{"id":2155,"date":"2013-02-05T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2013-02-05T19:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ealasaid.com\/main\/?p=2155"},"modified":"2018-02-12T16:04:48","modified_gmt":"2018-02-12T23:04:48","slug":"hansel-gretel-witch-hunters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ealasaid.com\/main\/2013\/02\/05\/hansel-gretel-witch-hunters\/","title":{"rendered":"Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Written and Directed by: Tommy Wirkola
\nStarring: Gemma Arterton, Jeremy Renner, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare
\nRated: R for strong fantasy horror violence and gore, brief sexuality\/nudity, and language<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something ever-appealing to me about fantasy-action films. The good ones don\u2019t take themselves seriously and are pure fun, and the bad ones are so deliciously campy that it\u2019s hard not to love them anyway. \u201cHansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters\u201d is in the first group. It\u2019s silly almost to the point of being deranged at some points (someone explain to me how they made insulin injections in the middle ages, please), but the leads are so engaging and the story so fast-paced that it\u2019s easy to just sit back and take the ride.<\/p>\n

The film starts with the familiar story: a man wakes his small children in the middle of the night, takes them out in the woods, and abandons them. They find a witch\u2019s cottage, are nearly eaten by her, and manage to stick her in her own oven instead. There\u2019s an added twist in this version: the witch\u2019s magic doesn\u2019t work on them. As the opening credits roll, we see a very cleverly-animated montage of \u201cLost Child\u201d posters and the slowly growing-up Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) defeating witches and rescuing children.<\/p>\n

The main quest of the film involves a village where nearly a dozen children have been taken in just a few weeks. When the sheriff (Peter Stormare) proves unable to find them, the mayor brings in Hansel and Gretel. The siblings are now adults, and their lives have led them to be violent, direct, and completely unimpressed by authority (Gretel shuts up the obnoxious sheriff by headbutting him and breaking his nose). They soon discover that something very big is definitely afoot, and they only have a few days to save the children before the local witches use them for a massive ritual that could spell the end for not just witch hunters, but all of humanity!<\/p>\n

If it sounds a bit overwrought, well, it is — and that\u2019s part of the fun. Hansel and Gretel are two deeply practical (and foul-mouthed) action heroes in the middle of a medieval scenery-chewer\u2019s convention. Famke Janssen has so much fun playing the lead wicked witch that she\u2019s practically giggling with delight in half her scenes, the siblings\u2019 local fanboy Ben (Thomas Mann) is straight out of an eighties movie, and Stormare\u2019s portrayal of the sheriff is reminiscent of a thunderstorm. Meanwhile, Arterton and Renner are direct, given to the occasional low-key one-liner, and far more interested in stopping witches than being popular with — or even friendly to \u2013 the locals.<\/p>\n

Between \u201cThe Avengers\u201d and \u201cThe Bourne Legacy\u201d Jeremy Renner is starting to really take off, and it\u2019s well-deserved. He\u2019s a talented actor with a light touch, and I sincerely hope that most critics\u2019 inability to just have a good time at the movies won\u2019t trash his career. He and Arterton make a good team, too \u2013 she makes Gretel a believable action heroine, and walks the line between ridiculous and awesome with aplomb. What really makes the film work, for me, is the chemistry between them — they really come off as a brother-sister team who are incredibly close but in a familial rather than romantic way.<\/p>\n

Of course, a film like this is almost inevitably going to have some things in it to make those of us with any education in history, fantasy tropes, or feminism shake our heads in disappointment, and \u201cHansel and Gretel\u201d does is no exception. I can overlook the anachronisms, but the tired \u201cbad people are ugly and good people are pretty!\u201d trope needs to be burned at the stake. I was hoping to make it through the film without any women having to die for the sake of the plot (known in the comics community as \u201cfridging\u201d), but no such luck. Apparently the only way a strong male character can change his mind is if a lady dies proving him wrong.<\/p>\n

But really, even calling those out feels like complaining that Pop Tarts aren\u2019t made with organic ingredients. You don\u2019t go to a movie like \u201cHansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters\u201d for progressive entertainment, you go to see violence, awesomeness, and pretty people \u2013 and in that department, it delivers thoroughly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written and Directed by: Tommy Wirkola Starring: Gemma Arterton, Jeremy Renner, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare Rated: R for strong fantasy horror violence and gore, brief sexuality\/nudity, and language There\u2019s something ever-appealing to me about fantasy-action films. The good ones don\u2019t take themselves seriously and are pure fun, and the bad ones are so deliciously campy that it\u2019s hard not to love them anyway. \u201cHansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters\u201d is in the first group. It\u2019s silly almost to the point of being deranged at some points (someone explain to me how they made insulin injections in the middle ages, please), but the leads are so engaging and the story so fast-paced that it\u2019s easy to just sit back and take the ride. The film starts with the familiar story: a man wakes his small children in the middle of the night, takes them out in the woods, and abandons them. They find a witch\u2019s cottage, are<\/p>\n

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