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Three of Hollywood's most powerful female actors get lost in a morass of special effects, and adoration of Chris Hemsworth's brawn, in the adrenalized fairy tale "The Huntsman: Winter's War."

Serving unsatisfyingly as prequel and sequel to 2012's "Snow White and the Huntsman," the movie starts with Hemsworth's Eric being trained for battle by the ice queen Freya (Emily Blunt), the love-starved sister of the evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron). Alongside Eric is Sara (Jessica Chastain), an equally tough warrior who is seemingly killed when Freya discovers their plans to escape her army of huntsmen.

Flash-forward seven years, after Snow White's defeat of Ravenna (from the first movie), and Eric is asked to help find Ravenna's stolen mirror and put it where its evil won't infect the kingdom. Two dwarves (Nick Frost and Rob Brydon) assist him on this quest, but soon they're joined by Sara, whose resurrection strains the meager skills of screenwriters Evan Spiliotopoulos (Dwayne Johnson's "Hercules") and Craig Mazin ("Identity Thief').

Rookie director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, who did visual effects on the first "Huntsman" movie, creates some arresting visuals involving Ravenna's golden mirror and Freya's silver ice kingdom — metallic tones that also hint at the final ranking of Theron and Blunt's characters. Hemsworth falls back on rugged charm and a fake Scottish accent, as if the director's only instruction was "do what Gerard Butler would do."

'The Huntsman: Winter's War'

Opens Friday, April 22, at theaters everywhere; rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence and some sensuality; 114 minutes.