Release Date: 24 Jan 2013
Genre: Action / Comedy / Horror
Running Time: 92 minutes
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare
Synopsis
After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) have become the ultimate vigilantes, hell bent on retribution. Now, unbeknownst to them, Hansel and Gretel have become the hunted, and must face an evil far greater than witches…their past.
Our Review
When we first found out that ‘Hansel & Gretel’, one of our favourite bedtime stories would be reinterpreted into a film, we thought it was just going to be another kids’ favourite animated movie. But, wow! WHAT A TWIST! It turns out the fairy-tale decided to take it to another level as it became an action-adventure-horror film.
Having seen the trailer before watching the movie, we weren’t expecting much from it because we know great expectation comes with great disappointment. But even with great expectation, this movie still turned out to be pretty good and far exceeded everyone’s expectation. The movie starts out with the story behind the Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) horrific past that turned them into what they are, vengeful witch hunters.
For those who don’t know what to expect, be prepared for a little bit of heart-stopping moments when the young Hansel & Gretel face off the wicked witch in the gingerbread house.
We have to say the production team did made a pretty good effort in getting the right casts for the younger Hansel & Gretel as they do look like the adult version of Hansel & Gretel.
Many years after the traumatic incident, the grown-up Hansel and Gretel, who have killed many witches in their past, arrived in a small town in Germany where the mayor asked for their help in rescuing the missing kids. The kids have gone missing one by one and a woman, named Mina (Pihla Viitala) was wrongly suspected as the witch by the unreasonable Sheriff Berringer (Peter Stormare) in town. Gretel, now the strong, independent woman, along with his brother saved Mina from being executed. In this town, the siblings have also got themselves an admirer, Ben (Thomas Mann), who becomes excited when the witch hunters are in town. Mann did a great job in bringing out the admirer’s character as we can see how deeply interested he was in the witch hunters. He also adds up a little bit of humour element into the movie, and makes the movie a whole lot more enjoyable to watch.
Moving on, as this movie is about the witch-hunting, we were able to watch how skillful the siblings were in hunting down the witches. The movie comes to a climax when the siblings face off the Grand Witch with the evil dark power, Muriel (Famke Janssen), who is planning to get immortality and invincible power during the upcoming ‘Blood Moon’ night. Famke Janssen, who is famous for her role as Jean Grey in the X-Men series, did incredible well as the intelligent yet viscous witch. There were several times where Gretel encountered with Muriel and Muriel’s acknowledgement on Gretel’s past makes Gretel wondering off about her past. Other than the parents, Muriel was also unexpectedly involved in Hansel & Gretel’s past, thus giving us another surprise!
Even though Mina and Ben took the small and possibly unnoticeable roles in the movie, but they have both helped the siblings in many ways, which left a lasting impression to the audience. What we didn’t expect from this movie is that there are a little bit of gore element which makes us go “YUCK!” but fortunately there aren’t many of them and they were quickly brought up to the next scene. A little bit of romance between Hansel and Mina was also included in the movie and every other elements are also pretty well spread in the movie. Overall, this movie is enjoyable and watching it in IMAX 3D also makes it a better movie experience too! For those who enjoy watching different genre of movies, we highly recommend ‘Hansel & Gretel’ as it wasn’t purely an action movie, but an action movie packed with a little bit of dark humour, horror and romance.
If you haven’t watched the trailer yet – watch it here:
