Movie Review: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
What We Liked
What We Didn't Like
High-concept films are a tricky thing to pull off. If a novel concept isn’t supported with good filmmaking, you might get people in for the opening weekend, but they won’t come back to see your movie again. Then there are some high-concept films where just from the title, you know it’s going to be either awesome or terrible. The new action-fantasy-horror-comedy Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is one such film. Is it good? No, not really. Is it fun? Hell yeah.
Fifteen years after the traumatic incident involving a gingerbread house, siblings Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) have grown into vengeful bounty hunters dedicated to exterminating witches. Over the years, they became expert hunters, famous for their proficiency at tracking and taking down their prey. Although still recovering from their ordeal, their work is relatively easy because for an unknown reason, harmful spells and curses do not work well against them. The Mayor of Augsburg, Germany recruits Hansel and Gretel to rid the town and nearby forest of the evil sorceress Muriel (Famke Janssen), who is planning to sacrifice many local children at the witches’ gathering during the upcoming “Blood Moon” night. To make things worse, the duo also has to deal with the brutal Sheriff Berringer (Peter Stormare), who has taken power in Augsburg and conducts a very indiscriminate witch hunt of his own.
While none of the cast are really stretching their acting muscles, I don’t think that any of them embarrassed themselves, either. Jeremy Renner can play these sort of badass characters in his sleep at this point, and he’s as fun to watch as ever. I really like Gemma Arterton as an actress, and I’m glad that she’s finally in a big Hollywood movie where she’s not just playing the love interest. Famke Janssen is both gorgeous and creepy as Muriel, the leader of the witches, which I think is her first villainous role since GoldenEye (1995), and I want to praise her for being willing to spend about half of her screen time under heavy makeup. Character actor Peter Stormare grimaces and snarls it up as Sheriff Berringer, the latest in his long line of roles as evil European guys, and at least seems to be enjoying himself. Pihla Viitala and Thomas Mann do what they can with the largely thankless roles of Mina and Ben, respectively the mysterious girl with a secret and the over-enthusiastic fanboy. Derek Mears, best known for playing Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th (2009), does some good creature-suit acting as Edward, Muriel’s troll servant. And I want to give a shout out to Monique Ganderton, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Zoë Bell, Joanna Kulig, and the other actresses who play the witches, because I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to act while wearing such extensive prosthetic makeup.
The biggest things the movie has going for it are its effects and action. Some extensive prosthetic makeup is used to create a wide variety of different witches. These are put on great display when all the witches are gathered together during the final battle, and each one has some unique element to her design. Best of all, these are accomplished largely with practical effects instead of CGI. This was a nice reminder for me of why I generally prefer on-set practical effects over computer-generated effects whenever possible. Similarly, the film definitely earns its R rating with its liberal use of great gore effects. Blood is shed, guts are spilled, heads are removed from necks, and more. All these effects are put to good use during the numerous action scenes, where Hansel and Gretel use their anachronistic array of hi-tech weapons against the dark magic of the witches.
Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton in “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.” © 2012 – Paramount Pictures.
I got to see Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters in IMAX 3D, and while the huge image size definitely worked for me, the 3D left a lot to be desired. It is mostly used for the standard “things flying at the camera” effect, and while that can be fun, I thought it was overused. Even worse, in some scenes where it was mostly dark with a single major light source, such as outside with the moon or a campfire visible, I noticed “ghost images” of the light source around it – although I’m not sure if this was a problem with the 3D itself or just with the projection at my screening. If you do go see the movie, save yourself some money and opt for the 2D version.
But as enjoyable as I found the film to be, it definitely has some notable flaws. The characterization is paper-thin across the board, and none of the characters changed in any notable way by the end of the film. The storyline is also quite predictable, and I correctly guessed both of the attempted plot twists well before the movie revealed them. Renner and Arterton basically just use their regular accents, respectively American and English, rather than trying to sound German. While I was able to accept this as part of the artifice of the movie, it is kind of jarring at first. And as a firm believer in gender equality, it definitely irked me that Gretel spent the first part of the final battle tied to a rock after being captured.
Maybe I’m just a sucker for these sort of movies, but even though I’m well aware of the film’s problems, I still had a good time watching it. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is absolutely ridiculous and a whole lot of fun. If the ads got you interested, or you just want to watch a brainless but fun period action movie, I say you should go check it out.
Timothy Monforton
