Hansel & Gretel are 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.
Director:Tommy Wirkola
Writer:Tommy Wirkola
Stars:Jeremy Renner,
Gemma Arterton,
Peter Stormare |
See full cast and crew »
Storyline
The siblings Hansel and Gretel are left alone in the woods by their
father and captured by a dark witch in a candy house. However they kill
the witch and escape from the spot. Years later, the orphans have become
famous witch hunters. When eleven children go missing in a small
village, the Mayor summons Hansel and Gretel to rescue them, and they
save the red haired Mina from the local sheriff that wants to burn her
accusing Mina of witchcraft. Soon they discover that the Blood Moon will
approach in three days and the powerful dark witch Muriel is the
responsible for the abduction of children. She intends to use the
children together with a secret ingredient in a Sabbath to make the
coven of witches protected against the fire. Meanwhile Hansel and Gretel
disclose secrets about their parents.
User Reviews
What
you may or may not remember about the Brothers Grimm' story is over and
done with in the first ten minutes of writer-director Tommy Wirkola's
revisionist treatment of the classic tale, which basically imagines what
happens after the happily ever after. And so Wirkola fast- forwards the
story many years later, where he would like us to believe that Hansel
(Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) have found their calling as
witch hunters, travelling around from village to village killing the
evil ones who kidnap children and rescuing their abductees in the
process.
One particular such mission brings them to the town of
Augsburg, where a beautiful blonde-haired woman named Mina (Pihla
Viitala) is due to be drowned in front of an angry crowd by the shifty
Sheriff Berringer (Peter Stormare). The Mayor (Rainer Bock) is not so
fast to pronounce judgment on her for the spate of disappearances, and
has hired Hansel and Gretel to get to the bottom of it. Seeing no
visible signs of sorcery on her, Hansel and Gretel free her,
inadvertently setting themselves on a collision course with the Sheriff.
But
the bitter Sheriff and his band of hunters are the least of their
problems – indeed, their most pressing concern is the Grandmother Witch
Muriel (Famke Janssen) and her hench-women, who have been keeping the
children they have kidnapped locked up in wait for a much more sinister
plot to make them even more powerful. Of course, as narrative dictates,
Muriel's plan would have something to do with Hansel and Gretel's own
past, as well as their extraordinary ability to be immune from the
spells of witches.
Savvy viewers will be able to spot the
connection once the clues are laid, so don't expect a revelatory
surprise at the end. That doesn't mean however that this reimagination
is predictable; instead, Wirkola keeps you riveted with a surprisingly
effective blend of horror and hilarity often within the very same scene.
Case in point? Just before she forces someone to turn a shotgun on
himself and splatter his brains onto the wall, Muriel comments how the
room they are in looks somehow drab and could do with some colour.
That
same irreverence pervades the entire movie, which shouldn't come as a
surprise if you paid attention to the opening credits and spotted Will
Ferrell and Adam McKay as producers of the movie. Their brand of rude
cheeky humour is very much alive in Wirkola's first English-language
feature, who had demonstrated through his debut movie lampooning Quentin
Tarantino – Kill Buljo – that he is perfectly in tune with their
sensibilities. But Wirkola also brings his eye for gore – seen in his
sophomore film 'Dead Snow' – to this movie, so be prepared for exploding
flesh, crushed skulls and some particularly nasty decapitations that is
good reason why this grown-up version of Hansel and Gretel does not
carry a kid-friendly rating.
Amidst the gore and adult humour,
Renner and Arterton unfortunately are left with paper-thin characters.
While Renner pretty much looks dour throughout the movie, Arterton seems
determined to have fun with her ass-kicking female heroine of a role,
and her portrayal of Gretel resembles a Lara Croft for the medieval
ages. The scene-stealer however is Janssen, the former Bond villain once
again relishing the opportunity to play against type as the villain and
putting in a deliciously over- the-top performance as Muriel. Other
supporting actors don't make much of an impression – including Thomas
Mann, a firm Hansel and Gretel devotee who gets some laughs from his
fanboy behaviour and eventually sees his wish come true to be a witch
hunter like his heroes.
And we suspect, how much you will end up
enjoying this new twist to the classic fairy tale will also depend on
your expectations. Compared to the recent spate of fairytale-inspired
Hollywood movies like 'Red Riding Hood' or 'Snow White and the
Huntsman', it veers most far off from its source material to tell an
entirely different story. The result of that novelty is something bloody
all right, that can also prove to be bloody good fun if you're looking
for an adult-oriented blend of action, adventure, fantasy, horror and
comedy. It might not sound intuitive, but this fairy tale is best
enjoyed without the kids.
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