Danish director Tommy Wirkola, only 34l, capably directs a fairy tale with an inventive twist; Famke Janssen is perfect femme fatale

Rating: 9/10 (12 February 2013)

HANSEL AND GRETEL starts just like the 1812 published fairy tale (Grimm Brothers based it on German legends) -- two young siblings being abandoned by their parents, and encountering a gingerbread house owned by an ugly witch. Inventively, the film inserts newspaper clippings (made to look ancient) chronicling what happens after Hansel and Gretel's shocking feat of that first witch and their being fearless witch-hunters, tracking down every last witch and exterminating them from the world. As Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) enter a new town, they encounter an antagonistic sheriff (Peter Stormare), a hapless mayor who has wisely hired the witch-hunters to help rid the town of the terrorist hags, missing children, more frightful and powerful witches... and even a troll. The town's major crisis is the coming Blood Moon, for which the coven needs the heart of 12 children for unimaginable and unlimited powers. The mystery of why Hansel and Gretel's parents abandoned them unravels, as the troll inexplicably saves Gretel from the dastardly Sheriff Berringer and his henchmen. Hansel is also provided a love interest in the young woman (Pihla Viitala) they earlier rescue from charges of being a witch -- or is she? To reveal more would render me an insufferable spoilsport (I've just outlined the key scenes), but suffice it to say that Renner (fresh from the success of the Manila-shot BOURNE LEGACY) and Arterton (still indelibly imprinted in my mind from her film appearances, nymphlike, from PRINCE OF PERSIA and CLASH OF THE TITANS, both 2010) are up to the task, with terrific martial arts/fight scenes, and Famke Janssen (whom everybody knows as Jean Grey) is deliciously luminous as the would-be queen of witches, Muriel. Janssen (my favorite actress after Rebecca de Mornay) is always a delight to watch, and here she relishes every scene she's in, despite the frightful witch makeup that covers her Danish beauty. Even the "two ugly sisters" (of Muriel) are no weak ladies, ready to combat Hansel (or Gretel). Atli Örvarsson's moody music, and the atmospheric set pieces of 1800s Germany, well-photographed by Michael Bonvillain, enhance the flashy, well-choreographed direction of Tommy Wirkola (a 34-year-old Norwegian filmmaker who only has three directorial credits before HANSEL!).