Trailer Tuesday - Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

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Right, so having watched the trailer, I think it's safe to assume why the first fairy tale film of the 2012-13 deluge was suddenly flung from its initial March 2012 release date, and delayed by almost a year. Yup, "gritty" action-adventure reimagining Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters looks like soulless, stylistically try-hard, rubbish.


Coming across like a cross between Van Helsing, The Brothers Grimm and Jonah Hex - which isn't a good thing - Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters centres on those quick-witted siblings from the Brothers Grimm story, 15 years after the horrifying events at the gingerbread house. In that time our heroes have evolved into the leather-clad, rifle-packing and dour-faced duo of Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton. With witch-dispatching skills like no other, the pair are summoned to a town where a band of witches - led by sorceress Famke Janssen - are stealing children and evidently planning something big. Except maybe there's more going on than what first meets the eye...

That's the plot for Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, but following it evidently means having to stomach the usual blend of ingredients that pass for "badass fantasy chic" these days: pounding metal music, grating contemporary accents, black leather, ridiculous steampunk weaponry and a hefty dose of CGI.

But perhaps I'm being too harsh? Perhaps the trailer is misleading and there is real R-rated fun to be had? After all, Witch Hunters comes from the writer-director of that cult hit Nazi Zombies tale Dead Snow. Still, there's no denying that the film is now opening in the post-Christmas dumping period, which is reserved for the oddities and/or turkeys that studio marketing departments have no clue how to handle.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters debuts in converted 3D on 11 January in North America. The film's South African release date is currently unknown.

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