Friday, June 8, 2012

JUST WATCHED 'SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN'


Yesterday, together with my friends, we watched this movie at TriNoma Mall. 


At TriNoma Mall Sky Garden. After long years, we've met again our batch mates (Anne and Angel - after they resigned) during our training. As if nothing has changed - old friends wearing the same faces and humor. From left to right: Paul, Angeline, Angel, Anne, Me (at the back), Lea and Mary Grace. Grace was from other batch. Lea, Grace and I were close so she decided to join us.







Snow White and the Huntsman is a 2012 British-American action fantasy film based on the German fairy tale "Snow White" by the Brothers Grimm, directed by Rupert Sanders and written by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini.


Plot
The film opens with the Huntsman narrating how once upon a time, in the dead of winter, a queen saw a single red rose blooming despite the freezing cold. While admiring the flower, she pricked her finger on the flower's thorns and three drops of blood fell on the white snow. At that moment the Queen wished that she could have a child with lips red as blood, skin white as snow, hair black as a raven's wing, and the same spirit and defiance of that red rose blooming in spite of the winter. A few months later, the Queen gave birth to a daughter named Snow White.

Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is the daughter of King Magnus (Noah Huntley) and Queen Eleanor (Liberty Ross). After his wife's death, King Magnus falls in love with the beautiful Ravenna (Charlize Theron) after rescuing her from the Dark Army, an army of invincible glass soldiers who have enslaved several of the neighboring kingdoms. The two are married but on their wedding night, Ravenna - who is in fact a powerful sorceress and the Dark Army's master - paralyzes Magnus with a poison and informs him of her intention on taking his life as well as his kingdom and kills him. Ravenna than seizes control of the kingdom after a battle ensues between the king's men and her knights, led by her brother Finn (Sam Spruell). Duke Hammond (Vincent Regan), Magnus' most trusted knight, attempts to help Snow White and his young son William escape the castle but fails when Snow White is captured by Ravenna's brother. Snow White is then locked away in the dungeons while Ravenna consults her Magic Mirror (Christopher Obi Ogugua), who tells her that another kingdom has fallen, that there is no end to her beauty and power and she still remains "the fairest of them all." Over the next several years, as the kingdom falls into ruin, Ravenna begins to capture women whose beauty might surpass her own and drains them of their youth.

Fifteen years later, Ravenna senses that her power is weakening. She learns from the Mirror that Snow White, who has now come of age, is destined to surpass her and that she is the reason Ravenna's power is fading. The Mirror tells the Queen that Snow White is both her ruin, and her salvation, and if she takes the young girl's heart she will become immortal. She orders Finn to bring her Snow White but the princess escapes. She is chased into the Dark Forest, where the knights ultimately lose her trail. Powerless in the Dark Forest, Ravenna locates Eric the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), a drunken widower who survived a hunting expedition to the Dark Forest sometime before, and orders him to lead Finn and his men in pursuit of Snow White. In exchange, she promises to revive his deceased wife Sara but warns him that he will be executed should he refuse.

Eric soon locates Snow White only to be startled by her claim that Ravenna will betray him. He interrogates Finn and soon learns that it is impossible to resurrect the dead - which infuriates him. The Huntsman helps Snow White escape, promising to escort her to Duke Hammond's castle in exchange for a small reward of gold. Duke Hammond learns that Snow White is alive and has fled into the Dark Forest while his son William (Sam Claflin) - who was her childhood friend and love - poses as a mercenary and joins Finn's small band in order to find and protect her. Along the way the Huntsman teaches Snow White how to defend herself, telling her how to use her smaller size to her advantage, and to go straight for her opponents heart. The two safely reach the edge of the Dark Forest, but when they cross a bridge they are attacked by a Troll. The Huntsman tries to fight the Troll but he is soon knocked unconscious. Snow White jumps in front of the Huntsman before it can kill him. The Huntsman awakens to see the Troll and Snow White staring at each other until the Troll bows its head and turns away.

They travel onward into a marsh where they find sanctuary in a village where all of the women have disfigured themselves in order to escape Ravenna's search for beautiful girls to drain. Eric learns Snow White's true identity from one of the women. Deciding that she would be safer without him since everything he ever cares about is taken from him, he leaves in the middle of the night. Soon after the village is attacked by Finn and his hunting party who set fire to the people's homes. William, among the raiders, desperately seeks out Snow White and glimpses her through the fire before she runs away. While helping the other women escape into boats, Snow White is grabbed by one of the men, but saved by the Huntsman who heard the attack and returned to help. The women escape down the river and the pair run away into the marshes.

Back at the castle, Ravenna recalls her childhood from many lifetimes ago. When her village was attacked by the a king's knights, her mother cast a spell over Ravenna, spilling three drops of the child's blood in white milk and then having her drink it. Her mother told her that her beauty would be her power but warned her that since it is by Ravenna's fairest blood the spell was done, then by fairest blood can it be undone. Ravenna and her brother are then taken by the king's men while their mother screams after them "Avenge us!"

Finally stopping in the woods, the Huntsman apologizes to Snow White for leaving her and gives her his word that he will take her to Duke Hammond. Suddenly, they are ambushed and tied up by a band of dwarves with an old grudge against the Huntsman - consisting of Muir (Bob Hoskins), Beith (Ian McShane), Gorth (Ray Winstone), Coll (Toby Jones), Duir (Eddie Marsan), Quert (Johnny Harris), Nion (Nick Frost), and Gus (Brian Gleeson). The others are about to kill the captured travelers when Muir uses his powers of premonition to discover Snow White's identity as the only person who can defeat Ravenna and end her reign of terror. They then agree to help her and take her to the Sanctuary, home of the fairies.

