January is notoriously known for yielding a lot of crap. Any movie fan knows that this phenomenon comes because of the end of Awards season. So, when I think I might want to see a movie coming out this early in the year, I approach that film with extreme caution. You might remember (if you actually read all my posts) that I've already had mixed luck with early 2013 releases, with Warm Bodies surprising me, A Good Day to Die Hard being awful, and Gangster Squad for severely underdelivering. With such a poor record, I expected this film to be just as terrible as it looked...if not worse. Weirdly enough, it was better than I ever imagined.
This movie takes the classic tale of Hansel and Gretel and puts a little twist on it. The fairy tale plays out very similarly to what we all know, but after they kill the witch...they become witch hunters. In this reality, they have been abandoned by their parents, so they are orphans with no where to go. They travel from town to town as bounty hunters. They save missing children from evil witches and get paid for it. That sounds like a great occupation, but I'm getting off topic. While this film doesn't have a phenomenal script, the dialogue is pretty bearably, and the story is actually very unique. Normally, I would complain about a rehash of something we already know, but the writer/director, Tommy Wirkola, put an interesting twist on the story to make it fun.
If I had to describe this film to someone in very few words, I would probably describe it as "campy Hansel and Gretel for adults." The camp comes mostly from the dialogue (especially what is said right before a huge action scene.) The "for adults" part is mainly due to the extreme language and ultra violence. I think that also kind of adds to the camp, because you are expecting this serious adaptation of a fairy tale, but you get a foul-mouthed, action-packed version instead. I can't believe how much I enjoyed the action. It was so over the top violent that it was awesome
I hope you notice that I'm not saying this movie is good so much as I'm saying it's better than expected. I still have a lot of problems with this movie. Clocking in at about 80 minutes, I feel like there is a lot of stuff that isn't explained. You are just presented with something and you go "ummm...what?" then just pretend it all makes sense. The direction in this film was kind of shoddy, and had a few of the "THIS MOVIE IS IN 3D" shots that always annoy me.
At first, I thought the acting in this movie was going to be atrocious. The first few lines of dialogue to come out of Jermey Renner's mouth were just so wooden and boring. I don't think I would have been able to deal with that for 80 minutes, but luckily it all got better. Don't get me wrong, these are no Oscar-winning performances, but they aren't bad at all. In this case, mediocrity prevails.
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I can honestly say that I was absolutely surprised by how much I liked this movie. I still can't say for sure if I liked it, but I definitely enjoyed it more than I ever would have imagined. The script was spotty, and the direction was lackluster, but it made up for that with decent acting and great action scenes. I wouldn't suggest rushing out to see this in theaters, but it's definitely worth a watch when it, inevitably, ends up on Netflix.
Writing: 5/10
Directing: 4/10
Acting: 5/10
Pacing: 7/10
Rewatchability: 4/10
Score: 5.0/10
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