Review of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) by Whiskeystories — 08 Sep 2017

Hansel & Gretel is a quite good representation of it's genre: fun horror with gothic/fairy tale schlock, which hasn't really been done well since Army of Darkness. The film lacked charisma in the main characters, Jeremy Renner for me is a very likable actor, but he and Gemma Arterton felt a bit bland. The movie felt like it was trying a little bit too hard to be cool (though admittedly it was, kinda cool) and some of the action scenes, though well-choreographed, were shot a bit nauseatingly, which took away a lot of potential enjoyment for me. These are my main gripes of the film.

There are a lot of things I loved about Hansel & Gretel: The last act is pretty awesome, with the blood-moon giving an amazing visual style and weight to the scene and a really satisfying action piece really make that scene stand out. The set design and props were pretty neat and the whole film had a great sense of ambiance and atmosphere. Also Famke Janssen was probably the best thing about the film, she gave a very great over the top performance which really fit the movie.

Overall it's a really enjoyable flick with a very strong sense of style and a lot of fun bloody action. It could have been a little better, but it's a fun romp and a great Halloween movie. I would most definitely be interested in a sequel.