Directed by Tommy Wirkola who gave us the delightfully subtitled nazi zombie story Dead Snow tries his hand at a re-telling of the classic Grimm Fairy Tale Hansel and Gretel....for a modern age. The film starts out with Hansel (Jeremy Remmer) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) being lead out of their home by their father, left in the woods to fiend for themselves. Scared with only each other they travel through the forest and find a candy covered cottage, which is home to an evil witch who would love to have them for dinner. Needless to say as the story goes they are captured by the witch, but turn the tables on her so to speak by killing her in the very oven they were to die in. Forever changed by this experience Hansel and Gretel have now become bounty hunters with witches in their cross hairs. When they are hired by a small village to save some missing children and eradicate their witch problem they get more then they bargained for when they are forced to come up against the most powerful witch (Famke Janssen) yet and soon find out not only the reason for the missing children but answers to their past.
I have to say I always love a re-telling of a fairy tale it's probably why I love the TV show Once Upon a Time. This film starts off strong hits a few bumpy points but levels off into a solid film. The overall tone and feel to the movie is a dark one which is a real benefit with the scenes with the witches. Renner and Arterton put in solid performances with Renner broodier than ever and Arterton's beauty and perfectly pouty lips make her scenes that much more enjoyable. The costumes are beautiful looking and I am sure they will end up on several people's cosplay list and their arsenal of witch weaponry is very impressive. I really enjoyed the scenes with Janssen as the evil witch and the take on her witch look was very good.
Although I do have a few complaints about the film. I did feel the editing was a bit choppy in certain areas and the head witches's minions looked like a cross between a Hellraiser ceneobite and a zombie, which took me out of the movie for a bit when they appeared. Some of the CGI was a little wonky especially when the witches would take flight on any tree limb they could make for a broom. But, I think my biggest complainant would be that Hansel and Gretel are suppose to be these amazing witch hunters, but it seemed in every fight with a witch they were all but beat down by each encounter. Not to say they didn't have some really cool witch death scenes I just wish they weren't as beat up as they were through the movie.
Overall if you enjoy a re-telling of a classic tale with blood, gore, random "F" bombs and wee bit of nudity sprinkled in with a pretty solid script then you will want to hunt this flick down.
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