Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, Sam Claflin, Toby Jones, Nick Frost, Lily Cole, Eddie Marsan, Bob Hoskins, Vincent Regan, Annabelle Wallis, Dave Legeno, Rachael Stirling, Jamie Blackley, Brian Gleeson
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
Fantasy adventure retelling of the tale of Snow White directed by Rupert Sanders. The story follows Snow White (Kristen Stewart), who grows up imprisoned by her evil stepmother, Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron), a powerful sorceress. After Snow White escapes into the forest, Ravenna dispatches Eric, the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to capture Snow White, promising him that she will bring back his dead wife if he is successful. However, Snow, the Huntsman and a rebel army join forces to destroy Ravenna and restore the balance of life and death.
Best Quotes (Total Quotes: 65)
[first lines]
The Huntsman: [voice over] Once upon a time, in deep winter, a queen was admiring the falling snow, when she saw a rose blooming in defiance of the cold. Reaching for it, she pricked her finger and three drops of blood fell. And because the red seemed so alive against the white, she thought, if only I had a child as white as snow, lips as red as blood, hair as black as a raven’s wings and all of the strength of that rose. Soon after, a daughter was born to the queen and was named, Snow White. And she was adored throughout the kingdom, as much for her defiance as for her beauty.
[as we see Queen Eleanor looking ill, young Snow White enters her room carrying an injured bird]
Young Snow White: We found it in the woods, it’s injured, mother.
Queen Eleanor: It must have broken its wing. Don’t worry, it will heal in time.
Young Snow White: I’ll look after it.
Queen Eleanor: You possess rare beauty, my love. Here.
[she touches Snow’s chest, indicating her heart]
Queen Eleanor: Never lose it. It will serve you well when you become queen.
The Huntsman: [voice over] The next winter was the harshest in memory as Snow White’s mother passed away. The king was inconsolable. Taking advantage of his grief, a dark and mysterious army appeared and lured him into battle.
The Huntsman: [voice over] The Dark Army was defeated, but what would soon come to pass was far darker.
[after the king’s army destroys the Dark Army, the king and his men find a single prisoner chained inside a carriage]
King Magnus: Fear not, you will come to no harm from me or my men. What is your name, my lady?
Ravenna: Ravenna, sire.
The Huntsman: [voice over] So enchanted by her beauty was the king, that he forgot for the first time his broken heart, and the very next day, she would become his wife.
[young Snow White watches Ravenna getting dressed for her wedding ceremony]
Young Snow White: You’re so beautiful.
Ravenna: That’s kind, child. Especially when it is said that yours is the face of true beauty in this kingdom. Come.
[Snow White comes towards Ravenna]
Ravenna: This all must be difficult for you, I too lost my mother when I was a young girl. I can never take your mother’s place, ever. But I feel that you and I are bound. I feel it there, your heart.
[Snow White smiles]
[on their wedding night, Magnus and Ravenna in their bed]
King Magnus: You’ll be the ruin of me.
Ravenna: Indeed, my lord.
[Magnus starts kissing her]
Ravenna: I was ruined by a king like you once. I replaced his queen, an old woman. And in time, I too would have been replaced. Men use women, they ruin us and when they are finished with us they throw us to their dogs like scraps.
[suddenly Magnus starts choking]
King Magnus: Forgive me.
Ravenna: When a woman stays young and beautiful, the world is hers.
[she rolls Magnus over and sits on top of him, holding a knife]
Ravenna: First I will take your life, my lord. And then I’ll take your thrown.
[she stabs Magnus in the chest, killing him, she then opens the gates to the castle allowing her army to enter, led by her brother Finn]
Ravenna: Welcome, brother.
Finn: My queen.
The Huntsman: [voice over] She had tricked her way into the kingdom with a phantom army. She now welcomed a very real one.
[as Ravenna’s army captures the castle, Snow White wakes up to find her father dead, she tries to flee with Duke Hammond tries and his son William, but she is snatched from the back of his horse and only the Duke and William escape and Snow White is imprisoned]
[once Ravenna’s army has taken over the castle, she installs her large, circular golden mirror in her throne room, she paces in front of the mirror, agitated]
Ravenna: Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who’s the fairest of them all?
[the mirror melts and then reforms itself in front of Ravenna as a tall, gold, faceless figure]
Mirror Man: It is you, my queen. Yet another kingdom falls to your glory. Is there no end to your power and beauty?
