Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (DVD)

This is such a good movie that I’ve watched it many times and it’s still fun to watch. It’s awesome!

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I loved Dead Snow, so buying this movie was an easy choice for me. (I was also happy to learn that they are working on a sequel to Hansel & Gretel. I look forward to that with great anticipation.) I bought this version of the film because I'm a sucker for a label that dares to suggest `intense new footage NOT seen in theaters.' I'm not a timid soul, if you've got an uncensored version of anything I want to see it. Love steampunk, loved the fanciful weaponry used throughout. Loved that a lot of the action takes place in the wilderness (their interior fight sequences were less successful due to poor lighting). Loved that the movie was both grim and humorous (it needed to work a lot harder to be dead on funny though). As for the acting, of the lot Famke Janssen served the movie best as Muriel a witch with a diabolical plan. Gemma Arterton was also fantastic as Gretel. Less successful was Jeremy Renner as Hansel, he seemed terribly uncomfortable trying to exist in this wacky world of witches. Concerning the claim of inconsistent action, yes, a lot of the fighting sequences were straight out of the Looney Tunes handbook of silly, but so what. Realism was not their aim! And yes, the story is a bit simplistic; but this is not the type of movie that requires complications to hold our interest. There is no earth shattering reveal, no twist, nothing surprising or unexpected, it's pretty straight forward. The plot concerns the siblings Hansel & Gretel who have issues that will never be resolved as long as there are witches to hunt down and exterminate. They are bounty hunters. They get paid to do one thing. That's what this movie is all about. I don't know how that confused some critics, but it obviously did. For me, the only questionable scene (that was added afterwards) involves an attempted gang rape. How that got tossed into the mix is anyone's guess, especially as it serves no purpose other than to confuse the intent of the the filmmakers. It literally came out of left field. Other than that, I have no additional complaints. It's a keeper!

To enjoy this movie you have to be a fan of the so bad it's good oeuvre. This film typifies all that is good about that genre. The plot is paper thin but frankly if you watched this film expecting a compelling story you have no one to blame but yourself. This is a strictly turn off brain suspend belief sort of movie and as long as you approach it with the right spirit it's rip roaring fun. This film presents a fun twist on a classic fairy tale. Gone are the boring child Hansel & Gretal (in my mind always dressed in Leiderhosen) and instead we have a kick ass Gemma Arterton and a grumpy yet loveable as always Jeremy Rennet hamming it up in some steam punk gear, merrily taking out witches with appropriately OTT levels of gore. The action scenes are great fun and while you feel Jeremy Renner is there under duress he still throws himself into it, and has good chemistry with Gemma Arterton. Ms Arterton is as always wonderful and holds her own against the scenery chewing Famke Janssen, who to steal a quote from a newspaper film critic, didn't so much phone it in as send it in by carrier pigeon. The story whizzes through the obligatory action scenes tied together with the finest strands of plot to a satisfyingly obvious climax. That's not to say serious issues aren't touched on: as in the classic tale during their initial capture by an evil witch Hansel is forced to eat copius levels of candy. The fairy tale version glosses over this but kudos to the writers here to showing the consequences. Poor adult Hansel had the 'sugar sickness' which rears its head during suitably dramatic moments. I say shame on the Brothers Grimm for not considering this issue. All in all this movie was great fun and I genuinely recommend it. Just make sure you watch if with the right attitude!

