Movie Review: 'Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters'

Fairytale update starring Jeremy Renner doesn't put have storybook ending...or middle...or beginning

BY: Elizabeth Weitzman / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Friday, January 25, 2013, 11:41 AM

Jeremy Renner seems off target when it comes to choosing his recent roles. 

Exhibit A: 'Hansel & Gretel: Witch Huners'

Actors often claim that they appreciate fame because it allows them the freedom to choose better roles, or get higher-caliber movies made.


As someone who built his early career in challenging independent films, Jeremy Renner seems like the sort of guy who'd take that worthy approach.


And yet the more successful he gets, the further away from interesting work he moves.


In 2002, he astounded a small number of viewers as the serial killer lead in the little-seen "Dahmer." In 2005, he impressed the likes of Kathryn Bigelow as a white supremacist in "Neo Ned." In 2010, he earned a well-deserved Oscar nomination for fiercely grounding Bigelow's "Hurt Locker."


And in 2013, he's in "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters."


What happened? When did this intensely gifted actor turn into a guy who sleepwalks his way through "Mission: Impossible—or gets overshadowed by almost every other hero in "The Avengers"? And those movies, at least, were quality popcorn. This disposable effort is as stale as it gets.


In fairness, Renner seems more engaged here than he did in "Ghost Protocol" or even "The Bourne Legacy." In fact, he appears to be having fun, a response we rarely see from him.

Renner (sitting, center) with his on screen sister, Gemma Arterton

Last we all heard from Hansel and Gretel, they were outwitting a witch of Grimm nightmares. Director/co-writer Tommy Wirkola fast forwards several years, when the siblings (Renner and Gemma Arterton) have become—well, see the title.

After several children are kidnapped, they discover that a coven led by Muriel (Famke Janssen) has been taking them. Their journey into her forest suggests she needs Gretel, too, for a plan to make herself and her fellow witches invincible.


There are some funny lines, and several cool battle scenes between the hunters and their black-magic prey. But even in 3D, the effects fall flat as often as they impress, with little attention paid to important details.


Surely the most iconic image in the film should be the witch's candy house, and yet its muddled design is so unappealing, no kid would be fooled into eating it.


More significantly, Wirkola's anachronistic style-in which 19th century Germans wield steampunk bazookas and say things like "You gotta be f----ing kidding me"-isn't clever enough to support itself.


It doesn't help, either, that much of the cast seems tentative about this approach: do they take a high road, or a low one? Arterton and Janssen appear especially uncertain, and never quite settle on the right tone.


Derek Mears, unrecognizable as a giant troll, stands out by infusing the film with a solemn vulnerability. But even if he's slumming, Renner gets it best: his dry delivery fully acknowledges the movie's ridiculousness. If you're planning on entering this fractured fairy tale, you'll want to follow his lead.

 

Reported by Chalita M.

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/movie-review-hansel-gretel-witch-hunters-article-1.1247614