The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016) User Reviews (238)

Uneven prequel/sequel with elements that are both superior and inferior to 'Snow White and the Huntsman'

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 19 September 2016]

'Snow White and the Huntsman' from personal opinion was neither a good or awful film. It was visually stunning and had a terrific Charlize Theron, but suffered from a badly miscast Kristen Stewart, a clunky script and muddled story.

'Huntsman: Winter's War' was at times enjoyable, but uneven prequel/sequel. It has elements that are superior, but also some inferior elements too. The best asset is the production values. The film is very beautiful to look at, with luscious but also atmospheric photography, Gothic but also elegant and rustic set and scenery design and lavish costumes, particularly Ravenna and Freya. Most of the special effects are fine, especially the ones for the golden mirror liquid and ice. There is an exception and that was the forest beast, which had a cheaply rendered video game look and didn't mesh with the background.

Once again, James Newton Howard's score complements very well, it's beautifully orchestrated, rousing, elegiac, atmosphere-enhancing and very involving. This said, the one for 'Snow White and the Huntsman' is better and more inspired, the score here also has a few forgettable moments and doesn't really stand out among other fantasy-adventure scores and occasionally derivative. There are good performances here, Emily Blunt's sinister and moving Freya standing out. Another standout is Charlize Theron, Ravenna is far less developed (Freya is a much more interesting character here, and the only one that's developed well) and somewhat one-dimensional as a villain, but Theron makes the most of her limited screen time, bringing great energy, an at times camp edge (though mostly there is more subtlety) and menace.

Rob Brydon, Nick Frost and Sheridan Smith bring some welcome comic relief, this could have easily jarred but was actually a breath of fresh air. The final twenty minutes are thrilling, and the action is slickly edited and choreographed.

Other elements are mixed. Cedric Nicolas-Troyan's direction has solid moments and shows a mastery of visual style, more so than Rupert Sanders for 'Snow White and the Huntsman', but he isn't quite so good stopping the pace flagging or smoothing over narrative cracks. Was mixed on Chris Hemsworth and Jessica Chastain. Hemsworth does have brooding charisma and looks more comfortable, but has a tendency to slur his words and his accent sounds like three different ones constantly changing. Chastain is a great actress and does bring pathos and nuances to her character, but again her accent is unconvincing, with a mix of Scottish and Irish. Their chemistry is much stronger than Hemsworth's and Stewart in 'Snow White and the Huntsman', due to that there actually is some.

Elements here underwhelm drastically. The script is underwritten, simplistic and clunky, with many awkward parts and only properly shining with the dwarfs. The story has some exciting moments, but the pace badly flags too often with a rambling beginning, over-explanatory narration and stretches that feel meandering and muddled. Again the forest beast is poorly done, only Freya is developed well, there are continuity errors meaning that the film just doesn't fit within the storytelling and time-line of 'Snow White and the Huntsman' (while it was a good idea not having Stewart's dead-weight presence in the film, the absence of Snow White- mentioned only in passing fleetingly- does leave a gaping hole in the plot) and Sam Claflin is both underused and out of place.

All in all, uneven film with things that are both good and bad. 5.5-6/10 Bethany Cox

Exciting fast moving feature

[captainandy14-389-939291 · 7/10 · 31 July 2016]

The cast is nice , Chris Hemsworth , Charlize Theron , Jessica Chastain and Emily Blunt are all accomplished actors and they did their roles well. The story had an obvious ending and an obvious twist but then that's not what the movie was all about. If you want to watch an action packed fantasy drama with some decent CGI effects and decent acting , well you cant discount this film . I personally found this better than the first one as the first one was tad slower and seemed to drag on a bit perhaps more so because of snow white and her frozen acting . Here the frost queen acted more fluidly . I did enjoy the CGI as well because it was not over used and the colouring of the gold with black in contrast with the ice queens blue and white went really well. In my opinion its definitely worth a watch.

Well, I enjoyed it.

[Aniviel2 · 7/10 · 11 April 2016]

Some people really need to get over themselves, judging by some of the reviews for this film. It is a fantasy based on children's stories - what the hell were they expecting, Hamlet or Henry V?

It was a fun ride with plenty of action, plenty of humour, and a great cast - Chris Hemsworth brings his usual cheery action hero to the mix, Jessica Chastain was a good addition as The Huntsman's wife, and Emily Blunt played the fragile Ice Queen wonderfully well. The Dwarfs were comic relief as always, but it worked well with fewer of them and a couple of females in the mix.

The story wasn't overcomlicated but if I want that, I'll go watch Memento. Chill out a little, folks.

Surprisingly fun and enjoyable! A lot better than the previous one.

[aggeloskrekas792 · 7/10 · 10 November 2019]

This movie way quite an enjoyable time!

My expectations were pretty low to be honest, especially having seen the first one which I can't say I liked very much, but it proved me wrong. This was a fun watch.

Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron, obviously the cast for this movie is stacked and they great as you'd expect. Honorable mention to the dwarves. I loved them lol, there were some moments which I was laughing like an idiot :D.

