Have
you ever wanted something so badly you’d do anything to get it? Eddie (Taron
Egerton) did. He wanted to have his moment; he wanted to show his father, his
doctors – even his teammates! – that he could be an Olympic Champion.
The Story
This
film is based on the true story of Michael ‘Eddie’ Edwards, England’s 1988
Winter Olympics Ski Jumper. The film follows the minimal, yet satisfying,
highs, as well as the mounds (pun indented) of hurdles throughout Eddie’s
journey to Olympic glory.
Adding
colourful characters with their own tainted glories, the story leaves you with
stitches in your stomach for laughing too much. It also has its tender moments
where you’re left empathising with Eddie, not to mention the breathtaking
countdown every time he buzzes down a slope.
The Cast
Taron Egerton brings a clear dedication
to the character with his full embodiment of Edwards. His facial features and
quirky characteristics bring an endearing factor to Eddie and leaves audiences
cheering and clapping every time he took a jump.
Hugh Jackman is an excellent support in this
film. Playing a non-existent character, Jackman provides an extra element of
comic relief as well as a dollop of reality for a story that’s against the odds.
Overall…it’s a family film with a great moral that rings
throughout the whole film: determination, with calculated risks, leads to
soaring above the doubt.
Once
upon a time, there were two sisters. They were inseparable. The older sister was
endowed with great beauty, but with great beauty comes a grave cost. Her
younger sister, though she too was beautiful, was more gracious and loving. But
in her graciousness, she was blinded by a love far greater than her elder sister
could handle.
The
Story
Jumping
on Disney’s success with, Frozen, UniversalStudios takes
Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale, The Snow Queen, in order to redeem their previous film, Snow White and the Huntsman.
Using Snow White and the Huntsman as a middle
ground, we see Eric’s (Chris Hemsworth) past: how he met his wife, Sara
(Jessica Chastain), how they fell in love and how he lost her. Although
Charlize Theron reprises her role as the evil queen, Ravenna, she gives way for
Emily Blunt, a.k.a Freya, to truly capture the cold-hearted ice queen.
The
story surrounds Freya’s journey of supposedly naively falling in love, only to
have her heart broken, thus unlocking her dormant power. Taking hold of her own
kingdom out of her anger and discontent, her frozen heart drove her to extreme
measures. In order to fill to void of a losing her daughter long before she
even knew her, she builds an army of Huntsmen and conquers the northern lands.
She has one law: Do not love; it is a sin. But regardless of her hard heart,
love breaks through her frozen walls in more ways than one.
As a
whole, the story bookends the previous film really well. It is well written and
well adapted in terms of merging two fairytales into one. Although I do have a
few questions like:
Where does
Finn (Sam Spruell) sit in all of this power play between the two sisters?
Wasn’t
Eric the one who woke Snow White to begin with?
AND…
(*SPOILER ALERT*)
So…why
did she marry William in the end?
I guess
three easy questions aren’t so bad considering its predecessor…
The Cast
Chris
Hemsworth still takes your breath away as he wields his axe and plays the hero
of the story. Hemsworth depicts his character with much more liveliness in this
film than the first. It’s as though this film brings out a lighter side to the
Huntsman – and so it should! The story gives way to multiplicity within
characters and Hemsworth stepped up to the plate.
Emily
Blunt is divine in her own version of what it means to be a broken and tortured
queen to that of Theron. Her portrayal of a seemingly loveless ruler was as
believable as her portrayal of a lovesick, obedient sister. She too understood
the power of duality in her portrayal of the ice queen. There was a delicate
balance of demanding respect and weakness in her character – she truly was
chilling.
Jessica
Chastain is a beautiful support to Hemsworth and Blunt. In a film where
oestrogen runs strong, it is great to see another girl harnessing physical
prowess rather than magic or a spine-tingling speech. Her character also plays
a central role to the story and it’s great to see that actions really to speak
louder than words – especially when it come to love.
Charlize
Theron is still as devious as she was in the first film, but instead of over
powering her fellow cast members, it is clear that her talents have been
matched. Commanding power with presence was great, but it was excellent to see
that Blunt and Hemsworth equally matched her in line delivery and heart-racing
action.
Overall…the
story is MUCH better than the first film; the acting is not just excellent in
every single cast member, but also very well balanced. It’s worth every penny
you pay. If fairytales with action is your cup of tea, then this is for you.
