Review: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

IMDB rate: 6,3

Genre: Supernatural

So I finally had the chance to watch Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. To be honest, I didn't expected much from this movie. It seemed a bit boring and predictable. And well... I was right. This movie resembles The Brothers Grimm a lot, only this is a bit more horror-like. Honestly, I'd rather watch The Brothers Grimm ten times in a row instead of this movie.

It's not that it's terrible or something. It's watchable. But it's definitely not a movie that I would watch soon again. The movie was very predictable and never gave any surprises. That's too bad because if they've changed the story I think it would have been better and more original.

In this spin on the fairy tale, Hansel & Gretel are now bounty hunters who track and kill witches all over the world. As the fabled Blood Moon approaches, the siblings encounter a new form of evil that might hold a secret to their past.

In once saw this interview with Jeremy Renner (Hansel) and Gemma Arterton (Gretel) on the Graham Norton show I believe, and I thought they both were really arrogant about this movie. I must admit that I never like Jeremy Renner in movies, and well... he kinda confirmed it again for me in this movie. I'm sorry, but I don't think he's a good actor. I did not like him in The Bourne Legacy, I did not like him in Mission Impossible 4, I did not like him in 28 Weeks Later and I definitely did not like him in The Avengers. In my opinion he hasn't anything special. 

I was not familiar with Gemma Arterton yet, and while she is very pretty, she doesn't seem to have any capacity in my opinion. I didn't find her acting very special, and she never really convinced me of her pain, fear or whatever she went through. Maybe if the two main characters were played by different persons I might have liked it, but that we'll never know :). 

The one that acted best was Famke Janssen. I think she is an amazing actress and while I think this role didn't really suited her, she played it just fine. The others witches were a bit useless though. It gave a bit the impression of the three witches in Stardust, where Michelle Pfeiffer is the 'main' witch and her sisters are useless addings.

Like I already mentioned before, the movie was kinda predictable. For example, when they found a witch, they did not immediately kill her. No, they first have to say something clever, or have to ask for their name of something stupid like that. And of course, at that point the witch attacked them, beat the shit out of them, and tries to get away. This almost succeeds until the last seconds where on of the witch hunters suddenly shows up and beats them from their broomstick. This happens at least five times! Not very imaginative...

The dialogues were not very refreshing, just straight to the point and that's it. What I also found bothering was the 'obvious 3D effects'. With this I mean that for example when a building is collapsing, a piece of wood from the building comes 'flying' to the screen, in a real obvious way that that was supposed to be 3D. Maybe it's cool when you actually see it in 3D, but when you see it just normal it's kinda lame. 

The thing that I did like was the music. It was very beautiful and fairytale like, with a hint of horror in it. Another thing that I liked was Edward the troll. He was sort of cute, and gave a nice touch to the story. And another good thing was the violence! There is many blood and gore in this movie, which makes it a bit more fun to watch.

I think this movie is comparable with The Brothers Grimm, but in my opinion The Brothers Grimm is more fun to watch. With better actors and a better story. But if you really want the 'horror' side of fairy tales you might prefer this movie. I personally did not like this movie that much, but I know many people who loved it. 

My personal rate: 5/10