Story: Bond girl Gemma Arterton and 'Hawkeye' Jeremy Renner play siblings who hunt down and kill witches in this classic fairy-tale with a twist.
Movie Review: The film picks up years after the events in the Grimms’ famous fairy-tale. Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) have grown up to become bounty hunters. They are on a witch-killing spree and so, are feared and revered by many. A mayor hires the two to protect his village from the dark witches who reside in the dark forests. That’s when the invincible duo, find their match in the evil Grand Witch Muriel (Famke Janssen) who has vicious plans for the fabled blood moon. In order to avert Muriel’s cruelty, Hansel and Gretel must deal with their tragic past… something they’d rather not recall.
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Action, special effects, 3D and makeup are all decent, barring the story which becomes painfully predictable and thus highly dull towards the second half. Witches on brooms start looking like hideous and helpless zombies who are conveniently killed in abundance in most Hollywood films. Scenes showing random killings with beheadings, splattering of innards and limbs being slashed to pieces become monotonous. The film will remind you of (2012) Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
Blood & gore fans may enjoy the slow-mo 3D killings but the film offers nothing beyond that. A little humour and smart dialogues would have helped in making the film more engaging but that doesn’t happen either.
A romantic scene which involves Hansel with a potential love interest is extremely corny! Performance wise, Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton are brilliant individually. As a team, they are forgettable as there is no great chemistry between them. Not the usual brother-sister banter that one is used to seeing.
The film has a decent build-up but as it progresses, it becomes way too predictable and juvenile.