Chris Hemsworth (Ghostbusters) and Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road) will be back to the realms of fantasy again later in 2016 with the release of The Huntsman: Winter’s War, which will be the prequel and sequel to their 2012 introduction in Snow White And The Huntsman. However, for us the most exciting news is that the cast also includes the inimitable Rob Brydon (The Trip), who makes his debut to the world of big screen box office movies as a dwarf called Gryff, which looks hilarious.
Release date
Cinema: The film made its way to the big screen in the US on Friday the 8th April 2016, in parallel with the UK release date on the same day. As with the first movie, special effects wizardry will be a big part of The Huntsman: Winter’s War, so we’d say that it was one for either 3D or IMAX viewing, which will allow you to take in the comedy value of Rob Brydon in a straight role as a dwarf. Check out the trailer below to see him in all his little man glory.
It arrived in the UK on the same weekend as sci-fi thriller Midnight Special and Kristen Wiig comedy Nasty Baby.
DVD, Blu-ray and digital download: Following its stint on the big screen in Spring 2016, the film will be making it’s way to DVD, Blu-ray and digital download in the UK on the 15th August 2016.
Story
Shifting backwards in time initially to tell the origin story to Snow White And The Huntsman, it’s a fairy tale mashup that combines elements of Snow White with the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Snow Queen. Queen Raveena’s the fairest in the land thanks to the power of her twisted golden mirror, but with a nod from the soothsaying looking glass that her sister’s unborn child would go on to replace her, you can probably guess that she doesn’t sit idly by and just let it happen.
With her child gone, Freya becomes the Ice Queen, locking herself away in a frost-bitten fortress and raising an army of hunters to strike back at the world, but when her two strongest warriors fall in love, against her one rule that they must harden their hearts to it, she banishes them. Years later, when she finds out about the death of her sister she retrieves the mirror and discovers she can use the power to bring her sister back, which sets things in motion for a new epic war in the Kingdom of Tabor.
Cast
Charlize Theron is back in the role of the evil Queen Raveena, Chris Hemsworth returns as Eric the Huntsman, Emily Blunt (The Girl On The Train) takes on the part of Ice Queen Freya and Jessica Chastain (The Martian) plays the other big new addition to the cast as the Huntsman’s lady love Sara. The dwarf side of the fight back against the evil queens sees Nick Frost (Cuban Fury) back as Nion, while also introducing Sheridan Smith (Gavin And Stacy) as Mrs. Bronwyn and Rob Brydon as Gryff.
Production
While the second movie won’t be directed by Rupert Sanders, it will continue to provide the opportunity for a directorial debut and this time around it’s Cedric Nicolas-Troyan taking his first turn in the chair. Having overseen the visual effects in the making of Snow White And The Huntsman, he also brings an element of continuity to the release. Joe Roth has the producer credits and with both Maleficent and Alice In Wonderland in his back catalogue there’s more than enough fairy tale fantasy fiction adventure experience behind the film.
First impressions
We’ve got mixed views on The Huntsman: Winter’s War. On the one hand it’s shaping up to be a fun family blockbuster with very impressive visuals and a decent cast. However, you’ve only got to watch the trailer below to see that there are a fair few cheese ball lines to look out for. Hopefully, this will be counteracted by the comedy potential of Rob Brydon, Nick Frost and Sheridan Smith.
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