To get to the point though, I liked the story and the plot overall, or should I say the execution and the delivery of it. Nothing amazing or groundbreaking, but as I always say, it really doesn't have to be. If you like and you've watched a lot of schience-fiction, action, adventure and especially fairytail movies such as this one then you already know what to expect. You've pretty much seen every possible plot twist or storyline. In these kinds of movies there aren't many things that will surprise you and if you go into such a movie expecting something never seen before then you're naive imo. The name of the game with these types of movies is execution, delivery and characters. And that is what I liked about this movie. I thought the "love makes you weak" theme was cheesy and stupid but ultimately I liked how they developed it through the characters' story arcs.

I really felt for Freya in the end :'( and I thought it was pretty sad how at the end it turned out that she did care about the huntsmen and huntwomen which she kept calling "her children" despite her trying to be emotionless and never show them any affection because she believed it was a weakness. In the end however when she realiazed her sister was behind everything she tried to protect them from her. The saddest thing though is that they never got to know and she died protecting them.

• "How lucky you are"

Overall nice movie, should be a very good time with family at a Saturday night.

A slick and enjoyable fantasy romp, let down by a muddled plot and basic dialogue.

[missashton92 · 7/10 · 6 April 2016]

The Huntsman: Winter's War is great fodder for fans of the genre; the slenderly plotted film moves along at a nice pace and the cast do a decent job with what they're given. Although it's undoubtedly a cash-grab sequel (do not believe the "before Snow White" marketing), it manages to argue its case for existing fairly well. Contractual obligations aside, Hemsworth and Theron resume their roles with great gusto, with Hemsworth arguably vastly improving on his performance in the first film. Throw in Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain and you're confronted with a pretty enviable - if surprising - cast for a film of this level.

The basic driving plot of the film is centred on Eric's (the previously anonymous Huntsman from the first outing) dubiously arranged quest to locate and return the powerful magic mirror, before it falls into the wrong (icy) hands. Accompanied by some foul-mouthed dwarfs, the scenes in the forests and fields are probably some of the better sequences in the film, if only for their tonal consistency rather than their originality. These portions of the film focus on action and comedy, and the camaraderie comes across well enough.

This quest is framed at both the start and end of the film by a strange and rather hastily delivered - yet nonetheless enjoyable - story of two sisters and a sad betrayal. Ravenna (Theron) and Freya (Blunt) are supposedly the closest of siblings who become parted by a very dark event that awakens a great power within Freya. Fleeing her sister's kingdom in a mix of despair, anger and confusion, Freya sets up home in the mysterious "North" and uses her new strength to gather children to train as her army. It is here that the two stories are tied together, with stolen children Eric and Sara (Chastain) growing to become two of her trusted Huntsmen. The scenes in the North are mostly effective and judiciously used; the muted colour palette here isn't allowed to become boring, and this mini saga is undoubtedly uplifted by Blunt's delicate performance.

If you have seen the trailers for this film and are keen to experience the full thing, go in with realistic expectations and you'll have a fun two hours; I am certain that the vast majority of prominent critics will despise this film, but it wasn't made for them. Yes, it's a patchwork production of popular elements from other sources and is generally a rather campy affair, but that's what makes it such an inoffensive and entertaining film. There is plenty to like here, if you give it a chance.

a perfectly adequate movie that is well-made and forgettable

[Quinoa1984 · 6/10 · 23 April 2016]

The Huntsman: Winter's War is not too unlike the first movie in one key way: it doesn't really stick too long in the consciousness once it's finished. It's not that there is a lack of quality in the craft in this (sigh) franchise - the first Snow White from 2012 got Oscar nominations for the costume design and visual effects departments, and it's easy to see why: the work put into the mirror on its own, this gold thing that can unfold in liquid on the floor is in the same ball-park as the T-1000 from decades past, and there is attention paid to all of the aesthetics in these 'kingdoms'. But with the stories, especially in the case of Winter's War, there is the sense of sensing a dearth of original plots. It's not even really a full plot in this film but plot points: this happens and then this happens and then and then and so on, and it cribs from Frozen so much that it's hard to ignore.

It's not that everything from the Disney movie is here, but when you start to describe what this story is about - two sisters in royalty are split apart when one of them (Emily Blunt this time as the sister to Charlize Theron's Wicked Queen) loses her son and takes over her kingdom... which is made of ice since she is the Ice Queen, and she decrees there can no longer be love because her love is lost, so then when two people (Hemsworth, returning as the Huntsman, and Jessica Chastain) fall in love, she splits them apart through trickery and then... it's actually not a prequel but a sequel which involves finding the mirror from the last movie (stolen/taken away, I forget which, it's explained in an exposition dump), and when a big reveal happens for Hemsworth that (spoiler! not really) Chastain is alive, they decide to go after the Ice Queen herself.

