, surrounded by beautiful eerie castle sets and pointy props, going around viciously intimidating and torturing people and poking into bird guts in her spare time. She has good cause for engaging in such naughty behavior, having been used and abused by men since childhood, turning to black magic to ensure her ongoing beauty so she would never be powerless against men again and instead could use them for her own purposes. Thus, the movie gives the queen some much needed character background most other versions of the fairy tale have lacked, making Ravenna initially sympathetic until she does to Snow White what has been done to her. Theron makes no secret she's enjoying the role immensely, and delivers the movie's standout performance, ranging from subtle manipulation of ill-fated prisoners to boldly going over the top when throwing temper-tantrums at her incompetent inferiors who keep messing up her plans for total domination.

Perhaps it's due to the excessive amount of screen time the poor Snow White spends huddled in dark dungeons, wading through sewers or crawling in mud that Kristen Stewart's portrayal pales so much in comparison. Stewart, of Twilight fame, spends most of the movie running for her life from the forces of the queen, ending up in the so-called Dark Forest, a generally unpleasant place filled with creepy crawlies, damp fog and the like, a place from which only one man has ever returned. And so Ravenna tasks this man, the nameless Huntsman of the title, to track the renegade royalty, since it conveniently occurred she happened to escape on the very day the queen found out she had to consume the girl's heart to gain eternal beauty and immortality, after having locked her away for ten years without ever taking the time to decide what to actually do with her. The Huntsman reluctantly agrees to pursue the runaway in the exchange for the resurrection of his dead wife by the queen, something both parties fully realize isn't gonna happen at all.

Warning! Here be spoilers! When the Huntsman locates Snow White after about a five minute search, Stewart finally gets someone to play off against, but again fails to prove her worth as an actress, instead delivering a fairly uncompelling performance against Hemsworth's more agreeable portrayal of a man who lived a shallow life due to lack of faith in himself, found happiness in life with his wife and lost everything again when she was taken from him, being reduced to a much maligned drunkard. Apparently even a drunkard can find his way through the Dark Forest, so after predictably having switched allegiance, him and Snow White set out in search of the rebel fortress ruled over by an old friend of Snow White's father, whose son, Prince William (Sam Claflin as the less robust looking hunk of the film, for those girls in the audience who like their men less hairy and muddy) once fell in love with the princess but, along with the rest of the outside world has considered her to be dead since Ravenna took control. Apparently, where ever Kristen Stewart goes, love triangles follow, as she has romantic interludes with both the Huntsman and William the moment the latter joins up with her again. Anyone who wants her to hook up with either guy gets cheated in the end as the plot doesn't resolve the issue of which man will be hers, but leaves it open for the sequel. (A sequel already has been announced, despite the fact this movie has an otherwise closed ending that covers most of the original fairy tale. As was the case with Clash of the Titans, when the promise of money is involved, Hollywood will itself decide when a story is done, going so far as to make more of it up if needs be.)


On the way to the rebel stronghold the movie trades in a dark Gothic horror atmosphere for a more typical fantasy feel as Snow White and her friends encounter ever more diverse creatures of various shapes and sizes, including a giant troll, fairies and a forest god, indicating Snow White's power to inspire life and natural growth, as opposed to Ravenna who only deals in death and decay. The generally overtly digital characters only make Stewart's performance more inadequate, but fortunately eight (!) new characters soon enter the story to add some much need acting talent (mostly British) and some humour (since the film has so far taken itself overly serious), and few things in life are a funny as dwarves. These are not your average little people though: in fact, they're not little people at all, but normal sized actors having undergone digital alterations to make them appear smaller. Already an uproar has been created within the little people community over the absence of actual dwarves in favour of talented British actors of normal stature. It's an understandable reaction considering the already limited number of possible movie roles for little people, but the fact remains these eight dwarves add some much needed levity and heart to the film, mostly because of the talent assembled here, which includes Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, Bob Hoskins and Nick Frost. Lamenting the decline of the Dwarves (as a fantasy race, not as a medical condition) since Ravenna seized power, they willingly pledge their lives to Snow White's cause, but don't fret, they also sing and dance.

After having arrived at her allies' base and rallying the noble men to her cause by use of a rather uninspiring and unconvincing battle speech, the company of heroes set out to vanquish Ravenna in her dark tower, which leads to an not all that epic battle, and the pay-off between the two women, one pure, one evil, the movie has spent the last two hours to set up. Snow White dukes it out with Ravenna and her insidious sorcery over the dominion of the realm and the right to be called 'the fairest of them all'. Of course, the movie takes the meaning of the word 'fair' to include mental and spiritual beauty instead of solely referring to physical attractiveness, which is what Ravenna is all about. Though few men (and/or women) would seriously pick Stewart over Theron when it comes to physical looks (or acting skills), Theron's Ravenna obviously is a mean bitch and you wouldn't want her “ruling your country”. However, the movie defeminizes Snow White in the climax, having her confront Ravenna fully battle clad in shining armour and equipped with a particularly sticky sword, and as such completely masculine instead of fighting the queen on feminine terms, thus making her cheat. Even though Ravenna uses men to fight for her while Snow White gets men to love her (mostly in a platonic sense), in the end she feels more like a brother-in-arms to the Huntsman, the Prince and the Dwarves, a feeling which is reinforced at the end of the movie when Snow White refuses to pick one potential love interest over another, having reconquered her throne on their terms by vicious bloodshed in battle. The alternative of course would have been to let either the Huntsman or the Prince save the day and fighting her battle for her, as was the case in the classic Disney movie. But such stereotypical male gallantry is not desired in this day and age, especially when the movie needs to appeal to the modern teenage girls for who Stewart undoubtedly is the main draw of the piece. As for keeping it open who she ends up with, it took her four Twilight films to decide to finally have sex with that vampire instead of the werewolf, so she's just catering to her fanbase's expectations.
So the final score is:
-acting: Theron 1, Stewart 0
-physical appearance: Theron 1, Stewart 0 (too much mud)
-playing a nice girl: Theron 0, Stewart 1
Theron is fairest! Besides, many guys generally prefer bad girls anyway.

Overall, Snow White proves to her own weakest link in Snow White and the Huntsman, as she is outperformed by the evil queen, outcharmed by the Dwarves, outmuddied by the Huntsman and outed as a tomboy by wearing battle armour to kill the witch. In short, Stewart's Snow White has no heart, which makes it hard to compellingly win those of her fellow freedom fighters, and impossible for the queen to rip out of her chest, forcing the latter to steal the audience's hearts instead by doing a better acting job by far. The movie at least delivers great visuals and decent action scenes, plus the most fun Dwarves and grimiest Huntsman so far. A good look, excellent cast of supporting characters, cool evil queen and teen heroine in shining armour: basically the producer of Alice in Wonderland gives us more of the same with Snow White and the Huntsman. There's many other fairy tales left to apply the same tactics too, so maybe we'll see the Little Mermaid or Sleeping Beauty in a similar fashion too in the not too distant future.

And watch the trailer here:


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