Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Among casual conversations with friends and acquaintances, the consensus regarding Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was that the movie looked cheesy and maybe not so great. So why were all those people so keen on still seeing it? The campy one-liners and excessive fantasy gore that was advertised somehow drew the public in. Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton play the fabled brother and sister, years after their traumatic encounter with the witch in the house made of candy. Now they travel the world hunting witches with era inappropriate weapons and matching badass struts. When they’re hired by a small town with many children taken at the hands of witches, they come across an especially evil witch (Famke Janssen) with ties to their mysterious childhood.

The film follows a recent trend in that it sat on the shelf for a long time after its completion. Since that time, Jeremy Renner has starred in The Bourne Legacy and The Avengers. So the added star power definitely doesn’t hurt Hansel & Gretel. The film’s plot is fairly simple allowing for action to take center stage. There is a sense that the fantasy violence is meant to separate it from similar fare like The Brothers Grimm and Van Helsing, but that isn’t the case. Instead it excels as a counterpart to those.

Renner plays a brusque tough guy, who is somewhat predictable, but does encounter some development in the film’s later scenes. Arterton’s performance is a bit more layered and likeable. Her character is written to be a better rounded and understanding individual and the actress portrays that well. She is able to go between a tough persona and genuine enough fear seamlessly. But the script does her an injustice by turning the strong female character into a damsel in distress for a time. Thomas Mann is also worth mentioning for playing his third loveable loser in about a year’s time. He’s pretty good at it. Weird plot points like a kind hearted troll and Hansel’s battle with witch candy induced diabetes are a bit too strange to let slide, but the film exceeds expectations with a simple structure and likeable characters.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.