So there's a lot of plot here, a lot of twists and turns that do occur, but that main spine isn't too engaging. The Frozen element comes mostly with the Ice Queen and other characters having a love story happen where you don't expect it to (or, I should say, they *do* love each other, but things happen that makes one of them question again if it's possible and, oh, nevermind). What does still work is the humor; Nick Frost returns as one of the dwarfs from the last movie (the late Bob Hoskins is sorely missed though) along with Rob Brydon (remember him from The Trip movies), and both are spot-on with their comic timing, their deliveries, just finding the things in the scenes to naturally liven things up. Some of it's from the dialog, but a good deal of it feels improvised and when lady dwarfs get introduced into the film there's some fun stuff there as well.

All the actors are here to work, and I didn't see them exactly bored during this; Blunt does her best to give her Ice Queen Freya conviction and villainy (and, later on, some sense of true confusion and betrayal), but it's hard to go up against Theron when she owns this role once again of Ravenna. She's not on screen too long, and it feels just slightly contrived how she returns, but she makes her mark as a conniving, devilish presence with aplomb. Curiously Kirsten Stewart is out of this movie, though there are points where it feels like she *should* be in this, even as a cameo (there is one scene where technically Snow White is featured, but it's a double of course). This absence gets felt in a narrative that is all about the other characters, which is fine, except that the script lets them down with an adventure-cum-quest-cum-revenge story that feels watered down or half-baked. And there are even some moments, like with a creature that the characters come across to find the mirror, that isn't a terribly convincing special effect.

I almost feel like I need to write this so I don't forget most of the movie in a few days; it's not *bad* in the sense of it being too stupid or too illogical (though there are certainly points where you think 'yeah, that's a bad idea to, say, make that jump and hope to connect with that building even when you know and acknowledge that it's a bad idea'). If it's bad in any way it doesn't have really any artistic reason to exist aside from it being another check box for Universal studio's current Snow White universe property. To put it another way, when you have Liam Neeson narrating and delivering lines about fairy tales that felt hackneyed 60 years ago, you know there's an issue with something that should be made vs could. It's got entertaining bits but isn't worth rushing out to see unless you're a die-hard fantasy fan, and even with that there's the sense of derivation (if not from Frozen there's Game of Thrones as well).

light-hearted fun that actually works a lot better than its predecessor!

[AD-Phoenix · 7/10 · 18 April 2016]

I saw The Huntsman: Winter's War today and I felt inclined to write down some thoughts on the film. We live in the age of the internet, and consequently, we are subjected to absolutely everyone's opinion (I am aware of the irony here). This over-exposure can actually be quite exhausting at times, as the negatives are always the first to be seen. The Huntsman has 22% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing this, and I couldn't feel more indifferent to it. This is one of those instances where I feel a 'fuck the critics' sort of attitude. While I am fully aware that this is no Return of the King, I know it's not trying be - These films are innocent fun at best. These are my thoughts:

The plot is marketed almost completely different to how it turns out, much to my frustration. As is the norm nowadays, the trailer contains way too much of the film. The most infuriating of all – the actual twist of the film, however predictable, is reduced to a throwaway aspect of the marketing! Not to mention the entire third act features heavily in promotional material – including some pivotal shots. To clarify how it differs to the actual film – the trailer markets it as somewhat of a sibling rivalry, whereas in reality Ravenna (Charlize Theron) mostly doesn't appear until the third act. The film focuses on the Magic Mirror and delivering it to Sanctuary. While the plot doesn't do too many unique things, and is crammed with genre conventions, they are sometimes delivered above expectations. For example, too much screen time isn't wasted repairing the relationship between The Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) and his wife (Jessica Chastain) beyond what is needed. A huge plot hole I thought the film would have briefly explained was the fact that Freya (Emily Blunt) was never spoken about or shown before now. Even during the flashback scenes in the first film, with young Ravenna and her brother, it is never explained why Freya was never seen – or even where their brother is during the events surrounding the death of Freya's baby. It would have been great to see, but I can't say it's a shocking omission. Something that greatly added to my enjoyment is the whole tone of the film, which is definitely a lot less sombre this time around.

Moving onto performances, Hemsworth and Theron deliver the expected solid acting we've come to expect (Hemsworth's accent has surely improved since the last film), and newcomer Blunt is cast perfectly in her role. Chastain, while a terrific actress and a convincing character, had me yo-yoing on my opinion of her accent. For those unaware, Chastain's character Sara plays the kickass wife of Hemsworth's Eric, and the plot calls for her to have a Scottish accent, naturally; I guess it kinda makes sense considering the characters are from the same place, but I don't want to get too hung up on accents when they range from all over the UK. Anyway, Sara sounds Irish in some lines and Australian in others, but it's not film-ruining – I see it as a similar situation to Hemsworth's accent in the first film; maybe she'll perfect it if another sequel gets greenlit.

