Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (DVD)

Great movie for the price..

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 FOLLOWFirst 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 CUTI 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.

This movie, as the title suggests, is a take on the Brother's Grimm fairy tale of Hanel and Gretel. After escaping the witch, the two grew up to become witch hunters (really any kind of demon) exacting revenge on any witches they come across. The movie stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Atherton as the brother and sister duo who take out the bad guys with shotguns and crossbows (while still being set in rustic woodland villages). The movie does not take itself too seriously and really does not expect the viewers to do so either. It is definitely a gory shoot-em-up action movie that has a lot of over-the-top violence. There is not much sexual content aside from one scene in which you kind of get a glimpse of part of Gemma Arterton's breast. It is a mix of action, horror, and comedy. The movie has a strong supporting cast made of up of both known and relatively unknown actors including Famke Janssen as Muriel, an evil grand witch who rules over a coven of dark witches, Peter Stormare as Sheriff Berringer, Thomas Mann, Derek Mears, and Pihla Viitala.The movie looks and sounds great on Blu-Ray. The extras are somewhat sparse, however. These include a 15-minute making-of documentary, a 10-minute feature on how the witch story was adapted from the fairy tale to the movie, and a 5-minute feature on Edward the troll.Overall, the movie is good if you take it for what it is. If you are expecting an award winner, you will be sorely disappointed. If you are expecting an action movie that mixes in some humor and knows the whole premise of the movie is absurd, you will probably enjoy it. It is very violent and gory (especially in the unrated version) and there is a lot of swearing, so if that turns you off to a movie, then do not even bother. If however, you are looking for a fun action movie with great visuals and a lot of good special effects, this is a good one to check out.

Love this movie. Binge it every time

The blu-ray was exactly what I wanted.

Very Good and Fast!

Excellent