Stars Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Pihla Viitala, Thomas Mann and Peter Stormare Directed by Tommy Wirkola So, after being kidnapped and almost eaten by a witch, but able to turn the tables and thus kill said witch, siblings Hansel and Gretel decide that witch killing is a pretty decent business to get into as they grow up. At least, that's how the opening goes. And that's just the first of many liberties thrown into the mix of which one can only assume is some fanboy comic book dream idea of a movie. Yep - this is the kind of concept that would usually rear its head in the comic book world more than it would in the movies. Then agin, we're in a cinematic time when comic books ideas seems to be seeping into the movies more than ever. Following an almost similar plot to the Terry GIlliam movie, The Brother's Grimm (which in comparison would be so much more superior), Hansel (a pre-Bourne and pre-Mission - which also means pre-Avengers - Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton, having a ball with the kick-ass role) are hired to look into a problem of missing children in a town. Of course there's a witch involved (see that title) and something of a past to be confronted. Oh, and those liberties I mentioned? Hansel and Gretel are pretty well armed with some firearms that look positively futuristic (gattling gun?) by their standards, but with a slight steampunk influence, perhaps for credibility. And there are vulgarities abound. Just so you know, this ain't your kids' fairy tale. Parents take note. And so, as it should be, check your brain at the door. And with that, you might actually find that the slim and trim (just under 90 minutes) fantasy adventure does have quite a few nice surprises, little twists and turns that do defy and subvert some anticipated cliches, at least for me. Oh, this is far from a great fantasy adventure, but it's not quite the toxic waste of time either. The performances range from flat to monotonous, some characters are a little predictable - Peter Stormare was more fun in The Last Stand, and seems wasted here and the story doesn't quite take as many risks as it could (as a plot device, Hansel has a disease akin to diabetes because of all the candy he was fed by the witch, guess when the problem decides to kick in?) On the plus side, the designs of the witches are decent and there's a troll to gawk at. Some of the fight sequences are good, or at least, above average. The dialogue is funny at times (intentionally?) and all that thrown together makes this typical above average cable feature fodder. The 3D might have been a little more fun in-your-face bits, but I didn't catch it in 3D. Some of the effects were just obvious in that way. Given the season the movie was released in (the January/February dead zone for cinematic junk that the studios have no hope for) its decent, if average, entertainment if you're looking for something to while away an hour and a half.
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