Snow White and the Huntsman

There are certain topics and/or people that make for great material when making a film. I suspect this is probably why biopics are so popular. But even fictional characters can make even better subject matter, because the writer can branch out in so many tributaries as opposed to a character of fact. This is certainly true of Snow White. There have been repeated incarnations of this character from an animated version, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" '37, a live-action musical, "Snow White" '87, even a comedic version earlier this year, "Mirror, Mirror" to mention a few, but now we have a darker, more twisted version, "Snow White and the Huntsman". What other version could Hollywood muster up in the future?

Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is the only person in the land fairer than the evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) according to Mirror Mirror (Christopher Obi). Unable to tolerate the insult to her vanity, the evil queen decides that Snow White must die, but not until she gets Snow's beating heart which will keep her alive and beautiful forever. The queen cons a huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to find Snow White in the feared Black Forest, capture her and bring her to the queen. However the huntsman finds himself unable to do as the queen demands, because of her mesmerizing innocence and purity. So he instead, ends up training her to become a warrior capable of threatening the queen's reign with the assistance of these seven dwarfs they happen upon.

Others to round out the cast are Sam Claflin as William, Sam Spuell as Finn, Ravenna's devious brother, Vincent Regan as Duke Hammond, Noah Huntley as King Magnus, Snow White's father, and Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, Johnny Harris, and Brian Gleeson as Beith, Muir, Gort, Nion, Duir, Coll, Quert, and Gus, respectively as the dwarfs.

This was directed by newcomer to theatrical films, Rupert Sanders. The directing was a bit stagy in spots, but considering this is his first feature film, not a bad job. It was written by more seasoned writers, Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini which is based on a screen story by Daugherty which is based the story by the Brothers Grimm.

The costumes by Oscar winner Colleen Atwood ("Torch Song Trilogy" '88, "Edward Scissorhands" '90, "The Silence of the Lambs" '91, "Philadelphia" '93, "Wyatt Earp" '94, "Ed Wood" '94, "That Thing You Do!" '96, "Mars Attacks!" '96, "Sleepy Hollow" '99, "The Mexican" '01, "Planet of the Apes" '01, "Chicago" '02, "Big Fish" '03, "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" '04, "Memoirs of a Geisha" '05, "Public Enemies" '09, "Nine" '09, "Alice in Wonderland" '10, "In Time" '11, "Dark Shadows" '12) amongst others, were as much the stars as the stars. She will undoubtedly be nominated come Oscar time once again. Theron's costumes were simply amazing.

The visual effects predominately created and designed by Rhythm & Hues, Double Negative, BlueBolt, and Hy*drau*lx were incredibly fitting of every scene they were used. They could also get an Oscar nod as well.

If you're a Snow White afictionado, you will revel with this rendition, but even if you're not, you'll be able to transcend above some stagy directing to be able to see the unique darkness that this incarnation was able to hand you.

Out of 4 stars: 3                       Rated: PG-13                       127min.