Chris Hemsworth

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Movie News Reviews

Movie Review: Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

Original Fairy Tales Are Quite Grimm

A Film Review of Snow White and the Huntsman

By: Lawrence Napoli

 

[[wysiwyg_imageupload:2054:]]             The trend of infusing fairy tales with grown up grit and special effects continues in La-La Land with Snow White and the Huntsman.  Let’s make no mistake about the reason for this trend as it’s the same reason why so many comic book licenses have been adapted recently.  Corporate greed and its need to ensure predictable profits have facilitated an unholy alliance with a lack of original creativity from screenwriters; thus the adaptation fever.  It is a tad perplexing how we all continue to find entertainment value in the same stories being told in the same ways, but most of that sentiment comes from the intrigue of seeing timeless pieces of fiction brought to life on the silver screen.  Snow White and the Huntsman is a fine experiment in generating this same feeling of nostalgia, but really doesn’t bring anything new to the table beyond this generation’s visual effects and 1 major twist that isn’t developed in ANY way which gets swept under the rug by the script like some common expository detail.  I am uncertain if the reason for this is simply bad writing or conspiracy to turn Snow White into a sequel machine.  Still, this film is one of the better movies of the summer of 2012 and if you enjoy fantasy, there are plenty of visual goodies to feast your eyes upon.

            A cursory examination of any trailer clearly identifies this film as yet another “girl power” type of film regardless of anything Kristen Stewart says to the contrary.  Never before have we seen Snow White: Warrior Princess, but we certainly have now.  By the way, this element of the story is not the aforementioned “twist” in the script and thus screenwriters Evan Daugherty and John Lee Hancock took a fairly predictable approach to a female protagonist in this day of feminine empowerment.  The evil queen is still an alpha ego you don’t want to mess with, Snow White is still kind hearted and the dwarves are still eccentric, but what about that Huntsman?  Well, he certainly has a much more prominent role in this story and that’s the “twist.”  I’ve always known this character to be the evil queen’s mercenary, but this film makes him much more sympathetic as well as personally important to Snow White.  Unfortunately this is where the script takes a dive like Sonny Liston.  The Huntsman is a character that is given a decent amount of exposition, development and screen time, but his subplot sets the audience up for a payoff of zero.  This is an extremely disappointing resolution after this film’s climax is executed and amounts to one of the worst endings I have seen on celluloid in recent memory.  Just about everything else about this script is excellent: establishing Snow White’s history, explaining the rise of the evil queen and identifying the enchanted nature of this fictional world.  The quality of the story is impressive up to the end and I wonder if the reason for this inexplicable drop was a last-minute push by Universal Pictures to turn this film into a franchise?  A sequel would not only clear things up, but shamelessly turn 1 movie into 2 to ultimately learn Snow White’s fate.

            The action and visual effects in this film are actually quite satisfying.  Lots of sword play, horse charges, arrow volleys and fights with monsters keeps a fairly active and dynamic screen for a good portion of the film.  Chris Hemsworth takes the combat lead here and shows an impressive level of dexterity wielding various short blades and hatchets with few cutaways to stunt actors.  As for those visual effects, the evil Queen’s sorcery translates quite well from her Shang Tseung life-sucking powers to her ability to create creatures of cobalt glass.  What was neat about these effects was that they seem out of the ordinary for even a fictional “period piece” such as this.  In fact, the one segment of the film that did seem a bit much was the enchanted forest of the pixies which looked like it was all but carbon copied from an amalgam of cheerful forests from various Disney films.  I understand the need for contrast, but perhaps the pixies themselves didn’t have to be so creepily adorable.  And speaking of creepy, the seven dwarves are most definitely not as quaint as Sleepy, Bashful and Doc as it looks like the same head swapping, travelling matte software that was used in Captain America: The First Avenger were used in this film because Bob Hoskins, Eddie Marsan and Toby Jones are not little people.  This effect looked a little better here than in Cap because 1) Chris Evans’ head on an un-buff body is too difficult to visualize, 2) the dwarves’ heads were scaled to the body actors’ actual stature much better and 3) their costumes helped mask the neck area where it’s easier for the audience to see any visual inconsistency.  

            Count Snow White as another film that pushes Chris Hemsworth to the forefront of Hollywood’s leading men.  Clearly, his not so humble beginnings in the action/adventure genre have vaulted him to the A-List, but it is in the quality of his various performances that proves he is levels beyond the proverbial meatheads of Stallone and Schwarzenegger.  His character is designed as a victim of tragic circumstance relayed to the audience by all manners of drunk and disorderly conduct.  Hemsworth sells likeability in all of his characters that even a roughneck like this huntsman should, theoretically, be a little less charismatic.  It is his combination of facial sincerity with flawless line delivery as well as that triple A smile that makes an audience buy in every time.  Of course, this works for just about any actor that strictly plays heroic protagonists so the true test for Hemsworth will be when he rides out this initial wave of positively charged success to transition to some darker roles while still selling his patented genuine savvy. 

