Mirror,mirror,on the wall....
directed by Rupert Sanders
The scene: Though the entire Snow White and The Huntsman was a bunch of people walking and one wasted talented chasing another, I did enjoy Charlize Theron's work here and if I ever get around to watching Director's Cut of the movie that has been rotting on my shelf for months, it will only be for her performance as the iconic Evil Queen.
Though the very idea of Kristen Stewart ever threatening Theron in terms of beauty is preposterous, if you buy into the premise you may just have fun with the movie. That is whenever Theron is on screen. The film was yet another cash grab destined to capitalize on well known story with safe PG-13 rating, but she really didn't hold back and she gave us genuinely evil, blood thirsty and ruthless Queen.
But even evil Queens have weaknesses. In her case it is her desire to be beautiful. We did get modern CGI update on the iconic mirror here and in what was the most memorable moment of the movie for me, that mirror is brought to The Queen. While if I remember correctly the scene lasts longer and The Queen talks to the mirror at some length, I want to focus on one tiny moment.
The moment when she is pacing around the room nervously and she is saying her legendary "mirror, mirror" lines, half-mad and half-frightened to death at the prospect of the mirror declaring someone else more beautiful than her. That was a great little moment and frankly if the movie would be half as good as this tiny little scene it would be praised even though the casting choices (Theron aside) were odd to say the least. It is astonishing to me that Theron managed to put so much nuance into the character that in the hands of any other actress would be laughable camp. You can truly sense her fear and insanity here. Even if she has some good old yelling and murdering villainess glory in the movie, there are several moments that show her vulnerability beautifully.
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