Big Picture Big Sound

Let It Go

Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the most pointless sequel of them all? Or is it a prequel?

"The Huntsman: Winter's War" opens as a prequel to 2012 film, "Snow White and the Huntsman", but quickly slides into a sequel to that film. It's a jarring shift, which opens the debate of what this film is truly trying to be. The only problem is, it has no idea. We also don't know either, and are never given a reason to care.

Charlize Theron returns as Ravenna, the evil queen from the first film. Theron was a campy delight in the first movie but once the prequel portion of the film ends, she disappears for a good chunk of the film. We are introduced to her sister, Freya (Emily Blunt), who discovers she can make things freeze with just the touch of her hand.

Freya banishes herself to her own ice kingdom, where she forms an army of child soldiers. Once the movie becomes a sequel, two of her best soldiers, Eric (Chris Hemsworth, returning as the titular Huntsman) and Sara (Jessica Chastain) have grown up and fallen in love. There's no room for affairs of the heart in Freya's kingdom, so uses her icy powers to keep them apart. (The film begs for all of the "Frozen" comparisons it's getting).

Eric and Sara must find their ways back to each other, which isn't as pleasant as they hope it would be. They must track down the infamous mirror and return to Freya's kingdom for revenge. We are told that it takes seven years for them to reunite but "The Huntsman: Winter's War" doesn't really care much about the passage of time.

First-time director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan (who was Oscar-nominated for "Snow White and the Huntsman" as part of the visual effects team) clearly has an eye for effects. He stages some individual moments that pop but fails to sustain a consistent energy throughout. "The Huntsman: Winter's War" is actually quite boring.

A lot of the issues stem from Evan Spiliotopoulos and Craig Mazin's script, which tries to tell a few too many stories. As we already discussed, this movie hasn't a clue what it wants to be and it appears that there were many ideas for the final product and a little bit of each idea made it in.

"The Huntsman: Winter's War" boasts a bevy of talent, with Theron and Blunt having some fun camping it up. Theron, Blunt and Chastain are some of the finest actresses today. (Heck, Theron's "Monster" performance ranks high as one of the greatest acting achievements on film). Chastain, who I am fully comfortable saying has a Meryl Streep-like gift, seems bored with the material and doesn't have much chemistry with Hemsworth. Their romance is dull and their banter is uninteresting.

Liam Neeson serves as the film's narrator and as he closes out the movie, he almost promises us another one. Can't we just let it go, let it go?