That night, the dwarves tell Snow White their past of how they were once members of a noble race who mined for gold in the mountains until one day, the group resurfaced and found that Ravenna had killed all of their brethren during the same month that she slaughtered King Magnus and stole the kingdom. Snow White makes friends with Gus who asks her to dance while the other dwarves discuss how since discovering Snow White, all of their minor ailments have since healed. The Huntsman looks on and starts to wonder if he's really in this for the gold reward, or if it's now something more.

The next morning, the fairies awaken Snow White and she (with the rest of the group trailing behind) follows a calling into the heart of Sanctuary where the White Hart, a large, mystical stag, blesses her. Muir watches and proclaims that Snow White is the one they've been waiting for and she will end Ravenna's darkness. Then, the group is attacked once more by Finn's men, resulting in Gus's death. William reveals himself and helps defeat the soldiers. The Huntsman fights Finn and learns that he is the one responsible for the death of the Hunstman's wife. Enraged, the Huntsman impales Finn on the jagged edge of a tree stump and continues to push him against the wood. Finn begs to his sister to save him but Ravenna, who has already started to age from the power she uses to try and heal her brother, realizes that the power it would take to heal him would strip away all of her remaining youth. She gasps out "Forgive me, brother," and then releases him, allowing Finn to die as the Huntsman watches. The group mourns the loss of Gus, remembering the noble men they used to be before the reign of Ravenna. They vow to follow Snow White in life or death and continue their journey to Hammond's castle.

Ravenna, enraged by Finn's death, follows Snow White's party and disguises herself as William and tempts Snow White into eating a poisoned apple. As Snow White struggles to breathe and falls to the ground, Ravenna quickly confesses to Snow White that this entire time she had been her only weakness and her only salvation. She goes into detail informing her that she alone is able to undo the spell that Ravenna's mother cast all those years ago, but by consuming her heart would seal the spell and grant her immortality forever. At the campsite, the Huntsman awakes to find Snow White missing and awakens the Prince and the dwarves to help him find her. At this point, Ravenna is about to cut out the princess's heart when the Huntsman and Prince William attack Ravenna, forcing the evil Queen to transform into ravens and flee. The Prince tends to Snow White, while the Huntsman demands that the dwarves do something to save her but they cannot. William kisses the now comatose Snow White but she does not wake up.

The group keeps their promise and delivers Snow White's body to Duke Hammond's castle. The Duke and his allies mourn while the Huntsman maintains vigil over Snow White. He speaks to her about his wife, Sara, whom he met after the war and how she changed him into a better man. He tells her how he loved her and the guilt he felt when he let her out of his sight, losing her forever. After her death he became himself again, a self that he didn't much care for, and was lost until he met Snow White. The Huntsman confesses that she reminds him of his wife, that she too has the same heart and spirit and since meeting her notices his change into the man he once was long ago. He apologizes to Snow White for failing her and tells her she deserved better. Before departing, the Huntsman kisses Snow White, unknowingly breaking the spell. After he leaves, Snow White awakes with a revelation. She addresses the Duke and his army, stirring the men into battle and confiding in them that she alone possesses the power to kill the Queen. That night they prepare to do battle the following morning with the Queen and her army.

The next day, the dwarves secretly enter Ravenna's castle through the sewers and open the gates to allow the Duke's army to invade the castle. Snow White searches the castle and confronts Ravenna, engaging in a duel with her stepmother. William, the Huntsman, and several guards follow Snow White and are attacked by Ravenna's dark army. Ravenna, believing that she has won, is about to kill Snow White when the princess uses the defense move the Huntsman taught her, stabbing Ravenna in the heart. Ravenna, in shocked disbelief, pulls the dagger from her body and three drops of blood fall onto Snow White's armor. Mortally wounded, the Queen crawls away to her beloved mirror and withers into a decrepit old crone and dies, but not before a sympathetic Snow White informs the frightened Queen that "You cannot have my heart." The Dark Army crumbles into dust and Hammond's army is victorious. The kingdom is restored to its former glory and Snow White is crowned Queen with Prince William and the dwarves by her side. As she looks out over her subjects, Snow White's gaze rests on the Huntsman and the two share a smile.

Cast
§  Chris Hemsworth as Eric, the Huntsman.
§  Sam Claflin as William, Snow White's childhood friend.
§  Lily Cole as Greta, a young woman who befriends Snow White.
§  Sam Spruell as Finn, Ravenna's brother and enforcer.
§  Vincent Regan as Duke Hammond, William's father.
§  Noah Huntley as King Magnus, Snow White's father.
§  Liberty Ross as Queen Eleanor, Snow White's mother.
§  Christopher Obi Ogugua as the voice of the Magic Mirror.
§  Greg Hicks as Black Knight General
§  Peter Ferdinando as Black Knight

The Dwarves
§  Ian McShane as Beith, the leader of the Dwarves.
§  Bob Hoskins as Muir, the blind, elder Dwarf, who posseses premonitory powers.
§  Johnny Harris as Quert, Muir's son.
§  Toby Jones as Coll, Duir's brother.
§  Eddie Marsan as Duir, Coll's brother.
§  Ray Winstone as Gort, an ill-tempered dwarf.
§  Nick Frost as Nion, Beith's right-hand man.
§  Brian Gleeson as Gus, the youngest of the Dwarves, who develops a bond with Snow White.





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