Wait for the DVD and the determine whether or not it was worth the rental.

Rating: 5/10 (28 January 2013)

Interesting concept, but poor execution. It's another movie where they've taken good actors/actresses and subjected them to a poorly written script and even worse direction (a la Natalie Portman in any of the new Star Wars movies).
The good: action sequences, pace of the movie (after the first 10 minutes), costumes, and sets.
The bad: script, dialog, acting, excessive oddly placed 'F' bombs, gratuitous gore, no back story in the beginning to set up the action. I could go on, but if you've seen it you know what I mean.
Jeremy Renner is a good actor and it's readily apparent that they signed him to what should be a B movie so that he could hopefully garner the producers some respectable box office returns or at least help to break even on the film. However, his acting skills as well as those of others in the film are overshadowed by the poorly written script and the lousy direction. Famke Janssen is another good performer, but as soon as she transforms into a witch her acting seems to transform, as well, and not for the better. Finally, Peter Stormare, who was great in Fargo and in Constantine, really lacks credibility in this movie. It almost seems as if some of the actors' cues are off.
The script of this film assumes that everyone knows the back story of Hansel and Gretel. While most people do, a voice-over lead-in at the beginning of the film would have helped the story along greatly and it would have set up the action a lot better. Other problems with the script, possibly plot holes, include whether or not Muriel was the same witch as the one at the beginning of the film (the dialog seems to hint at this) and the question of what happens with the wand that Gretel picks up later in the film. Perhaps some scenes were edited out that would have answered this, but, if so, why not edit out the scenes that raise the questions in the first place? Bottom line: not horrendous but not good either. Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, and Famke Janssen carry this movie, but despite their combined talents it still falls short.