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Film review on Hansel and Gretel


Hansel and Gretel




            

             Hansel and Gretel directed by Tommy Wirkola is an action-horror dark fantasy with a black comedy elements which is the continuation for a fairy tale with the same title. It is hard to believe that an old kiddie tale will definitely hit the big screen by sending Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton into view. After watching the movie, It creates an idea for me to have a better look about the casts, productions, where it had been first released as well as the origin of an epic film —- that is, Hansel and Gretel.


Adventure started when the protagonists’ father left them in the middle of the dark woods with no valid and specific reason at all. They do not know how to get back to their house so they wander off in the woods until they reached a gingerbread house which the wicked witch dwells. The witch held them to hostage while continuing to make Hansel ate candies while Gretel preparing the oven. Fortunate event happened, the siblings fought for their freedom and burned the witch to death. After that tragic incident, they grew up together and discovered that they are immune to any witchcrafts so they decided to become witch hunters. One day, in the town called Augsburg, Mayor Englemann sent Hansel and Gretel to a quest to find the missing children of town. On the other hand, Sheriff Berringer also sent a group of people to locate first their own people as to gain respect from whole Augsburg but unfortunately, all men died from the hands of Muriel — the grand witch. With the help of Jackson (deputy of the Mayor), Hansel and Gretel caught one of the witches who knows about the children. They interrogated him and finally opened his big mouth by saying that they needed six boys and six girls for them to complete the ritual of the blood moon. Hansel was separated from Gretel by the evil forces but with the help of Mina, a white witch, they embarked to a quest to save Gretel’s life from the hands of the witches. Knowing that their mother is the grand white witch, Muriel had the opportunity to take Gretel’s blood as one of the ingredients to complete the dark ritual. But, she did not succeed. And just like in fairy tale, it closed by a happy ending because the grand dark witch was beheaded and the siblings continue their search for evil witches with Ben and Edward.


From the sequence of events in the movie, I have to take note of the actors and actresses based on their appearances; Thomas Scharff (the father), Kathrin Kuhnel (Adrianna, mother), young Hansel and Gretel, Peter Stormare (Sheriff Berringer), Pihla Viitala (Mina), Rainer Book (Mayor Englemann), Gemma Arterton (Gretel), Jeremy Renner (Hansel), Thomas Mann (Ben), Famke Janssen (Muriel), Derek Mears (Edward), Ingrid Bolso Berdal (Horned witch), Joanna Kulig (Redhead witch). As for who did a good job, I go for Derek Mears who played the role of Edward. It was hard to have that kind of prosthetics especially when you want it to be realistic as much as possible. Imagine yourself wearing that kind of thing. You should show to people that it was technically real and you are real because most of the time when it play in a three dimensional angle, people will easily recognize if you are worth the actors or not because in films it is not just for the production, but also, it is on how the actors handle their scenes. On the contrary, Jeremy Renner did not justified the role of Hansel. I did not like the way he act on this. From Avengers, Mission Impossibe and Bourne Legacy he was like from above but on Hansel and Gretel, I think this was his downfall.


The scene wherein Muriel turned to witch inside the Sheriff’s department in Augsburg. It reminds me of the movie “insidious” and how the ghosts there make their faces as horrible as possible. It kind of scared me a little bit and I do not want to watch that scene again. But on the other hand I like the fight scenes of Hansel and Gretel to the witches and how the latter dominated the two. Every time they fight, witches are stronger than them that they came up twisting and rolling onto the air but at the end, they always won.


Life is too short to bring back time. We will never be the way it used to be even if destiny told us to stop and look back. There is nothing to hold onto life. Everything is impermanent and if we let our emotions flow and slowly drown us, we will be left behind. After watching this film, people will know that not every magic is powerful. The only magic that is keeping us to stand and to believe is the one that never let us get blinded — that is love.


People who loved action and horror movies would definitely like Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. It justified the action as well as the horror elements that surely make the people waiting for sequel. I recommended this movie for Gemma Arterton fans because she was so different in this film. The way she made action stunts were not probably seen before on her movies like Prince of Persia, Clash of the Titans or even inSong for Marion. On the contrary, this film is not enjoyable for those who seeks for teenage-romantic-out-of-school-life type of movies that makes them feel “kilig”. Also, this movie is rated as R (restricted) meaning this is not suitable for the ages of seventeen and below. Proper guidance from the parents are strongly advised. Therefore, at the end of the day, I found myself liking the film, it isn’t about Jeremy Renner or other casts but it is for the productions and staffs that had worked hard for the movie. Well, for me behind the scenes men are more outstanding than the actors. Kudos for Hansel and Gretel!


When I am going to rate this movie in the scale of one to ten, it will be seven. Not bad for a Hollywood film but not that good for Oscars.



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