Critics Consensus

The Huntsman: Winter's War Gets A Chilly Reception

Plus, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and The Night Manager are Certified Fresh.

by and | April 21, 2016 | Comments

This week at the movies, we’ve got just one wide release: the fantasy prequel/sequel The Huntsman: Winter’s War, starring Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, and Emily Blunt. What do the critics have to say?


The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016) 20%

Snow White and the Huntsman might not have set the world on fire, but it was a decent fantasy adventure with some sharp visuals and a feminist edge. Still, audiences weren’t necessarily clamoring for a sequel, much less this prequel/sequel, which critics say squanders its all-star cast on a plot that’s alternately predictable and incoherent. This time out, heartbroken Ice Queen Freya (Emily Blunt) exiles herself to a mountain, where she abolishes love and recruits an army of child soldiers. After her sister Ravenna (Charlize Theron) is defeated by Snow White, Freya searches for the magic mirror to resurrect her, while two of her former soldiers team up to stop her. The pundits say Huntsman sometimes feels like a grim retelling of Frozen, though at least a few action set pieces are reasonably stirring.


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Orphan Black: Season 4 (2016) 97%

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Also Opening This Week In Limited Release

  • Hockney (2014) , a documentary about the life of English artist David Hockney, is at 90 percent.
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  • Tale of Tales (2015) , starring Salma Hayek and Vincent Cassel in a collection of dark, fantastical stories based on the fairy tales of Giambattista Basile, is at 79 percent.
  • Sworn Virgin (2015) , a drama about an Albanian woman who take a vow of celibacy and lives her life as a man, is at 70 percent.
  • Elvis & Nixon (2016) , starring Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey in a comedy about the real life meeting between Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon, is at 70 percent.
  • Holidays (2016) , a horror-comedy anthology with eight tales set during various holidays, is at 67 percent.
  • A Hologram for the King (2016) , starring Tom Hanks in a dramedy about a struggling American businessman who travels to Saudi Arabia to close a deal, is at 65 percent.
  • How to Let Go of the World (and Love All the Things Climate Can't Change) (2016) , a documentary chronicling director Josh Fox‘s travels to locations hit hardest by global warming, is at 63 percent.
  • Men & Chicken (2015) , starring Mads Mikkelsen in a Danish comedy about a pair of siblings who learn they are adopted half-brothers and set out to find their birth father, is at 61 percent.
  • Compadres (2016) , a crime comedy about a former cop who teams up with a teenage hacker to track down the man who framed him and kidnapped his girlfriend, is at 46 percent.
  • Nina (2016) , starring Zoe Saldana and David Oyelowo in a biopic of legendary singer Nina Simone, is at six percent.