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I am here to save you from yourself.

            Of course, the movie is still called “Snow White” and the Huntsman so the young princess was bound to make an appearance.  Thus, rookie director Rupert Sanders (whose imdb.com’s photo is eerily reminiscent of a mug shot) was saddled with Kristen Stewart who perhaps IS the best actress of all time for convincing the entirety of Hollywood that she is, in fact, a good actress and not some wannabe emo-girl who’s only mastered one expression: vacant disinterest.  All right, perhaps I’m poking a little too much fun at Kristen, but I was truly disturbed to find out that she is currently commanding the biggest bucks, per picture, for Hollywood leading ladies these days.  That’s really interesting information considering Stewart played the title character in this film while producing a forgettable performance that was easily third fiddle behind Hemsworth and Theron.  Each scene featuring Stewart seemed carbon copied from Twilight.  Her face rarely emotes; her voice rarely fluctuates and let’s just say any attempt to generate some sort of accent leaves much to be desired.  But, she’s still a popular, trendy actress.  I can’t begrudge Stewart too much because the fact of the matter is that she’s a flavor of the week much like Megan Fox was and Channing Tatum is.  Casting director Lucy Bevan probably thought she hit one out of the park by casting Kristen Stewart for a literary character known for true beauty inside and out as “the fairest of them all.”  In no world: real, imaginary or Matrix-y is Kristen Stewart superior to Charlize Theron in any conceivable way one could classify a human being.  This is the fundamental flaw of this production and no, it’s not fair to expect Stewart to measure up to Theron.  So yes, it was utter folly set up these expectations in the first place. 

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Can’t you tell how excited I am for being a Hollywood director?

            As for Charlize Theron, she is beautiful, in every single way; bad characters won’t bring her down.  Yes, I rooted for the evil queen to win despite her implied creepy relationship to her on screen brother.  Despite that, she was quite menacing and intimidating even to the likes of the huntsman, but since she wielded magic, she was not called upon to engage in any combat.  I can’t say she played this role in such a way as to stand out from every other interpretation.  “The Evil Queen” is about as generic as villains come so, so Charlize’s performance seemed more of an amalgam with a twist of her own patented sultry glare.  Overall, Charlize delivered a solid performance that doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it would have been nice to see her character really unleash some serious, rage infused, hell on everyone.  Alas, her character simply hovers in between narcissism and elitism for the entire film.  

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Guess what?  I’m pretty hot.

            This was a very good film to watch and is quite ideal for a “date night,” as there’s enough girly things happening to keep the ladies interested with plenty of action and effects to satisfy explosion-seeking men without geek-ing out on the utter dork-dem of comic book adaptations.  Make no mistake, this is no AAA blockbuster, but there are only 2 (maybe 3 if you count the Spider-Man reboot) super blockbusters this summer.  Come for Snow White, stay for the huntsman.

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Movie News Reviews

Movie Review: The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Everything You Think This Movie Is; It Isn’t and Thank God For That!

A Film Review of The Cabin in the Woods

By: Lawrence Napoli

 

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Where the hell has Joss Whedon been since his glory days of Buffy and Firefly?  Whatever he’s been doing, he’s also been soaking in a hot tub of liquefied creativity.  If the audience can take The Cabin in the Woods as ANY indicator as to the quality of The Avengers, rest assured that the inevitable excitement and satisfaction will cause some in the audience to spontaneously combust on May 4th.  Until then, I cannot help but unequivocally demand anyone reading this right now to see this film at your earliest convenience.  Everything you know about horror, sci-fi and fantasy gets flipped on its head and delivered in a manner you never saw coming.  Remember what the boys did to that printer in Office Space (1999)?  Joss Whedon did that to “the formula” of Hollywood filmmakin,g and when he was done eviscerating it — he gave it the finger as he jumped on his magical stead made of lightning-fire and flew off to conquer the next galaxy adjacent to The Milky Way.  Ok, so I over exaggerated a tad on that last comment, but my desire for originality, creativity and quality from Hollywood has left me drowning in the limitless depths of its abysmal mediocrity that only the few gems produced by Christopher Nolan have been able to hold me over with life inspiring essence.  All right, I over exaggerated on that one too, but the point is that everyone will see the trailers for The Cabin in the Woods and expect the same old slasher drivel.  After seeing this film, many may try to classify it, but it certainly is NOT the same old anything. 

