Hansel & Gretel: New film doesn’t add much to a familiar tale

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, the new action-adventure/horror film from Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola, has the look and feel of a Marilyn Manson video from the late ’90s. Not nearly as much fun as Wirkola’s breakthrough film, the 2009 zombie flick Dead Snow, Hansel & Gretel features little in the way of character and plot development. It sacrifices those things in favor of elaborate battle scenes that pit Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) against a virtual army of badass witches. While a somewhat cool concept, the movie has little else (save some elaborate steampunk weaponry and a little humanity added by a Derek Mears’ troll) going for it.

The film starts by giving us a bit of fairy tale background. Orphaned by their parents for reasons they don’t fully understand, Hansel and Gretel suddenly find themselves captured by an evil witch who lures them inside her candy abode in the woods. But when the witch’s black magic mysteriously doesn’t work on them, they’re able to toss their evil captor in the furnace and escape. This starts them on the path of becoming a dynamic duo of witch hunters. Word of their legend spreads quickly and it’s not long before everyone knows about how fierce and ruthless they are. When they’re called into a town to find out why children have been rapidly disappearing, they uncover the witches’ plot to sacrifice the children under a blood moon. They’re determined to stop their powerful leader Mariel (Famke Janssen) before she can off the poor kids.

Along the way, Hansel develops a thing for the townswoman Mina (Pihla Viitala), Gretel befriends a troll and a young witch hunter groupie (Thomas Mann) tags along for the ride. But these storylines are incidental when witches are getting blown to pieces by the heavily armed Hansel and Gretel. Predictably enough, the film culminates in a big showdown between the forces of good and evil. But the scariest part? The ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel.