The Huntsman: Winter's War
Universal Pictures | Release Date: April 22, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
35
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
24
Negative:
15
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaApr 22, 2016
Theron proves the master of operatic hissy fits, Blunt lets the pain show beneath the glacial cool, Chastain brings her usual Juilliard-schooled commitment to the occasion, and Hemsworth is Hemsworthian, if oft-times incomprehensible, delivering his lines in a gorse-y whorl of vowels and consonants. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerApr 20, 2016
It’s all pretty silly, but it compensates for a lack of emotional weight with star power. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinApr 18, 2016
It’s a welcome surprise: sharper and funnier than its doom-laden predecessor, with a fantasy setting immersive enough to distract from the narrative’s various chips and cracks. Read full review
60
Total FilmJames MottramApr 4, 2016
With a wraparound narrative that never really strikes a balance between past and present, all that axe-flinging, ice-casting action makes a modest impact. Read full review
58
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallApr 21, 2016
Winter's War isn't tedious. Amiably bad movies seldom are. Theron and Blunt look fabulous doing silly, screechy things in Colleen Atwood's costumes. Chastain makes Sara a formidable match in battle and bed with Eric, who becomes less important as these wonder women converge. Read full review
58
The Film StageBrian RoanApr 21, 2016
In spite of all of its myriad shortfalls, this film succeeds as well as it does because it does not shy away from this truth, and because it gives us a romances that feel so true between people we would like to see succeed. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyApr 20, 2016
It’s the movie equivalent of a cake that’s all frosting. Read full review
55
TheWrapJason SolomonsApr 4, 2016
If all else fails, at least it’s a movie smart enough to know that, frankly, you can’t beat Charlize Theron, covered in gold, shooting lethal spiky tentacles out of her midriff. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 23, 2016
By cramming far too much material into 114 minutes, The Huntsman: Winter’s War feels rushed and incomplete. It doesn’t help that the screenplay is at times awful, forcing accomplished actors to recite excruciatingly bad dialogue while maintaining a straight face. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorApr 21, 2016
Unlike the smarter "Maleficent," a revisionist Sleeping Beauty created by the same producers, what The Huntsman series lacks is any intriguing psychology. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshApr 21, 2016
Every time Charlize Theron is on screen, the movie gets crazy campy, and therefore at least somewhat interesting. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesBill ZweckerApr 21, 2016
The mishmash of filmmaking makes it clear this was a movie made by committee — and clearly that committee was composed of folks who were not all on the same page when it came to spinning what could have been a much more engaging piece of fantasy storytelling. Read full review
50
Washington PostCaitlin MooreApr 21, 2016
While the funny, action-packed sequences are the best parts, they are indicative of the film’s main problems: an inability to focus and an overly complicated plot. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoApr 21, 2016
Pretty uninspired material for a dream-teaming of actresses who currently rate among the edgiest of them all. Read full review
50
HitfixDrew McWeenyApr 20, 2016
From scene to scene, there are some beautiful images in the fantasy world where this is set, but frustratingly, it never adds up to something that comes to life. This feels like terrific production design and costuming in search of a story worth telling. Read full review
50
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganApr 4, 2016
If judged by fluid effects work, Atwood’s stunning costumes, and the fun of watching Theron and Blunt reach new heights of arch camp, The Huntsman: Winter’s War is a triumph. By any other measure, though, it’s a far more qualified prospect Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinApr 4, 2016
It’s passably entertaining, and like the last one breathtakingly crafted, especially Colleen Atwood’s microscopically detailed costumes. Read full review
42
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonApr 5, 2016
There’s very little in The Huntsman: Winter's War itself that is actively bad. Compared to some of its blockbuster rivals, it’s reasonably watchable, never offensive, and mostly coherent. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 21, 2016
It’s all too much without ever turning into much at all. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottApr 21, 2016
This unintentionally fractured ends up one big mess. It's a pretty mess, mind you -- which is fitting in a way, given the sordid affair that birthed it -- but a mess all the same. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesApr 20, 2016
The actors are all game, but the job’s beneath them – Hemsworth, a pro, and a real champ at faking enthusiasm for this dud; Theron, still doing camp but this time with no tempering complexity or empathy; Blunt, stuck playing a frost-bitten Mommie Dearest. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Apr 20, 2016
The film borrows plenty, but it brings nothing new. Read full review
40
ScreenCrushMatt SingerApr 20, 2016
There’s almost nothing in this movie that hasn’t been seen elsewhere before. And done a whole lot better. Read full review
40
EmpireJimi FamurewaApr 4, 2016
Visual inventiveness and spectacular casting can’t quite salvage a muddled fantasy epic that, if it were a magic mirror, would be held together with gaffer tape. Read full review
40
CineVueJoe WalshApr 4, 2016
In many ways this is an adult Frozen with Gothic sensibilities by way of The Lord Of The Rings, making for a derivative pastiche of the past two decades' cinematic fantasy offerings. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeApr 4, 2016
All told, ‘Winter’s War’ is not the fairest sequel, but it’s not so terrible that it deserves to be taken out to the forest and finished off. Read full review
38
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldApr 21, 2016
The Huntsman is a flabby mess — yet another sequel with no reason to exist. Read full review
38
USA TodayBrian TruittApr 21, 2016
It’s a dunderheaded follow-up, for sure, but it’s at least buoyed by Chris Hemsworth’s charisma and the few times where Winter’s War embraces complete camp. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireApr 21, 2016
If you liked “Frozen” but wish it had been angrier, The Huntsman: Winter’s War is for you. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineJake ColeApr 20, 2016
The overriding despair of Winter's War's imagery calls into question who, exactly, the film is for. Read full review
33
IndieWireKate ErblandApr 19, 2016
The film's narrative is both plodding and predictable, and after the third or fourth battle sequence that leans so heavily on loud, thudding noises and swirling leather topcoats that it's impossible to see who is actually hitting who (and, moreover, why), audiences may be in danger of remembering just which "reimagined" fairy tale they're watching on screen. Read full review
30
TimeStephanie ZacharekApr 21, 2016
There’s only one reason to see The Huntsman: Winter’s War: Gowns! Insane, off-the-hook gowns. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesRebecca KeeganApr 21, 2016
A convoluted narrative yields not a single, palpable moment of drama. Read full review
30
Village VoiceBilge EbiriApr 21, 2016
The film absolutely delivers on the scenery-chewing front. And yet the movie is still hollow and joyless. Read full review
30
VarietyGuy LodgeApr 4, 2016
The sheer abundance of on-screen ornamentation isn’t quite enough to make The Huntsman: Winter’s War a beautiful film.... Still, it’s one that has been exhaustively designed by many hands — which only further shows up its inelegant patchwork in the writing department. Read full review
25
New York PostSara StewartApr 21, 2016
This incoherent screenplay seems to have been written by a roomful of the gorilla-like trolls who show up in the movie at one point. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleApr 21, 2016
A resoundingly unlovable movie that almost resists being watched. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter TraversApr 21, 2016
Nothing can match seeing Theron and Blunt try to out-camp each other, providing the only glimmer of entertainment in a film dedicated to being ponderous. No one sings "Let It Go," but my advice to audiences is to do just that before mistakenly buying a ticket. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 20, 2016
The mirror effects are still striking, Theron, Blunt, Hemsworth and Chastain still fairy-tale beautiful. But The Huntsman: Winter’s War, is the very picture of a movie that should have never been made. It never, for one second, gives us a reason to think otherwise. Read full review
20
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 4, 2016
It really is a nuclear war of dullness. Read full review
10
The New York TimesA.O. ScottApr 21, 2016
Its badness is not extreme, but exemplary: It’s everything wrong with Hollywood today stuffed into a little less than two hours. Read full review
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