Filling in the supporting roles and cameos, Nick Frost returns with Dwarf company in the form of Rob Brydon, Sheridan Smith and Alexandra Roach – and kudos to them! Whereas I couldn't stand the dwarfs in Snow White and the Huntsman, here they are one of the film's highlights. They provide the majority of the comic relief, and I laughed way more than I should probably admit; Brydon in particular, although I may just be biased because I'm Welsh. That being said, no character really feels out of place. I certainly wasn't expecting to see Colin Morgan as Freya's lover, Sam Claflin return as Snow White's husband, William and… is that Liam Neeson as the narrator?!

Speaking of appearances (or disappearances in this case), Kristen Stewart's Snow White is nowhere to be seen, save for a shot of archive footage from movie #1 and a brief scene with a stand-in. This is to be expected since the scandal that surrounded her affair, but it still would have been cool to see a cameo. Ballsy even. Fingers crossed she returns for a sequel – Ravenna did vow vengeance after all, and if the last shot is anything to go by… she'll be back. I actually liked Snow White and Stewart is by no means the catastrophe of an actor that people make out; just look at her more recent performances like that in Still Alice – but that argument is for another time.

These films have always been the sort to favour style over substance, and that is evident here – but this time the ratio allows for that bit more substance. The sets are pretty good and the visual effects definitely hold up. The costumes and make-up are extremely beautiful to look at in regards to the elegant queens. James Newton Howard returns to score the film, and with him a few minor themes to solidify the film in its universe. While not a ground-breaking film in any sense, I had a lot of fun watching it. It feels like an appropriate sequel and actually works a lot better than its predecessor. Most importantly – its light-hearted fun and I'm likely to be one of the few to hope that a sequel is on the cards.

Like watching milk mold

[artmania90 · 2/10 · 1 February 2017]

It's astounding how bad "Huntsman: Winter's War" is. From the preposterous title (it would appear that the story occurs in springtime, and that the one battle in the film is a tiny 10-person battle in a throne room) to the absolute lack of reason, sense, or skill, this coldly-received sequel to an already flawed film (Snow White & the Huntsman) is like finding a diamond in the rough in terms of bad movies. In a way it's almost good how bad it is. Almost.

The movie is narrated by Liam Neeson with empty phrases like "lands to the North" and "the Good Queen built a fortress around her heart." We meet the Evil Queen from the first movie (the absurdly over-the-top Charlize Theron who is the only fun role in the film) and her sister, Elsa -- I mean Freya, a woman who's heart was broken and uses her ice powers to turn her hair white, adopt an icy wardrobe, and reign in an ice castle on top of a mountain. Her ultimate character arc is the discovery that love can ultimately be a good thing. She didn't even have to sing "Let It Go" to figure it out.

Simultaneously we have a remake of "Braveheart" occurring, as we meet the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth reprising his titular role) and his love affair with fellow huntswoman, Sara (with an off-again on-again Scottish accent). Declaring their love for one another in a forbidden encounter, the Huntsman all but states that he "wants to raise crops and God- willing a family" with his new lover. A stroke of misfortune leads him to believe Sara is brutally murdered, and thus the war is launched. I mean the battle that takes place in the last 3 minutes of the movie.

In reality, the plot seems to be about the group of heroes (the Huntsman, some of the dwarfs from the first film (whoever wanted to come back, I guess), and some other female dwarfs) on the hunt for the Magic Mirror, hoping to find it before Evil Queen Freya reclaims it for herself. Like the ruby slippers, it's said to have dangerous powers, but I am sure as hell unaware of what those powers could be (aside from being able to judge the hotness level of women like a caddy bitch). Why this is so important is never explained, nor are any of the plot details seemingly relevant at any one point. The story is vapid, lifeless, thrown together. As I was watching this film, things kept happening, but overall nothing was occurring. I began to doubt the reasoning for this movie's existence other than an attempts for a cash grab (the original made over $400 million in sales... This one barely made $160 million against a budget of $115 million. Ouch).

If you need an example of what is wrong with the Hollywood system right now, then "Huntsman" seems to be a textbook example. From the overly-choreographed fight scenes, Lord of the Ring's-inspired mythology (which seems to be the standard for fantasy films nowadays), and the rehashing of characters both living and dead with no regard to story (how many times can Charlize Theron come back to life without absolutely flushing brain power down the toilet?), the film churns along from one predictable beat to the next, and by the time it ends it's hard to remember that there are actually decent movies made anymore. To watch "Huntsman: Winter's War" is to lobotomize a part of your brain. Movies can be art, and they can be moving, and they can be thrilling. This movie is the cinematic equivalent of expired milk.

Enjoyable romp

[bigfootmurf-72304 · 7/10 · 26 August 2020]

The Huntsman: Winters War doesn't work well as a prequel to 'Snow White and the Huntsman' due to a number of anomalies pointed out by others, mainly relating to the lack of Ravenna's brother Finn in her past and the presence of a new sister. However, treat it as a separate film and it's pretty good. Chris Hemsworth plays his part well and Charlize Theron is the fairest of them all, if not the nicest. The special effects are well wrought and the adventure keeps you watching. As in the previous film, the dwarfs provide light entertainment. Enjoyable hokum and great escapism. I enjoyed it.

Stunningly beautiful visuals

[Gordon-11 · 19 April 2016]

This film tells the story of a fierce huntsman who goes on a quest to stop the evil ice queen from getting the magical mirror that will make her invincible.

I am positively surprised by how much I enjoyed watching "The Huntsman: Winter's War". The visuals are stunningly beautiful. I find myself in awe of the marvels of the ice palace. The hairstyles and costumes of the queens, Ravenna and Freya, are super beautiful too. I was amazed by the scene where Charlize Theron has gold on her eyes, the whole image is stunning.

Seeing Emily Blunt as an emotionless icy queen is very interesting as well. After watching her in "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Sicario", I could hardly imagine her as a royally beautiful and majestic queen. Yet, she is perfect as the queen who is deeply hurt and hence deeply cruel.

I enjoyed every minute of "The Huntsman: Winter's War".

How many right guesses did you have?

[MrMowji · 2/10 · 22 February 2019]

Oh my god. First of all, you should understand that even if this movie was based on children stories, the target audience isn't children, so feel free and review the title as an adult. I couldn't digest the stupid story.

Here it is:

• They made a city on a bridge over the river. WTH? Was that a necessary imagination?
• Because of grief and anger, Queen Freya decides to move North and build a kingdom, take kids, make an army and rule. What?
• So, they killed their parents and they're all just fine. They're tough for no reason and adapt fast and easily. We see they become warriors in two days. Yes, mutants. And the music when they're training is epic. Wasn't that a bad thing?
• Queen Freya can make owls out of ice or perhaps iced a real owl and can control it! Oh my god. Somebody explain it to me please. Anything is possible for her. But why one owl? Why owl at all? Why not an army of men? Why don't we see other possibilities or any explanation?
• Jessica Chastain's accent and acting. 2 points right here.
• How did they fall in love? And they marry in two hours.
• The fleeing plan was very funny. They decided to flee seconds after the marriage. And the next day they're going to honeymoon without even considering guards. And they're smiling, OMG. What were they thinking?
• Queen Freya can make you see different things on ice. OK.
• 7 years passed and neither Eric nor his clothes didn't change a bit. Was he frozen all these years?
• What was the role of dwarfs? Didn't make any change to the plan. Could be easily removed.
• When they're trying to escape from goblins and all except Eric passed the bridge, we see a dead goblin on the other side, just so that she could have all equipments and specially some oil for her arrow.
• "I never miss!" We already knew that. Enough with stupid lines.
• He's dead, but... wait... he's alive, noooooooooooo waaaay, thaaat waaaaas soooo originaaaaal.
• "She never misses!" OMG.
• What did those two dwarfs do after breaking the castle? Nothing.
• Eric could have made that last speech earlier when he was trying to flee with Sara to convince his friends to turn against Queen. They turned easily.
• And they lived happily ever after.

To sum up, the plot is awful, subplots have nothing to do with the story. For example remove dwarfs or goblins subplot. At least 1 hour could be clipped. And you can easily guess most parts. It was one the cheesiest scripts I've ever watched. I just gave a 2 for its visual effects, that's what I get in these kind of movies.

Based on a false premise, and still a decent film

[ayoreinf · 8/10 · 5 June 2016]

I want to say at the very beginning that at the base of this prequel/sequel is a false premise, or a logical fallacy. If one does remember the first movie, there's no way this one can be truly connected to the same story and characters. This is simply a story line that was stretched and contorted so another movie could be created with Charlize Theron as the evil queen and Chris Hemsworth as the huntsman, everything else didn't matter, the producers thought they could get some more money from the struggle between these two and the rest simply had to fit in. I knew that before I went to see this one, and I was practically ready to hate it. I didn't. And once again, the main reason is the acting. To be more precise, it's the three actresses pulling this unlikely story from start to end. Charlize Theron, once again menacing and chilling as the evil queen, with less fragility and less humanity. Which is, in my book the worst fault of this movie: if one does decide to further develop the characters of the first movie, the starting point should've been the origins of Ravena's hate for all men, and of human emotions. The creative team didn't go this way, this in fact made Ravena a two dimensional cartoon. Only Charlize Theron brilliance manages to make her somewhat relatable. Then there's Jessica Chastain as Sara with a performance filled with subtleties and nuances, managing to look like a fierce warrior and still make us feel she has a beating heart in her chest. But both Jessica Chastain and Charlize Theron pale in front of the real standout performance of this film, that's the one of Emily Blunt. The truth is, she does have the best written role in the film, and she carries it and in fact the entire movie all the way through. If only they could do the same for Charlize Theron, this could've been a real something to see. But even as is, the movie is surprisingly engaging and entertaining.

The Ice Queen

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 17 July 2016]

The evil Ravenna (Charlize Theron) finds that he sister Freya (Emily Blunt) is pregnant and in love with a noble. Freya gives birth to a baby girl but her beloved lover murders the baby and her rage unleashes ice powers and she kills him. Freya heads to North and builds a palace and an army that captures children from the villages to be raised as soldiers without love. Years later, their children Eric (Chris Hemsworth) and Sara (Jessica Chastain) are grown-up and in love with each other. They plan to flee from the castle, but Freya finds and builds an ice wall between them. Eric sees Sara being murdered stabbed on her back by their friend Tull (Sope Dirisu) and he is dumped in a frozen river but he survives. Eric, a.k.a. The huntsman grieves the death of his beloved Sara on a daily basis. One day, Snow White is ill and her husband seeks out Eric to tell that the Magic Mirror was taken while carried to a place called Sanctuary. Eric teams-up with two dwarfs to find the mirror, but they are attacked by Freya army and saved by Sara that is alive. She tells that she saw Eric leaving her alone, and he concludes that Freya gave different visions for each of them. They retrieve the mirror but Sara betrays Eric and Queen Freya and her army takes the mirror and captures the group. Then she asks Sara to kill Eric and she follows the order. Whal will happen now that Freya has the magic mirror?

"The Huntsman: Winter's War" is an entertaining fantasy full of action with great cast and special effects. The plot is a prequel of "Snow White and the Huntsman" with Ravenna and the Huntsman, and introducing Freya and Sara. The film may not be recommended by professional critics but fortunately I am amateur. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Caçador e a Rainha do Gelo" ("The Huntsman and the Ice Queen")

Disappointed

[StoriesWeaver · 1/10 · 3 September 2016]

At first, I was really excited about this movie, because they seem to take a different route, and yet, in the end, everything is the same. "Love conquers all" What a total bullshit. Go ahead. Try to live only with love. You can see that it's a total nonsense. This movie can be a great movie, and yet they decide to ruin it by focusing on the cliché love story where Love conquers all. Not only it enforces the wrong idea that our cultures have, the love story is completely boring and rushed. I thought that this movie will focus on the fight between the sisters and not the story of a pair of love birds that I already saw over and over and over again. Isn't it enough? Why can't we just stop glossing over romantic love that's just nothing but a chemical reaction in our brain? Why do we keep spewing a stupid lie in our media? Why can't we see love as it is and not try to gloss it over? What's done is done. A boring forgettable movie.

Better than the first one (even if some liberties were taken)

[reddiemurf81 · 7/10 · 5 June 2020]

No, seriously this one is better than Snow White and the Huntsman (not that it was bad).

Hemsworth is, once again, great as the Huntsman. Theron IS the Evil Queen!!! The addition of Blunt and Chastain to this movie added A LOT!!

Those liberties,, well, they changed the story around a little,,, but that's forgivable as long as they do it well (just my opinion). Such as who killed Sara,, the queens brother did it before,, now she was never killed, only believed to be. Also,,, THE ICE QUEEN? While I very much enjoyed Blunt in this,,, they kinda borrowed from Narnia and Frozen,,, just a lil,,,

All in all,,, i really enjoyed it.

Watch it already!!

Enjoyed it

[awit72 · 7/10 · 1 March 2019]

Good movie for what it is. it had more humour than the original. Hemsworth is a cheeky gorgeous actor and Charlize Theron always chews up the scenery nicely. Jessica Chastain is a good actress although I don't find her particularly engaging in this role. I actually liked Emily Blunt's understated performance, she was quite compelling. The best actress was the lusty female dwarf with the bad ass lines - she added real spark. Overall I missed Kristin Stewart and wish she could have played Chastain's role. I thought she and Hemsworth had far better chemistry.

A solid fantasy adventure despite not bringing anything new to the genre.

[gricey_sandgrounder · 7/10 · 4 April 2016]

I thought Snow White And The Huntsman was serviceable at best with some nice visual effects and a good villain role by Charlize Theron. Naturally, I would probably not be interested in a sequel.

But as I am usually a sucker for fantasy and I was intrigued by the trailer and who was cast, I thought I would give it a chance.

I was going in with low expectations and felt pretty satisfied with what I saw. It is better and more enjoyable than its predecessor

The best things about it are definitely the costume designs and visual effects. You can tell hard work has been made with the costumes, especially for our main female characters. They are impressive to look at and definitely fit in with the magical kingdom that it is set in. Whilst admiring the costumes, the visuals around it fits in well and the general viewing experience is a highly positive one for the eyes.

Even the performances managed to boost my enjoyment. As I mentioned before, the casting choices for this film heavily influenced me in giving this a chance. Everyone involved I consider to be reliable choices that seem to make any potentially disappointing film worth watching. Chris Hemsworth continues to play the hero role well as The Huntsman. His fun and smiley presence makes it easy to root for him. I was really surprised to hear Jessica Chastain was a part of this and this seemed outside of her comfort zone. As a supportive role to Hemsworth, I thought she was perfectly fine on the whole, despite her questionable Scottish accent. Emily Blunt played the leading villain role well. I have been fond of Blunt's recent performances, especially in Edge Of Tomorrow. She was believable, threatening and even showed enough of a vulnerable side for us to also feel sympathy for her character. Charlize Theron is back as Ravenna, and is great as always. She constantly looks terrifying whenever she's on screen whilst also looking very attractive. There was also some solid minor roles by Nick Frost, Rob Brydon, Sheridan Smith, Sam Caflin and a nice surprise to see Colin Morgan on the big screen.

