Summer 2012
Fantasy Adventure
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin,
Rachel Stirling, Sam Spruell, Lily Cole, Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, Toby Jones
and Bob Hoskins.
Certificate: 12A.
Running Time: 127 Mins Approx.
Seen At: Stockport’s
Cineworld Cinemas.
On: Thursday, 14th June, 2012.
As early as
April, we had the first of two early-summer cinematic Snow White’s. Julia
Roberts’ return to the mainstream, relishing in fun menace in Mirror Mirror. I haven’t seen it yet, but, judging from the
trailer, was defiantly the more fun - child-friendly, sugary, frothier and
lighthearted, aimed squarely at youngsters compared to this supposedly more
‘epic’ adaptation. I suspect, that the former would have been the one which I
personally would have enjoyed far more though.
The intention
presumably was to re-imagine the classic Disney fairytale for the
teen-angst-fuelled target audiences of today, their fanatically populist choice
being the moody, pale-faced vampires of the Twilight
phenomenon (surely it’s not just coincidental that the female lead here is
the same as the heroine for so-dubbed ‘Twi-hards’
- but is it as cynical a ploy as just being a shrewd case of shoo-in casting to
ensure successful box-office takings?
Maybe, but by opting for a decidedly darker
tone, the result is mixed to say the least. Far too long, far too slow, and
taking an absolute age to go anywhere, it takes on too many ideas for its own
good.
Kristen
Stewart’s demeanor is as miserable, stilted and inexpressive as ever, and even
when she’s supposed to be the flourishing flower, she’s forever dressed in
pauper’s rags.
Chris Hemsworth, a great actor, very popular with the
mighty success of Thor, is here
completely wasted on a vastly underwritten, cardboard-template of a role, and a
terrible Scottish accent. Considering the title, you’d have also thought that
his Huntsman would be the predominant love interest, but instead, that is Sam
Claflin, fairing much better as William, a suitably heroic Prince Charming.
Thank
goodness mainly though for Charlize Theron, completely stealing the show,
fantastic and superbly evil in the simplest sense as Ravenna, (so named due to
her recurring affinity with a motif of magically swirling ravens under her control
– rather similar to Oz’s Wicked Witch
of The West and her infamous flying monkeys). She’s the classic queen terrified
of aging, who scarily enough, temporarily regains youth by sucking it out of
her captured victims.
The sword-and-sorcery action set-pieces and climactic
battles are visually impressive, as are some innovatively lavish visual effects
and ideas, such as a spooling, liquid-gold mirror, and Ravenna’s bath, a
literal metaphor for retaining the ‘milk of youth’ – she literally bathes in
the lucid, white liquid in a desperate attempt to cling to her younger self.
(We first see her in saucy seductress mode, stabbing her unsuspecting men in
the heart – quite literally - in a vengeful rage). Her aging make-up is also
terrific, as she transforms from spikily elegant, beautifully costumed queen
into haggard harridan.
Whist
cleverly retaining many staple elements (the mirror, with it’s famous ‘On the Wall’ speech, the poisoned apple,
the huntsman’s plot thread), it just diverts too far from the filmic source
material - Disney’s groundbreaking, first ever full-length animated feature,
from 1937. I always welcome new re-envisionings of much revered classics – but
only once or twice does it take memorable sequences and apply them to the new
approach. This fails to capitalize on some original’s most startlingly
effective moments, such as Lucille La Verne, inimitably voicing both the Wicked
Queen (as she was known in fairytale) and horrible Witch, by drinking a lethal
potion, putting her terrifying panoramically-photographed transformation into a
dizzying spin.
As a
consequence, tonally, it’s extremely muddled throughout, switching between
languidly slow, overlong and serious, and then suddenly remembering the very
young children’s audience, and their partiality towards humour that’s just far
too infantile.
The latter is
due mainly to the dwarfs, who, despite the starry cast they’re made up of
(including wise leader Bob Hoskins), not only don’t put in an appearance until
well after the first hour, but, curiously there’s eight of them.
One of the
best scenes, at last adds some much-needed colour, as they lead our moping
heroine into an evergreen glade, complete with toadstools, cute-faced pixies
and fluorescent, camouflaged tortoises. It’s a beautifully designed, quiet
sequence.
The most
memorable supporting role is that of the Queen’s brother, played with dripping
malevolence by Sam Spruell, very much in the similar cannon of The Mask of Zorro’s deceptively-named
Captain Love, David Thewlis’s Northern antagonist King Einon in DragonHeart, or even Rocky Horror’s Richard O’Brien’s Pierre
Le Pieu, in a fellow fairytale adaptation: Ever
After: A Cinderella Story. These are wonderfully slimy supporting
characters, irredeemably evil, and every bit as impactful, if not even more so,
in the role of sometimes the secondary villain, as Theron is as his dominant,
more intellectual sibling.
The film’s
most disappointing element is the screenplay, struggling under the weight of
its own flat dialogue and seemingly endless exposition.
In the accompanying trailers, as well as gigantic
pop-out billboard posters adorning the multiplexes of shopping centres,
presumably because filmmakers were all too aware of the recent competition of Mirror Mirror, I feel the marketing
campaign made this out to be the far more epic option of the two, on a more
ambitious scale. So I wonder why it feels quite small compared with its
contemporary blockbusters such as the Narnia
films for instance.
Perhaps it’s the choice not to venture into the
utilization of 3D, apparently less popular with audiences, who in the main
prefer 2D, but to me, a third dimension always adds to a certain immersive
quality to the entire cinematic experience. The decision then to not choose 3D
for a project that would seem to suit it ideally, is a missed opportunity,
often counting against the film, meaning that a swish of a sword, slow-motion
drips of blood, or the breaking of the mirror’s shards of glass, could have
been made far more tactile for the audience.
The result,
unfortunately feels considerably less ‘epic’ than was first intended, at least
promotionally. This is partly due to the omission from the theatrical trailer,
of Theron’s deeply sinister narration, a much more threatening version of the
mirror’s simile-laden poem. Instead of the supposed innocence of the animated
original’s: ‘Skin white as snow’ etc,
Ravenna’s decidedly darker declaration of jealousy at her rival reads: ‘Lips red as blood…hair black as night…bring
me your heart…my dear, dear Snow White’… It’s such an effectively
unsettling speech, delivered with all the appropriate relish by Theron, I don’t
know why they didn’t use it at all in the actual film.
It’s mildly
enjoyable enough, but a wonderful central performance from Theron, don’t change
this from being a case of individual scenes being stronger than the muddled
whole. Here’s hoping, that if this is a relative success, and distributors Universal Studios do decide to cash-in
on an inevitable sequel, as much effort is put into improving this labored
screenplay’s pacing, character development and dialogue, as it does into its
far more successful take on its cinematic technique; of effects, villainy and
visuals.
Rating: * *
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