Eh...

Rating: 4/10 (30 January 2013)

I had low expectations going into see "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters." While I can't say that the film was horrible, my expectations of a mediocre movie were still met.
During the admittedly creative and artistic opening credits, one will notice something strange. This movie was co-produced by Will Ferrel and Adam McKay, founders of the famous website:" Funny or Die" and writers as such films as Step Brothers and Ricky Bobby. Other producers involve Kevin Messik, Beau Flynn, Christoph Fisser, and co-writer of "The Other Guys," Chris Henchy. Now I know many people think that producers have very little impact on the final product, but as someone who worked as an extra on an indie film, I can say that producers can definitely affect how the film is made.
"Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" is an action/horror fantasy, but it also has an overall silly tone. This is evidenced by the over-the-top gross-out scares, the anachronisms, and the curse-laden dialogue. It definitely feels like the producers had a hand in adding silliness to the overall action/horror aspect of the film. Sometimes I even noticed characters speaking silly dialogue in a loud way similar to how WIll Ferrel delivers his lines. I wouldn't have been surprised if Will Ferrel made a cameo.
As for the main crew members, this film is directed and mainly written by Tommy Wirkola, the writer/director of the 2009 cult nazi-zombie film: "Dead Snow." At many times in this film, the aforementioned silliness was clumsily mixed in with bloody violence. Limbs are torn off, heads are crushed, and people are cut in half. The movie is about witches, but it definitely feels more like a zombie movie with its bursts of bloody action. It just didn't fit in with the fantasy elements and it even contributed to one of the film's main problem.
Since the movie focuses so much on brute-force fight scenes, the mostly likable characters take a back seat and are stuck with flat backstories. (SPOILER ALERT) For example, Hansel and Gretel (played by Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton respectively) are told by the antagonist witch Muriel (played by Famke Janssen, see picture below) that the reason their parents left them is because their mother was a good witch and the evil witches wanted Gretel's heart. Her heart was meant to be used in a potion that would give the evil witches immunity to fire, their main weakness. So what all of this contrived mess boils down to is this: Gretel's heart is a MacGuffin that the witches want to use as a potion.
Apparently, her heart is like some kind of witch-treasure. So why then does Muriel throw Gretel out the window in the middle of a fight scene to fight another character and allow her to escape? Some villain, huh?
Speaking of Gretel, Gemma Arterton felt so miscast in this role, and delivered her lines in a monotone, nasally way. It reminded me of Megan Fox, though to be fair it was MUCH more convincing than anything Ms. Fox acted in.
However, Jeremy Renner did the best he could, and if it's any consolation, it's not the worst movie he ever did. The weapons were pretty creative too with the exception of the taser, which didn't even exist in the 19th century (this movie's setting). Also, the fight scenes were decent enough to keep my attention, but they were still choppy and not very memorable aside from the gory moments.
I'm going to end this review by saying the following: less demanding viewers may get a kick out of this film, but I personally thought it was just another bad early-year movie that people will have the most viewers on Netflix's streaming.