Snow White And The Huntsman

http://www.snowwhiteandthehuntsman.com/

I wanted to see this version of Snow White all the way back to when there was speculation that Kristen Stewart's Snow White would be sharing the screen with Viggo Mortensen's Huntsman.

Of course, when the younger - and some would say even more ruggedly handsome - Chris Hemsworth (my close personal friend after the Avengers Premiere) took the role I was even more keen to see it.

You see, unlike most of the Twiverse I do actually like Stewart and have done since I saw her in Panic Room many moons ago. And I also happen to think she's capable of a lot more than playing a stuttery, Edward-dependent version of Bella Swan. I was hoping that here, we'd finally get the gritty, feisty Kristen Stewart to stand up.

*Spoiler Alerts from here on out*

But alas no. She is somewhat feisty in her first scenes, pulling a rusty nail out of the wall in order to use it as a weapon, thus allowing her to escape her prison. But had she seriously not attempted to get out of there long before this? It seems unlikely that she'd all of a sudden be capable of such a strategy. 

Once she's outside in the open she becomes a bit useless again and needs to be rescued by the Huntsman, but let's face it I think we'd all become a bit useless and need rescuing if we were faced with Chris Hemsworth! That's not the unbelievable point really. That comes later when both feisty Snow and the grubby Huntsman are captured and then helped by dwarves. It just makes them both seem a bit pathetic really. 

Believe me I do know that the tale of Snow White typically comes with a side order of dwarves, but when the story strays from the original fairy tale in other ways it does make you wonder why they felt the need to stick so close to that one particular part. One thing I will say about the dwarves is that the CGI on them is flawless. All of the dwarves were portrayed by non-dwarf actors and shrunk down by the magic of CGI.

Another point while we're talking magic. I'd quite like to live in Sanctuary. I realise that it's highly unlikely that it's a real place, but if it is I'd like to go there and forget about work for a bit. Just saying.

Anyway, so Snow gets her feist back by the end and storms the castle to kill the wicked queen. So she's not all that useless after all. Oh yeah and the insipid bloke from the most recent Pirates movie plays the prince. And he's still insipid. I was hoping Snow would choose the Huntsman in the end, have him cleaned up and make him all princely but instead the film ends on a bit of an ambiguous note with Snow standing around holding a twig for no particular reason, looking as though she's left the gas on.

It's definitely better than the earlier Snow White movie from this year but that doesn't mean it's great. Considering the talent involved I was more than a little disappointed with SWATH. But I'd probably still buy the DVD so I could perv over Hemsworth again. 7 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 20th June 2012

UK Release Date - 30th May 2012

Cast Overview:

Kristen Stewart ~ Snow White

Chris Hemsworth ~ The Huntsman

Charlize Theron ~ Ravenna

Sam Claflin ~ William

Sam Spruell ~ Finn

Ian McShane ~ Beith

Bob Hoskins ~ Muir

Ray Winstone ~ Gort

Nick Frost ~ Nion

Eddie Marsan ~ Duir

Toby Jones ~ Coll

Director ~ Rupert Sanders

Writer(s) ~ Evan Daugherty (Screen Story and Screenplay), John Lee Hancock (Screenplay) and Hossein Amini (Screenplay)

Prometheus

http://www.prometheus-movie.com/

Like me, you might have read or heard recently that Ridley Scott has stated that Prometheus is not a prequel to Alien. When I watched the movie I couldn't understand how he could claim such a thing as it has very obvious links to the 1979 film he also directed.

I now understand that what he said was that this was not a direct prequel. What he meant by this is; He sees this film as being set one or two movies before Alien. But at some stage, if Prometheus is successful, those other two movies could get made.


Prometheus is the name of a ship carrying a team of scientists to a distant planet. The team have found their way there through a series of 'star maps' that have been found in many different and ancient civilizations. Believing this to be an invitation from the inhabitants of this planet, the team of scientists go to seek them out. Once there they discover a structure containing some dead humanoids they call engineers. And a room full of cylinders which start to ooze black liquid. One crew member unknowingly ingests the liquid and starts to have some rather nasty reactions to it. Meanwhile another crew member is attacked and killed by a snake like creature within the confines of the structure. The team must get back to Prometheus as the fate of the earth rests in their hands.

One of my friends recently saw the movie and wrote on facebook "Visually brilliant, links to Alien awesome. Script and soundtrack awful!" The funny thing about this comment was that I kinda felt the opposite (visually brilliant aside - as I agree with that part). I felt that it was the links to Alien that let the film down. And I actually struggle to see how Ridley Scott could join this up with Alien even if he had two more films in which to try.

I felt that if Prometheus was a stand alone film, exploring a similar genre but totally separate to Alien and giving us a totally different beast, it would have worked. But it was the mis-matched guidelines that tried to marry up with Alien where it seemed to fall apart. 

The film left me with a lot more questions than answers and I don't think I'm alone in feeling that way. Maybe that's what Ridley was going for so that the studio would let him make Prometheus 2 and 3? All I know is that I felt super let down by the ending and felt that the final 'alien' made a mockery of the creature I've been scared of for the last 10+ years. 

If you're a fan of the original Alien movie you might enjoy Prometheus as it has the same approach to the horror/sci-fi genre that Alien had. It's a slow burner but one which has been stylishly made and featuring some great performances. Just don't expect a film that will seamlessly answer all of those questions you've had for the last 33 years. 7 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 17th June 2012

UK (Re)Release Date - 1st June 2012

Cast Overview:

Noomi Rapace ~ Elizabeth Shaw

Michael Fassbender ~ David

Charlize Theron ~ Meredith Vickers

Idris Elba ~ Janek

Guy Pearce ~ Peter Weyland

Logan Marshall-Green ~ Charlie Holloway

Sean Harris ~ Fifield

Rafe Spall ~ Millburn

Director ~Ridley Scott

Writers ~Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof