Another day, another movie trailer that misleads as to what the movie is actually about and how it’s going to play out and yet manages to share a vital plot twist that isn’t actually revealed to the viewer until near the end of the film. Well done, trailer creators. Another bang-up job of doing your best to wreck things.

However, the movie bests you, at least in some ways.

True Confession: I avoided Snow White and the Huntsman because of Kristen Stewart. I don’t hate her, I just don’t find her acting to be compelling. She seems like a sweet girl but she bores me.

On the other hand, I love me some Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth. So I was eager to see The Huntsman: Winter’s War. I just hoped that I wasn’t going to have to have seen the other movie to follow it.

Happily, you can have seen the first movie or not and still enjoy this one. Right now you’re thinking, “Oh, because it’s a prequel. Duh, I know that.” Only… it’s not a prequel, not totally. What it actually is happens to be a prequel and a sequel all in one, with merely the Snow White portions left out.

Of course, the big question is – does it work?

Yes, it does. And it works in no small part because of Hemsworth. He is utterly charming, heroic, brave, clever, steadfast, true, and all the things you want a hero to be. This isn’t a perfect movie, but it’s elevated by the acting, all of which is excellent. But the movie rides on Hemsworth’s broad and sturdy shoulders and he proves, once again, that he’s a leading man who can carry a film.

This movie is visually stunning and gorgeous, and I’m not just talking about the actors. The sets are amazing, the costumes more so, the creatures even beyond that. Should the storyline bore you, never fear – there’s tons to look at on the screen. I fully expect this movie to be up for Oscars in the visual and costuming categories, it’s that fantastic.

The plot is rather twisty, all things considered, because it has to avoid having to show Snow White (here played by a Stewart hair and body double whose face you never see during the ten seconds she’s on camera). But it works.

We start in the past, where we find that Ravenna (Charlize Theron) has a younger sister, Freya (Emily Blunt). Ravenna murders the king – who I assume is Snow White’s father – using sorcery. But Freya’s powers haven’t shown up yet.

Of course, tragedy strikes, Freya’s powers arrive with a vengeance, and she does her turn as a live action version of Frozen’s Elsa for a while. Only she’s ruthless and determined to wipe out all love and all parents – other than herself. At least, that seems to be her plan. She’s big into killing all the adults and taking their children in, then training those children to be unstoppable fighters, aka Huntsmen. We’re not really treated to all they why of this, though. She’s heartbroken and evil seems to be the answer the film goes with.

As we follow the first batch of kidnapped children we meet, we have a scene with Tull (Nana Agyeman-Bediako) who admits to missing and loving his mother, which gives us the gist of Freya’s issues – love is outlawed. That Tull survived this scene was something of a shock, but a relief as well.

The best fighters of the first batch she grabs are Eric (Conrad Khan) and Sara (Niamh Walter). Who come from the same village but appear not to know each other at all. Or else have always been in love with each other. Your take will depend on how you interpret their silent glances at each other.

We spend some time with the orphaned Huntsmen In Training that we’re following as they grow up – Eric (Chris Hemsworth), Sara (Jessica Chastain), and, to a degree, Tull (Sope Dirisu). Your enjoyment of the various training and fight scenes will depend on how much you actually want to see them and/or how much you enjoy the handheld camera during said scenes.

Eric and Sara fall in love – which as we know is forbidden by Freya as the ultimate sin and which we also know they were going to do from the first moment we saw them as children. They get caught, bad things happen, Ravenna gets defeated by Snow White, and then we flash forward seven years.

Prince Charming (Sam Clafin) comes to find Eric and tell him that he has to find the Magic Mirror, which has been stolen. Helping, or hindering, Eric are two dwarves – Nion (Nick Frost) and Gryff (Rob Brydon). It quickly becomes four dwarves, as Mrs. Bromwyn (Sheridan Smith) and Doreena (Alexandra Roach) join the party and provide four-way comic relief. But can they find the Magic Mirror before Freya? Or will they die along the way?

Since I’m not the person who makes the trailers, I’m not going to tell you any more about the plot. This is a fairytale – a dark one, to be sure, but a fairytale nonetheless. And fairytales will have their happy endings, one way or another. Please be aware that it’s too intense for younger children (it’s rated PG-13 for a reason, please plan accordingly).

All the acting is first rate, and Theron owns the screen any time she’s on it. But be prepared – despite her billing, she’s not onscreen nearly as much as I’d expected. This doesn’t make the movie a disappointment (unless you were only going to see Theron) but it again points out how the trailer’s expectations are not going to be met by the actual movie.

So ignore the trailer. Go to see The Huntsman: Winter’s War because it’s a dark but enjoyable fantasy that merges several fairytales and their tropes together, with excellent acting and fantastic costumes and visual effects.

Rating: 4 Stars

Long before the evil Queen Ravenna (Theron) was thought vanquished by Snow White’s blade, she watched silently as her sister, Freya (Blunt), suffered a heartbreaking betrayal and fled their kingdom. With Freya’s ability to freeze any enemy, the young ice queen has spent decades in a remote wintry palace raising a legion of deadly huntsmen—including Eric (Hemsworth) and warrior Sara (Chastain)—only to find that her prized two defied her one demand: Forever harden your hearts to love.

When Freya learns of her sister’s demise, she summons her remaining soldiers to bring the Magic Mirror home to the only sorceress left who can harness its power. But once she discovers Ravenna can be resurrected from its golden depths, the wicked sisters threaten this enchanted land with twice the darkest force it’s ever seen. Now, their amassing army shall prove undefeatable… unless the banished huntsmen who broke their queen’s cardinal rule can fight their way back to one another.

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, Nick Frost, Charlize Theron
Directed by: Cedric Nicholas-Troyan
Written by: Evan Spiliotopoulos and Craig Mazin