WonderCon: Snow White and the Huntsman Attacks

New footage continues to impress with a dark, action-filled take on the Snow White story introduced by Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart.

Having already delivered a cool and evocative trailer last fall, Snow White and the Huntsman came to Wondercon today. 
Director Rupert Sanders, Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart (the latter two surprise guests) introduced a brand new, five minute sizzle reel from the film exclusively for the WonderCon audience, which showed more of the impressive visuals the film boasts. 
The footage opens with a much bigger look at some of the battle scenes in the trailer, where two armies fight and we see several of the soldiers shatter apart into crystalized shards when swords swing through them. Queen Ravenna (Theron) is told, "My queen, yet another kingdom falls to your glory." *We see an extended version of the scene in the trailer where the Queen asks the classic, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of the all?" question and is told there is "One more beautiful than you… Snow White." The mirror adds, "She is the reason your powers wane." 
*We then see Snow White (Stewart) held down by the queen's man. She asks what the queen wants from her, and he tells her, in a sadistic voice, "Your beating heart," only for Snow to hit him and make a run for it. She runs out into a town square as she's chased by guards, only to make a pretty cool running slide into a drainage system, leaping off the ledge at the bottom and into the water below. 
*Chased on horseback, Snow White makes it into the forest, as the queen screams, "Where is she?!", slapping her man hard when he can't tell her. 
*We then see the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) brought to the queen, noting he is "one of the few who have entered into the dark forest" and survived. 
The Huntsman is skeptical when he is told about Snow White, saying, "She is certainly dead." In the forest, we see Snow White attacked by bat-like creatures, and hear the roars of other threats. 
 *The Huntsman finds Show White, running up to her and holding his hand over her mouth to stop her for screaming – only for Snow to grab a knife fro his belt and hold him at bay. We then see the two of them attacked by an enormous, two-legged creature, which looks like it's made from stone or bark, with two huge horns growing from its head. In another scene, the Huntsman is caught in a rope trap, leaving him hung upside down. It turns out the Seven Dwarves set the trap ("Oh no, dwarves..." mutters the Huntsman), and they initially taking great delight in hitting the Huntsman. 
The dwarves are at first dismissive when they meet Snow White, until she tells them her father was the king. Now allies, the dwarves, Snow White and the Huntsman begin traveling together, and we see many animals and creatures they encounter – including a fascinating looking turtle camouflaged into the greenery behind it. "She is the one," says one of the dwarves, watching Snow White. 
*The footage ended with a quick-cut montage, as we see Snow White, now wearing armor, with a large army. Says Snow, "I can kill her." The queen at one point is seen in a very weak and withered state but also grabbing a woman and seemingly sucking the life out of her, like a Dementor in Harry Potter. *All in all, the footage was very impressive. If you liked the trailer, as I did, what we saw today promised more of what looks to be a visually lush, action-packed and very different take on Snow White. *During the Q&A, Rupert Sanders noted he wanted the film to appeal to both men and women, stating he felt it was, "A universal story." 
*Both Stewart and Theron were amusingly foul-mouthed. At one point, Theron, talking about messing with expectations, said, "There's something nice about f**king with the idea [of good and evil]." Stewart was asked about playing a much tougher role than she's known for in the Twilight films, and remarking on how confident and skilled this Snow White is, she said, "It was cool to have all that… [to be] kicking the s**t out of someone."


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