The Huntsman: [voice over] So poisonous was the reign of Ravenna that nature turned on itself and people turned on each other. The land died, and with it, hope. In all that time she kept Snow White imprisoned, high up in the north tower.
[as Snow White prays in her prison cell, she sees the queens soldiers bring in a girl to the prison cell opposite to hers]
Snow White: Hello? Hello?
[the girl on the other cell shows her face through the cell bars]
Snow White: What is your name?
Greta: I’m Greta.
Snow White: What happened to you?
Greta: All the girls in our village were taken. I was trying to reach Duke Hammond’s castle when I was caught.
Snow White: Hammond? Is he alive? Does he still fight in my father’s name?
Greta: You’re the king’s daughter? The night the king died, we were told all in the castle were slain.
Snow White: And William, is the Duke’s son still alive?
Greta: I don’t know, princess. What will they do to me?
[as Ravenna watches the children outside her castle being thrown scraps of food]
Ravenna: Do you remember when we were children begging for scraps, like those wretches?
Finn: Yes, sister.
Ravenna: Am I not kinder?
Finn: Yes.
[Ravenna walks over to a bath filled with milk, she takes off her gown, steps into the milk bath, immerses herself in the milk and then rises with her whole body covered in the milk]
[two of the Duke’s supporters, a father and son, are brought before Ravenna after being captured attacking one of her supply trains]
Ravenna: Your son?
[the father nods]
Ravenna: Handsome.
[she goes towards the son]
Ravenna: Obviously a debt owed to your mother. There was a time I would have lost my heart to a face like yours. And you, no doubt, would have broken it.
[suddenly the son grabs the knife from the soldier holding him and stabs Ravenna in the stomach, she pulls out the knife without a drop of blood]
Ravenna: You would kill your queen?
[she pulls the son towards her]
Ravenna: Such courage, such beauty. How strong is your heart?
[Ravenna touches his chest and sucks the life from his heart, killing him, the soldiers grab the father]
Ravenna: Leave him! Let him return to the Duke and speak of the generosity of his queen.
[Ravenna stands before her mirror examining her wrinkles]
Finn: Magic comes at a lofty price.
Ravenna: And the expense grows.
Finn: You look…
Ravenna: Old!
Finn: Tired.
Ravenna: My power fades.
Finn: Shh. I have something for what ails you.
[Ravenna turns and sees Greta from the tower dungeon, has been brought to her, Ravenna sucks the youth out of Greta, transforming her to an old woman]
[Ravenna, looking young and beautiful again, stand in front of the Mirror Man]
Ravenna: Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who is fairest of them all?
Mirror Man: My queen, on this day, one has come of age, fairer even than you. She is the reason your power wain.
Ravenna: Who is it?
Mirror Man: Snow White.
Ravenna: Snow White? She is my undoing? I should have killed her when she was a child.
Mirror Man: Be warned, her innocence and purity is all that can destroy you. But she is also your salvation, queen. Take her heart in your hand and you shall never again need to consume youth. You shall never again weaken or age.
Ravenna: Immortality. Immortality, forever.
[she turns her face and shouts]
Ravenna: Finn!
[Finn steps out from the shadows he was hiding in watching his sister]
Ravenna: Brother, bring me the king’s daughter.
[Snow White sees a bird sat on the cell window, she goes over to touch it but it flies away, then she notices an iron nail wedged in the stone outside the window, she pulls the nail out and keeps it hidden in her hand when Finn enters her cell]
Finn: Did I wake you?
[Snow shakes her head, Finn sits next to her on her bed]
Finn: You always awake when I watch you.
Snow White: You’ve never come in before.
Finn: My sister won’t allow it. She wants you all to herself.
Snow White: I’m afraid of her.
Finn: And not of me?
Snow White: No.
[Finn leans towards her and touches her face]
Finn: Fear not, princess, you will never again be locked in this cell.
Snow White: What does she want from me?
Finn: You’re beating heart.
[suddenly Snow White strikes Finn in the face with a nail and runs out of her prison cell, locks him in the cell and runs to Greta’s cell but sees that Greta has become an old woman, Greta tells Snow White to run]
[after Finn and his soldiers lose Snow White in the Dark Forest]
Ravenna: How is that an innocent young girl makes a fool of my brother? And only with a nail. If she’d had a sword, she’d have taken my kingdom. Bring me the king’s daughter, and you let her slip, right through your tiny little fingers! How? You swore that you would protect me! You swore!
