You certainly know the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel. It's about how two little kids outwit a witch in a gingerbread house. The two children grew old and took up the career of witch killers. I'm sure many countries in Europe have this fairy tale in their storybooks, so it's good that this sequel, too, follows the first story. I'm sure a lot of people are wondering what happened next to the two siblings when they killed the gingerbread witch.
The now grown-up Hansel and Gretel have jobs that support them. They kill witches and save children. On their wanderings, they also come to a village where witches are stealing children. Gradually, they discover their history and the reason why witches flock from all over the area.
The story is very simple. The main characters kill all the witches, learn about their history and new information about witches. Of course, they also make new friends, fall in love and get new members for the sequel. From a powerful troll (you know Edward isn't just a vampire either) to a "Sidekick" who adores his employer.
Thanks to the film being quite short, the story moves along acceptably quickly, from one witch to the next. It's very good that the story doesn't slow down with unimportant digressions that don't explain anything. Negative individuals, both witch and human, are gradually killed off in all sorts of ways, from being shot with a sanctified bullet to being trampled by a troll. This brevity of the story is a great positive. One doesn't even have to think, one looks at the masks, at the weapons, at the nicely rendered haunted forest. Everything is perfect and creepy.
Both the lead actors, Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner, play their characters very well. The styling of both characters fits right in with the whole film. The main baddie, Famke Janssen, as the witch, settled into the role nicely and so it was always good to see all the main characters, both positive and negative, having fun and it shows in this film.
Tommy Wirkola really managed to portray a properly unrealistic world with the witches and instruct the actors to play exactly to his liking, both famous and not so famous, who were chosen from the director's country of origin. He also chose the right creative team who were able to maintain the right mood. So it's not out of place that the filmmakers who made the Hellboy and Harry Potter films also worked on the film.
I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It's a good thing that American productions can reach out to non-American good directors who can steer a film and bring their own visions that are successful. I would compare the Norwegian director to South Africa's Neill Blomkamp. They both managed to make an entertaining film for little money that I enjoyed. Most importantly, they have a talent that stands out from the unoriginal and stodgy American productions.
Original article March 23, 2019 – Kritiky.cz
