Apparently it's all the rage now taking fairy tales and adding a twist to it. Last year we saw 'Mirror Mirror' and 'Snow White and the Huntsman', 'Grimm's Snow White', this year we've also got 'Jack the Giant Slayer', then of course there's the 'Shrek' films, 'Hoodwinked', and probably some others.
Here Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton), you know, the two German characters with non-German accents, become witch hunters after killing one as kids. All grown up, they come to a town plagued by disappearing children, with the two saving Mina (Pihla Viitala) from being executed. Upon investigating they find that a very powerful witch, Muriel (Famke Janssen), is planning something big, something that could change everything. Sort of. Well it'll make Hansel and Gretel's job a bit harder.
It's...meh.
Plot wise, um it's okay I suppose. It has this weird thing where parts are either not explained or explained too much, like previous experiences, different types of witches, and Muriel's plan. It doesn't feel...can't believe I'm going to say this about a film concerning witch hunting, but it doesn't feel real. The flow feels forced, it feels too staged. The film can be quite predictable as well, heck, there was a plot point which I predicted before I even sat down to watch this, though the film does also trick you at times so it's not all bad. The action scenes are quite entertaining to watch as well.
The acting is probably the best thing about the film. Jeremy Renner is still a lot of fun to watch, Pihla Vittala reminds me of Mia Farrow from time to time, and Thomas Mann (Who plays starstruck Ben) adds a good touch to the film. Even Famke Janssen adds a fair bit of life to her performances, compared to her bored as Hell performances in the 'X-Men' films anyway.
Gemma Arterton. I really want to like you. I really do. But, you're not giving me much to go on, you rarely change emotion for anything, you could be shouting angrily at someone one second but have the same tone for a sincere moment a second later. And it's not just 'Hansel and Gretel' either, I've seen her in 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time' and the 'Clash of the Titans remake', I also forgot she was in 'Quantum of Solace', but there's really no difference to her performances or roles, she's basically giving the same performance over and over again. Well, I can only hope that she portrays 'Tamara Drewe' differently.
There is a problem with the characters though, namely we virtually learn nothing about them, not even the title characters. Okay that's a lie, you do learn some bits, but not a lot to keep you interested. One supporting guy I really liked and I couldn't remember his name. He was the guy who knew the woods like the back of his hand. That guy. Hansel can utter the odd funny comment, but most, if not all, of any funny lines coming from Gretel are subdued by Arterton's deadpan tone. Edward the troll (Yes there's a troll named Edward) is actually probably the most developed character, and he has about ten lines in the whole film. Even the characters swearing seemed out of place.
Speaking of Edward, the effects used on him were really good, in fact most of the effects in this were really good. Oh there are still some really fake looking CGI, but for the most part they were pretty good. Even the 3D was pretty good. That's right, you can mark this day as the day I actually said a good thing about a film's 3D. It's still a stupid gimmick though. The major downside with the effects though is that the action scenes are so fast paced, it almost render the effects useless.
In the end, it's not a bad film, but saying that it's not necessarily good. The acting is the best part but the rest is...meh. The characters are bland, the story is somewhere there, and the dialogue is mostly trivial. But, the action scenes are quite entertaining, the CGI is pretty good, and Jeremy Renner is still a lot of fun. Give it a go, it's not going to thrill you, but it'll somewhat entertain you.
Spoiler Section
Not entirely sure what they were doing with Gretel. It would appear that they were trying to make Hansel and Gretel equal, in almost all of the action scenes Gretel is the one bloodied while Hansel is virtually unscathed. We do see Hansel get bloodied later and his own battle scars, but Gretel is the one who is normally beaten to a pulp, but can still stand on her own two feet as if nothing had happened. And yet, she still comes off as a damsel in distress that needs rescuing. Multiple times.
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