You got Emily Blunt as the new villain, Jessica Chastain as “The Warrior” a.k.a. a love interest for Hemsworth’s titular Huntsman, a returning Nick Frost, and a prevalent ice theme to shake up the forest-y settings of the first one…
But Crazy Evil Charlize is still the biggest pull of this sequel. It’s sort of hard to believe, from a storytelling standpoint, that they chose to bring back the dead Queen Ravenna instead of the still-living Snow White (until the end, I wasn’t sure if this was a prequel or a sequel). Who cares? Theron's big, nefarious performance was the best part of the original, easily bested Angelina Jolie’s go-around as an evil Disney queen, and is as crucial to the tone of these films as any of the VFX-laden action shots. In this trailer, at least, Blunt’s turn is getting swallowed alive by the gold-drenched Charlize, and the Oscar-nominated Chastain comes off like a Ygritte-esque love interest rather than her own character.
I’d be way more excited about this if Frank Darabont stayed in the director’s chair instead of the first film’s VFX guy, but seeing as it looks like they’ve brought Charlize back for another co-lead role, consider me onboard.
Y’all down, or should this series have stayed in the glass coffin?
THE HUNSTMAN: WINTER’S WAR is coming on April 22nd.