[Ravenna paces back and forth, agitated]
Ravenna: Now there’s no one I can trust. No one! There’s no loyalty. No loyalty. None! Not even from you! Where is she?
Finn: She was chased into the Dark Forest, where the men lost her.
[suddenly Ravenna strikes Finn in the face in anger]
Ravenna: She’s no good to me in the Dark Forest! Lost!
[she strikes Finn in the head]
Ravenna: I need her heart! You failed me, Finn!
Finn: [shouting] Have I not given all to you?
Ravenna: Have I not given you all?
Finn: Yes, sister.
[Finn starts crying]
Ravenna: Shh. Quite. I have no powers in the Dark Forest. You have to find me someone, someone who knows it. Someone who can hunt her.
[after the Huntsman has been brought to Ravenna]
Ravenna: My brother tells me you are a widower. A drunkard, and one of few who has ventured into the Dark Forest.
The Huntsman: Aye.
Ravenna: One of my prisoners has escaped there.
The Huntsman: Well then he’s dead.
Ravenna: She.
The Huntsman: Then she is certainly dead.
Ravenna: Find her, bring her to me.
The Huntsman: No, I’ve been to that forest, I’m not going back.
Ravenna: You will be rewarded handsomely.
The Huntsman: What good is gold to me if I’m lying dead with crows picking at my eyes?
The Huntsman: Why is she of such value?
Ravenna: That is none of your concern.
The Huntsman: I’ll determine what concerns me, thank you.
Ravenna: You will do this for me, Huntsman!
The Huntsman: And if I refuse?
[the queen’s guards all level their spears at him]
The Huntsman: Do me the favor, I beg of you.
[to the guards]
Ravenna: To his knees.
[one of the guards forces Huntsman to his knees in front of Ravenna]
Ravenna: So you wish to be reunited with your beloved?
The Huntsman: Do not speak of my wife.
Ravenna: You miss her. What would you give to see her again? You know of my powers, bring me the girl, and I will bring back your wife.
The Huntsman: Nothing can bring her back.
Ravenna: I can. A life, for a life.
[as the Huntsman takes Finn and his men into the ark forest, he finds Snow White’s tracks and he captures her]
Snow White: Will you help me? Please. Please! The queen’s going to kill me.
The Huntsman: I’m sure she is.
Snow White: She’s going to rip out my heart.
[as Finn and his men find them]
Finn: Quick work. Well done, Huntsman. Hand her over.
The Huntsman: What do you intend to do with her?
Finn: Why do you care?
The Huntsman: You want her? Give me what I was promised.
Finn: You did your job well. Now keep your word.
Snow White: He’ll kill us both.
The Huntsman: Shut up.
Snow White: He will.
The Huntsman: I said, shut up!
Snow White: No! No!
[to Finn]
The Huntsman: I’ll keep my word when the queen keeps hers! Where’s my wife?
Snow White: He’s going to betray you.
Finn: My sister has many powers. She can take life away, or sustain it. But she can’t bring your wife back from the dead, you fool!
The Huntsman: I want her back!
[the Huntsman attacks Finn and his men, Snow White runs off, the Huntsman throws Finn to the ground which sets off a poisonous gas and the Huntsman runs off after Snow White]
Finn: I will find you!
[after the Huntsman catches up with Snow White again in the Dark Forest, he grabs her and places his hand over her mouth]
The Huntsman: Shh. Shh. Be quite. Alright?
[Snow White nods her head, he takes his hand away from her mouth and as soon as he does that she strikes him in the face and takes his sword]
The Huntsman: Hey! What the hell’s going on? Who are you? Why does the queen want you dead?
Snow White: She wants everyone dead, all of us!
The Huntsman: What makes you so damn valuable?
Snow White: You should know, you’re the one hunting me!
[the Huntsman winces in pain and touches his shoulder which has been wounded]
The Huntsman: Oh, forget it!
[he turns and starts walking off]
The Huntsman: I should have never got involved in the queen’s business.
Snow White: Where are you going?
The Huntsman: Getting away from you, you’re trouble, is what you are.
Snow White: I need to get to the Duke’s castle. There’s an army there.
The Huntsman: What, the Duke’s army?
[he laughs]
The Huntsman: Bunch of farmers and milkmaids with pitchforks. I know sheep that have more fight in them.