Let’s get the least spectacular part of the review out of the way by discussing the performances.  Did anyone else know that Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth was leading this cast of unknowns into the seldom tread waters of Hollywood innovation?  I sure didn’t, and when I saw his name flash up on the marquee, I knew something way different was about to transpire.  Hemsworth doesn’t come close to reinventing the wheel with his acting, but that’s a very conscious thought process at work because this film is constantly setting the audience up.  Hemsworth, along with costars Kristen Connolly, Anna Hutchison, Jesse Williams and Fran Kranz are all playing very specific teen stereotypes in order to lure the audience down the path of common expectations.  Every performance from each protagonist stays within said expectations all the way to the end of the film even when circumstances would justify a stark departure.  The same can be said of the rest of the supporting cast consisting of Richard Jenkins (The Rum Diary), Bradley Whitford (The West Wing), Brian White (Stomp the Yard) and Amy Acker (various Whedon TV shows); none of whom seem to belong in some run of the mill horror film.   Everyone plays their part in a leveled fashion one would expect from the environments each character populates.  It is the fact that these different worlds coalesce into the same which makes every performance satisfactory because in a fictional world where the rule book was left in Charlie Sheen’s respectable attire closet, any actor would be compelled to break character and do whatever the heck they wanted.

Selling this world to an audience requires the kind of effects and imagery that work hard to maintain authenticity while pushing the audience’s limits for absurdity.  As such, the use of extensive CG visuals is rationed quite well until the last third of the film’s duration in order to deflect as much attention from the reality bending aspects of the story as possible.  As much as I loved the look and feel of the “force field” effect, I questioned if it was necessary for the audience to see this as early as we did presuming that keeping plot elements as cryptic as possible was, in fact, the order of the day.  Thankfully, this served a specific purpose near the film’s end, and not simply because there was an unforeseen surplus in the budget that needed to be spent.  The core of this film’s effects remain anchored to the realm of practical horror tricks which means plenty of masks to be gored, prosthetics to be punctured and fake blood to be spread.  What causes practical effects to come off as “too fake” for the audience is if the script and tone of the film calls for violence that is over the top.  That means no geyser bursting slashed veins or arteries.  The audience will be spared the disgusting shock value of Hostel which is, again, all about making the audience buy into this film being another Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street.  Much effort was made into making this duck look, sound and feel like a duck.

But what’s going to blow your mind is that it isn’t even a duck.  It’s not even an animal, mineral or vegetable.  What you see is and isn’t what you get in so many ways that will not become clear until that one moment during this film where the curtain is lifted on the reality of this fictional world.  It had me dropping my jaw, laughing out loud, forming a question mark above my head and simply being awe-stricken by the randomness that was unleashed at said point which continued to stampede until the final credits rolled.  To co-writers Joss Whedon and (director) Drew Goddard: I salute you both for proving that everything hasn’t been thought of in Hollywood land, and showing that more effort made in writing distinguishes the trailblazers from the canon-fodder.  This isn’t the kind of story that will only require attentiveness to register, but it will also require a small leap of faith to allow it to make sense.  I have praised this film for its ability to setup the audience for an eventual brain explosion, but that doesn’t extend to the plot’s details into explaining why every character is where they are, does what they do and behaves the way they behave.  Therein lies said faith leaping.  Being more forthcoming in the script (even with well written dialogue discovery as opposed to blatant exposition scenes) would ruin the twist and lessen the impact of the climax.  As with “big reveal” films, the surprise makes everything that was seen and heard appreciated at a completely different level, thus protecting that surprise until the opportune moment is paramount.  I felt that the culmination of this story was inspired (in some way) by James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) because Whedon truly begs, borrows and steals from so many aspects of horror, sci-fi and fantasy.  It is because no one thought of the common links among these worlds in the manner as presented in The Cabin in the Woods which demands respect from the viewer.  There is no question that the audience will find familiarity with this story, but only to a point.  At that point, the concept of perspective allows the action onscreen to evoke thought and adrenaline to surge surprise and satisfaction in the viewer.

The best part about this film is that hidden away beneath the effects, the circumstances, the twists and the turns lays a very unique social commentary in regards to humanity’s conceptualization of good versus evil.  It is an idea that leads an individual to question humanity’s existence in the first place.  Are we here because it’s good or are we here to placate evil?  People of faith, those without it and those simply convinced of life never extending beyond that which can be seen, felt and heard all have unique perspectives on this issue.  The Cabin in the Woods takes a very risky (and grim) interpretation of existence by presenting a what-if scenario that would cause even the most level-headed bloke to say “WTF?!?”  Seeing this movie did not inspire me devote myself to anarchy and go on a killing spree, but it did make me think about the decisions that make me who I am, and if that sense of self would maintain amidst the warmth of serenity, the horror of evil or the desolation of the void. 

The number one reason why the next film you see should is The Cabin in the Woods is because it is oh so very different and “different” in movies can evoke emotions on par with “great filmmaking.”  I am not expecting $3 billion dollars in global ticket sales or multiple Academy Award nominations because it simply is not that kind of film.  But it sure as heck will make a splash!  This movie’s rebellious nature makes it stand out, and the fact that it was released prior to the summer blockbuster rush – and not during the horror season of October/November – is extremely appropriate because it is so much more than a horror or a thriller.  I haven’t seen anything quite like this before, and it made me feel refreshed as I walked out of the movie theatre.  There is a whole new world of fiction out there, waiting to be discovered.  All we need is for those who control the means of production to have greater confidence in taking the kind of risks to deliver that which is truly new and not regurgitated mish mash.

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