Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters movie review
Tommy Wirkola puts a bloodthirsty spin on the classic fairytale in this gleefully violent fantasy.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters does exactly what it says in the snappy title: expands the story of two children held hostage by a crone in a gingerbread house into a full-blooded battle between the forces of good and evil.
-
BLOOD FEUD: Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.
-
Undated Film Still Handout from Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. See PA Feature FILM Arterton. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Paramount Pictures. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Arterton.
The script marries action movie convention with an olde-worlde setting, providing the titular heroes with an arsenal of pithy one-liners as they despatch the enemy.
"She looks angry," said Gretel, staring at one restrained hag.
CAR KEYS AND REMOTES "FREE REMOTE KEY FOB BATTERY" 01482 423414 ...
Peace Of Mind Security Hull Ltd/Hull Car Keys
View details
FOR ALL YOUR CAR KEY NEEDS CALL US NOW ON
01482 423414
SNAPPED KEYS, LOST KEYS, KEYS LOCKED IN VEHICLES,
EXTRA KEYS
WE ALSO REPAIR 90% OF ALL REMOTES AND KEYS, NO FIX NO CHARGE.
Terms: FREE REMOTE KEY FOB BATTERY ONE PER CUSTOMER
Contact: 01482 423414
Valid until: Friday, May 31 2013
"Wouldn't you be if you had a face like that?" quips Hansel, who intends to make her face look far worse by unleashing twin barrels at point-blank range in stomach-churning 3D.
There is no such thing as overkill here.
Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and his feisty sister Gretel (Gemma Arterton) had their first encounter with witches as children when they stumbled into a house made of delicious candy.
Hansel and Gretel grow up with a hatred for these shape-shifting creatures and devote every waking minute to hunting down witches with ingenious homemade weapons.
When several children from one sleepy village go missing, the siblings set about tracking down powerful grand witch Muriel (Famke Janssen), who is kidnapping local tykes as a sacrifice during the forthcoming night of the Blood Moon.
With the odds stacked against them, the brother and sister duo lay their lives on the line to save the children and send Muriel and her coven back to hell.
With lashings of gore and potty-mouthed humour, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is no slavish retread of the Brothers Grimm.
Wirkola splatters one crone's guts all over the camera lens and another set-piece reduces a swarm of the villainesses to chunks of airborne flesh and entrails.
Renner and Arterton are serviceable as the heroes but frenetic action sequences cannot compensate for flimsy plotting and a paucity of character development.
Comments