Snow White: I’m valuable. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? If you return without me, you’re dead. If you leave me, I’m dead.
The Huntsman: Just for arguments sake, how much reward? Hmm?
Snow White: However much is enough.
The Huntsman: At least thirty gold pieces, no way…
Snow White: A hundred.
Snow White: Help me.
The Huntsman: Who are you?
Snow White: Maybe you should have asked the queen that.
The Huntsman: I don’t trust you.
Snow White: I’ve given you my word.
The Huntsman: I still don’t trust you. But you have a deal.
[he spits in the palm of his hand and holds his hand out for her to shake which she does]
The Huntsman: Give me that, before you lose a finger.
[he takes his sword from her hand and he turns and leads the way as they walk off]
[after attacking one of Ravenna’s supply trains, William returns to his father’s castle]
Duke Hammond: We have word of the princess. Ravenna has kept her all these years.
William: She lives?
Thomas: She escaped the castle into the Dark Forest.
William I’m going after her.
Duke Hammond: You don’t know if she survived.
[William turns his horse round and is about to ride off]
Duke Hammond: William!
William: What?
Duke Hammond: You ventured beyond the castle walls again, disobeying my orders. We’re all that’s left, don’t you understand? I cannot afford to lose any more of my men.
William: I’m going alone.
Duke Hammond: I will not lose my only son. You don’t know the Dark Forest.
William: Then I’ll find somebody who does. I will not abandon her again a second time.
[after saving Snow White from getting caught in the branch of trees which turn into black snakes]
The Huntsman: The forest gains strength from your weakness.
[he walks off and takes a swig of his drink]
Snow White: Do you drink to drown your sorrows or your conscience?
The Huntsman: What concern is it of yours why I drink?
Snow White: I suppose a man’s sorrows are his own.
The Huntsman: What does a young girl like you know about sorrow?
[Snow doesn’t answer, he comes towards her and suddenly rips the hem of her dress, she steps back from him, frightened]
The Huntsman: Don’t flatter yourself. Now stay close.
[William, who has disguised himself as a bowman, intercepts Finn and his soldiers, who have regrouped to search for Snow White]
William: Do you need a bowman?
Finn: I have a bowman.
[turning to his bowman]
Finn: Kill him.
[Finn’s bowman takes a shot at William whom he misses, William then quickly shoots an arrow at the bowman, killing him]
William: I said, do you need a bowman?
The Huntsman: Here, I want to show you something.
[he hands Snow a knife]
The Huntsman: Which is your lead foot?
[Snow shakes her head and the Huntsman suddenly moves as if to attack her]
The Huntsman: Right, someone comes at you, you raise this arm up, you block and you use your strength against him.
[he shows her the move with the knife]
The Huntsman: You’re small, so wait until they’re close and you drive it through their heart, to the hilt. You understand? You do not hesitate, and you look in their eyes, and do not pull it out until you see their soul.
Snow White: I couldn’t do that.
The Huntsman: Well, you might not have a choice.
[he turns and walks off]
[as they come towards a bridge in the Dark Forest]
Snow White: Is this the edge of the Dark Forest?
The Huntsman: Aye.
[the Huntsman senses something and draws his sword]
Snow White: What is it?
The Huntsman: Shh.
[as they walk across the bridge they notice bones and swords and armory scattered around, suddenly a large creature opens it eyes and awakens]
The Huntsman: Troll!
[the troll knocks the Huntsman and Snow off the bridge and comes towards them as they try to make a run for it]
The Huntsman: Run!
[the Huntsman attacks the troll but the troll knocks him aside and as the troll is about to kill the unconscious Huntsman Snow leaps in front of it screaming, the troll roars back at her but she stares him down and the troll backs off]
The Huntsman: I told you to run!
Snow White: If I had you’d be dead.
[after Snow and the Huntsman get sanctuary in a village of women]
The Huntsman: You got nothing to drink?
Snow White: You have traveled far, carried a great burden.
The Huntsman: I’ve had worse jobs. Anyway, she’s not that heavy.
[he looks over at Snow White, who’s playing with one of the little girls from the village]
Snow White: You don’t know who she is.
The Huntsman: What do you mean?
[he looks over at Snow again]
[after finding out that Snow is the princess]
The Huntsman: Why didn’t you tell me? Because I’d think it was too difficult a task? You’d be right.
Snow White: I didn’t trust you. I’m sorry.
Total Quotes: 65