100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 51: The Huntsman: Winter's War

Director: Cedic Nicolas-Troyan
Genre: Adventure/ Action/ Fantasy/ Drama
Runtime: 114 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron, Nick Frost, Sam Claflin

Description: As a war between rival queen sisters Ravenna (Charlize Theron) and Freya (Emily Blunt) escalates, Eric (Chris Hemsworth) and fellow warrior Sara (Jessica Chastain), members of the Huntsmen army raised to protect Freya, try to conceal their forbidden love as they combat Ravenna's wicked intentions.

Review: “Snow White and the Huntsman” was four years ago successful enough that Universal was already planning a sequel. Rupert Sanders was going to direct and Kristen Stewart was going to star again. Because of an affaire between the two, that sequel was postponed. They still wanted to continue the franchise and they decided to make a spin-off focusing on huntsman Eric. Chris Hemsworth is an actor people love to see and who needs Snow White?
Because the huntsman wasn’t a very meaningful character in the original fairytale, we also get an evil ice queen and queen Ravenna returns. Snow White’s absence is solved by setting the story in a different fantasy world. The story is set before and after Snow White’s kingdom and they told it in a way we don’t need to see the actual character.
First we see the history of ice queen Freya and her sister Ravenna. And then we are introduced to the Huntsman Eric and warrior Sara. Freya trains an army of children to become huntsmen. Eric and Sara are her best warriors. The two fall in love, which is a sin in Freya’s kingdom. Sara is killed and Eric is supposed to die too. He survives and escape to the south. Then we skip to seven years later after all the happenings in “Snow White and the Huntsman”. Eric has to find Ravenna’s mirror, before Freay gets her hands on it.
Chris Hemsworth doesn’t have to do a lot to entertain me and I liked him in “The Huntsman: Winter’s War”. He had good chemistry with Jessica Chastain and her character is strong and fun. Emily Blunt is a believable evil queen and although Charlize Theron already proved that, she does a solid job again.
Is “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” a great film? No, but it’s very entertaining, has the right length, it looks stunning and has a good cast. I have to honest that I expected a bit more, but it’s still an enjoyable film.

Rating: 3/ 5