The only negative that was noticeable was the comedy used. It seemed out of place at first but managed to slowly fit in as the film went along.

Despite questioning the reasoning into a sequel being made, I was perfectly fine with the mash-up of the two fairy tales 'Snow White' and 'The Snow Queen' to give this sequel some logic as to why it is being made. Whilst giving this a lot of positives, it is mainly due to going into the film with low expectations. The best stuff is just not strong enough and the content does not bring anything new to the genre. It is lovely to look at, and the performances keep the film moving. If you look like the fantasy genre, then this will be a fine couple of hours.

Decent fantasy flick with some beautiful visuals

[tigress-62-531003 · 6/10 · 7 April 2016]

I saw the first part and liked Charlize Theron as Ravenna and Chris Hemsworth as Huntsman Eric, but overall I was not too impressed by it.

This prequel/sequel takes what I liked about the first film and removed most of what I disliked to make a decent if not particularly special fantasy action adventure.

We learn about the Huntsman's background and his wife, Sarah, who was mentioned in the first film. Also, we find out Ravenna has a sister, Freya, played by Emily Blunt. Charlize Theron delightfully plays it up as evil Queen Ravenna again, and I am a little disappointed that she did not get more screen time. The first scene with Ravenna playing chess with her royal husband is the best scene in the film. Then she disappears for half the movie. Also, I wish she would have had more scenes with her sister to show more of their relationship. I don't remember if Ravenna had a sister in the first film, but even if she did, we knew nothing about her.

There is a creative interpretation of goblins in this film, which I will not give away. The visuals are overall pleasing to the eye, especially the climax has some beautiful visual effects. I enjoyed it a lot more than the previous film's awkward fight in the end. That said, the fight scenes are shot with much too many cuts for a 3D audience, a common problem with films wanting to cash in on the 3D feature but putting no thought into how a film has to be shot differently from 2D for a 3D audience. There is a scene with CGI animals akin to what we saw in the first film, which went too over the top for my taste (and the animals don't look too convincing - you can see they are CGI).

The plot is very straight forward but apart from the common problem RPG pen & paper groups have, namely that not everybody has a reason to join the adventure, it was fine. Seriously, the dwarf characters were obviously there for comic relief but they added little to nothing to the plot and I did not understand why they accompanied the Huntsman in the first place.

The resolution comes too quickly in my opinion, it would have been better to linger more on the consequences of the second turning point. It feels rushed and doesn't explore the feelings of our characters very much, going rather straight to the action.

One thing the film does very well is including female characters as something other than decoration. There is a 50:50 gender split when it comes to the main characters (didn't catch if it was the same with extras, sorry) and the female characters have a purpose and motivation without being sexualised or treated as eye candy. This is something severely lacking in most fantasy films, so I want to compliment the film makers for doing a good job on that front. Well done!

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10. Enjoyable, decent fantasy flick, but nothing special. I would not necessarily watch it again, but also wouldn't be opposed if someone else wanted me to watch it with them.

It is so bad

[TheOneThatYouWanted · 1/10 · 5 July 2016]

I guess I should review this snoozefest while am motivated to waste even more of my time on it. First off, I did not watch the first film so I can not compare the two films. After this one, I'm not planning on ever watching the first Huntsman movie. Anyway, the biggest problem I have with the film is the predictability. The movie was so predictable that I literally knew what the story narrator was going to say before he said it. And why they do you need someone narrating the first 20 minutes of a 2 hour movie anyway? I'll tell you why, because it sucks. Oh, and I need to talk about Jessica Chastain. Jessica Chastain's accent is AWFUL! She sounded like an American doing an exceptionally bad impression of a Scotsman. Isn't Jessica Chastain an award winning actress? I know she did this movie for a paycheck but at the very least she could have pretended like she was taking the role seriously. But yeah, I'm not over exaggerating. Her accent was so laughable and goofy that I had to laugh the one second her voice went low and her American accent came out. But this movie was a lost cause before Jessica Chastain even came on screen. The action isn't nearly enough and the movie isn't even worth watching for the action anyway! If this sounds like a partial review of the movie, that is because it is. I stopped watching after 20 minutes. Time is something you can not get back and I didn't want to waste another second on this film.