First thing to note is this: I am not rating the movie based on its overall quality as a movie. I am rating this movie based on how much I enjoyed it, especially considering how hammy and ridiculous it was. Most movies like this I don't enjoy at all, but I loved and had fun with this one. SPOILERS FOLLOW First of all, the story hooked me from the beginning. Maybe I'm on a weird "Hit Girl" fixation from the Kick Ass movies, but when young Gretel stabbed that witch repeatedly, that's when I knew this movie would be a blast. The story kept me entertained and interested throughout the entire film. Then, we have the adult Hansel and Gretel, played by Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton. You can easily see how ridiculous Renner finds the whole thing, but his performance is still fun and enjoyable to watch. In my opinion, it's Arterton (both her character and performance) that steals the show. My favorite scene with her is when she bites the evil town sheriff's nose (after breaking it by headbutting him earlier in the film), and then she spits a chunk of it out, her face covered in blood. Let's not mention all the random F-bombs that Hansel and Gretel (mainly Gretel) throw around. I'm not a fan of much profanity in films usually, but I have to admit that the F-bombs are part of the treat here (since I don't really consider this a "film" but a "movie"). As for the witches, they had to be some of the silliest, least scary, most over-the-top witches in cinematic history...and I loved them for it. There were many moments where I was outright guffawing at the goofiness. On a quick note, I applaud the use of actual prosthetics instead of CGI for the witches; they actually all looked pretty awesome. As far as the silliness, we have these witches, all with superhuman strength in addition to their magic, running around jumping over things, punching, kicking, riding brooms backwards, using magic to make humans kill people, etc. All the while, they look and act like the Orcs from Lord of the Rings; in other words, there's lot of screaming, growling, and head wagging. My favorite performance of all is from the beautiful Famke Janssen as the grand witch Muriel. While I love her for her role as Jean in X-Men, it was seeing her as Xenia Onatopp, the sexually-crazed villain from Goldeneye, that made me love her as an actress. I think she excels at playing villains, and here is no exception. In a way, this role is quite similar to her Goldeneye role. It's extremely over-the-top, she kills a lot of people brutally, and she just completely embraces the ridiculousness of it all and makes it great and memorable. Plus, I admire someone as beautiful as her being willing to appear under ugly witch makeup for most of the movie, although part of me found the witch rather sexy knowing it was Famke. NOTES ABOUT EXTENDED CUT I haven't watched it in full, but I've seen different scenes, and from what I can tell, the extended version is the way to go if you want more over-the-topness. One of the standout new moments is when Muriel (as a watch), bashes a guys skull and pulls out his brain, then throwing it on the ground with an Orc-like head wag. There are many other scenes and changes that make the extended version actually worth it. Keep in mind, I'm not an advocate of brutal violent in real life. But the silly, campy violence of this movie is just so fun to watch. On a guilty pleasure scale, this movie gets 5 out of 5 stars from me.

Let's start off by clearing the air a little bit: if you are looking for the next best picture nod and/or the next great fantasy epic, this is not it (and, quite frankly, I'm curious as to why you thought this one WOULD be it). If, however, you can enjoy movies without deep character development or scenes of life-changing consequence, then this is a movie that I highly recommend. I can unequivocally state that this movie did not make me re-evaluate my life, nor did I shed a single tear over, well, anything in this movie due to its emotional narrative...but it was so much fun! I'm someone who can watch best picture movies that stretch your brain and emotions and enjoy them intensely - I am also someone who can fall in love with a movie simply designed to entertain, and, well, I fell in love with this one. I felt that each character was played correctly and hit the tones they were supposed to. There was plenty of action and - contrary to popular opinion - there WAS a plot. I went to the movies expecting to see a flick that would entertain me and I got exactly what I paid for - in fact, it was one of the most satisfying movies I'd ever watched simply for what I was expecting and what I got out of it. Also, for an R-rated movie, there was a lot less stuff than I was expecting. I mean, there IS stuff in it - it is R-rated, for heaven's sake - but it was a lot better than I'd thought, which was great. I can only think of one or two things story-wise that irked me to the point where I wanted someone to have corrected them, but I'll leave them for you to figure out :) I gave it 5 stars not because it was a perfectly made movie, but because I wanted to see it again after watching it...and I don't always feel that way about movies that ARE flawlessly made. Rent the movie if you don't trust me enough to see it in theaters, but I think you'll find it an enjoyable 1 1/2 hours.

Love both of the actors

This is a great movie that kept me entertained the whole way through.

Love this movies and have been meaning to get for some time so happy with the price and condition.

Fantastic film. Definitely worth the money

Received slipcover is somewhat worn out, maybe it was in Amazon warehouse for long time! But inner box is sealed & discs are in great condition. Hansel Gretel witch hunter is a great movie with non stop action & horror & I’ve a crush ❤️on Gemma Arterton!

Il dvd Hansel e Gretel è di una qualità audio e video eccellenti . Sono molto soddisfatto di questo acquisto . Lo consiglio vivamente a tutti gli appassionati di questo genere .

Terrific film. Ignore the poncy critics ! This film is pure escapism, fun and light hearted nonsense. Colourful, well directed, fast action, good storyline, a really enjoyable film. Cliches, one liners, historical errors, oh they are all there, but in a great entertaining way. Arteton is excellent ( especially the tight leather pants!), and is well paired with Renner as her brother. Their relationship is well directed, both actors portraying nicely that special brother/sister togetherness. The storyline is VERY loosely based, at least at the beginning, on the fairy tale, but it quickly takes a new, more gory route through a forest of witches. Stacks of action, this film really has something for everyone, as long as you are not a professional critic looking for dome deep meaning of life in the story! Not for the young viewers though ! Beware it is bloody and has its share of colourful language too.