Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
Rated: R, 88 min
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Starrring: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Peter Stormare, Famke Janssen
What do you get when you take a classic tale, age the children into adults, and pump up the action and visuals instead of story or character direction? Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. I’m not completely kidding, though Transformers 2 had the luxury of coming out in June of ’09. So, the fact that it was a fun, dumb summer movie is somewhat forgiven. We could go on about how the characters and story were either uninteresting, or annoying but let’s just leave it at “it’s still a terrible movie.” Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters released in movie theaters in late January 2013. So, it’s a dumb summer movie during… winter? A bit of odd timing, especially right before the Oscars when movie goers might watch contenders instead of… well… a casual film. And by casual I mean this film should not be taken seriously at all. Jeremy Renner stated as much in an interview with Sydney Daily Telegraph.
This movie is mostly consists of action and gore, with some numb dialogue to move the story along. There is some sexual tension, but mostly displayed for cheap laughs and thankfully not between the two main characters. With the exception of Peter Stormare (Sheriff Berringer),who continues to be one of my favorite character actors with his slightly off the wall interpretations, most of the actors seem to have mailed their performances in.
daveshortpants 