Formulaic

[andymhancock · 6/10 · 2 September 2018]

It was watching colour by numbers. Formulaic dialogue. Formulaic plot. Absolutely nothing interesting about the story line. It wasn't unpleasant, but nothing about it makes me want to recommend it.

not good enough

[PennyReviews · 2/10 · 28 August 2016]

Somehow it felt like I've seen this movie before, and not because I've watched the first one. Well, the first movie was just a base, with some mentions of Snow White here and there and, of course, the evil Queen. However, other than that, the film makers seemed to have forgotten what happened in the first film. I mean, if I remember correctly, Eric had a wife who was killed by the Queen for her beauty, and, in the end, he fell in love with Snow white. Not to mention, the Queen's brother and other things that were simply "forgotten". Other than that, the movie was like a remake of the hobbit series. Sara gave the feel of an elf, the goblins and of course the bird spies were awfully familiar. Now, the Queen's story was okay, but the romance was a little too weak to sustain the whole film. So, 2 out of 10.

Better than the previous one

[lajospn · 10/10 · 23 April 2016]

I don't know why people complain about this one. I went in expecting a fantasy romp with beautiful but evil queens ... and that's exactly what I got! In spades! The other thing that stood out is that the actors are all top shelf. For guys like me, seeing *three* of the most gorgeous actresses appear together (Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron, Jessica Chastain) in a movie is a feast for the eyes. And they all can act! The supporting cast is great (bunch of awesome British guys) as well. The dialog is light- hearted and the love story believable. On top of all this, the story is pretty linear and makes sense. (In a fairy tale-way, of course, but what do you expect?) Most surprisingly, I did feel emotionally attached to the characters. Each had clear motivations and I felt for their plight. Lovers get separated then reunited, a mother loses a child and something snaps inside her, an evil queen wants revenge and power.

Overall, I can only recommend this movie. You won't get bored for a second and might even get emotional by the end.

A very capable sequel

[grumpyduck · 7/10 · 9 April 2016]

A sequel to Snow White and The Huntsman a film that I enjoyed, although I missed Kirsten Stewart Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt and the always fantastic Charlize Theron more than make up for her loss.

Hemsworth (awful Scottish accent aside) continues to make a great hero in this sword and sorcery romp through fairy-tale lands, there's comedy relief from Rob Brydon and Nick Frost reprising their roles as two of the 7 dwarfs ably supported by an absolutely fantastic Sheridan Smith.

The CGI was passable and the story drives along at a fair old lick, there's action, romance, a capable hero, his equally able female partner, deliciously evil queens and scary monsters, what more could you want from a fantasy film..?

Not worth of movie ticket

[tinovalkki · 4/10 · 10 May 2016]

The Huntsman: Winter's war is much worse movie, than Snow White and Huntsman was. Even it is beautifully set the story is quite empty. With it's dryish slap stick humor in it is mostly repellent and lame. It's supposed to be prequel movie to Snow White and Huntsman story, but you can hardly find any reference mark to first movie. Charlize Theron as evil queen is great, but she has regrettable too less of the screen time in this movie. Shaking shooting in some action scenes makes it hard to follow, which is unlucky to story telling. And those 3D glasses wont even make it easier to follow. Even the movie is quite visually beautiful, some of the monsters looks stupidly animated. Maybe most of the movie budget has spent to hire famous actors. In many times set feels like theater like set and doesn't feel very realistic. You may say, that it is a fairy tale and it shouldn't be realistic. But with this budget it should. Movie has flopped quite badly at movie theatres (even I Was with my husband alone in this screening) and it is not a worth of a movie ticket. I believe you will find this movie from Netflix quite soon, so maybe it is better to wit to see from there. At least you can pause it as many times you want to visit refrigerator. Even 3D won't give to you extra reason to see it in movies.

Adequate

[stevendbeard · 6/10 · 22 April 2016]

I saw "The Huntsman:Winter's War", starring Chris Hemsworth-Thor in the Marvel movies, Rush; Charlize Theron-Mad Max:Fury Road, Children of the Corn 3:Urban Harvest; Jessica Chastain-The Martian, Mama and Emily Blunt-Edge of Tomorrow, Looper.

This is a sequel and a prequel to the 2012 'Snow White and the Huntsman'. Snow White is not in this one. Charlize is just barely-at the beginning and at the end. It starts off with Charlize killing her husband and taking charge of her kingdom as the new Queen. Emily is her sister that has not developed her sorceress powers yet, but soon does, after Charlize pulls a dirty trick on her. Emily becomes like the girl from 'Frozen'; she has ice powers. The sisters go their separate ways and each has profound changes made in their lives. Emily looses all her feelings for anything to do with love-and doesn't believe that anyone else should have loving feelings, either- and Charlize goes off and gets killed by Snow White. Emily decides to build herself an army to take over every kingdom in the country and Chris and Jessica become her top 2 students. Problems arise when Chris and Jessica fall in love-a big no no, according to Emily-and the love birds are separated. About 7 years pass and that's when the movie kicks into sequel mode. Charlize reappears-don't worry, it is explained how that is possible-and starts causing problems for her sister and Chris & Jessica. The fight scenes are pretty good, effects are adequate and there is even some humor thrown in. As far as being a big blockbuster? Not quite. Just Adequate. It's rated "PG-13" for fantasy action, violence and sexual content-no nudity-and has a running time of 1 hour & 54 minutes. It's not one I would buy on DVD but it would make a good rental.