A Trail of Gore and Breadcrumbs

Rating: 3/10 (5 February 2013)

I hate to say I walked into this the theater showing this film with low expectations. The promotional material made me think of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead but there were few laughs if any in this film and Jeremy Renner is no Ash Williams. Hansel and Gretel's parents are murdered by witches and the duo find themselves at the house made of candy after wandering the Bavarian forest for a time. The owner of the house turns out to be a witch who tries to fatten up Hansel and makes Gretel a slave. They get the better of her and push the witch into an oven, establishing that fire is the greatest weakness of witches. They grow up killing witches in various towns for bounties using explosives, piano wire, firearms, and other violent ways. In the town of Augsburg, they encounter the biggest and baddest of them all, Muriel (Famke Janssen), who has a plan to strengthen the witches' magic against their old weakness through the abduction and sacrifice of a dozen town children.
The funniest moment of this movie is the initial encounter between Hansel and Gretel and the imbecilic Sheriff Berringer. Other than that it's all violence and a few lame one liners. Jeremy Rennner doesn't have Bruce Campbell's self-deprecating charisma and Gemma Arterton is a lovely woman but seems trouble showing any emotion beyond surprise. I found myself fighting to stay awake at times. This movie was a chore to watch and the cost of 3d for this kind of movie is a waste.