Beaks here...
Up until now, I've had no real interest in SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN. It just seemed to be a film constructed for a particular demographic, one that is... particularly undemanding (i.e. the TWILIGHT crowd). So I wrote it off as a mopey, faux-gritty take on the classic fairy tale.
This just-released trailer has completely turned me around on the film.
Perhaps it's the moody synth score (can't place where it's from), which puts me in the mind of such strikingly stylish '80s fantasies as LEGEND or LABYRINTH (while those aren't necessarily great films, they were at least risky and indelible). I also really dig Charlize Theron's deliciously wicked Evil Queen; if nothing else, her performance could be one for the pantheon of great screen villains. And then there's Sanders imagery, which is assured and just distinct enough to make me think this isn't some cookie-cutter, Hot Topic-pandering nonsense.
I'm a bit concerned that we don't see or hear much of Kristen Stewart as the title heroine, but Chris Hemsworth seems suitably rough and heroic as the Huntsman. I've a feeling the marketing campaign is going to emphasize his presence more and more over the next seven months.
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN is due in theaters on June 1, 2012.
