Once upon a time, long before she fell under the sword of Snow White, Queen Ravenna watched her sister Freya also become an extremely powerful sorceress due to broken heart. As the Ice Queen, Freya then builds a frozen kingdom in the north and heads up an army of ruthless hunters. Among them are Eric and Sara, who are banished by their queen for violating her one rule: never fall in love. Years later, after Ravenna is defeated by Snow White, the famous magical mirror is coveted by Freya, who wants to expand her kingdom into that of Snow White...

Picture gallery

The Huntsman: Winter’s War is the quintessential big-budget movie: neither good nor bad, entertaining without being memorable, put together with no talent but technical expertise. Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, the special effects expert from the first movie, takes his first impersonal directorial steps in this flick that moves from prequel to sequel with a stellar cast (Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt and Charlize Theron), orchestrating yet another easy, formulaic and simplistic adventure. The superficial plot shows a terrible lack of imagination, the movie itself seems to hesitate between the artistic (Jessica Chastain) and the hammy (Charlize Theron phones it in), the flood of special effects is sometimes dizzying, but The Huntsman: Winter’s War still provides a big show. Which is, after all, its only ambition and purpose.