'Hansel & Gretel,' 'Snitch' on home video

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on June 21, 2013 at 8:01 AM, updated June 21, 2013 at 8:05 AM

Hansel & Gretel, Witch Hunters: Unrated Cut

jeremy-renner-hansel.jpgGemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner as Gretel and Hansel. 

Fairy tales are frequently macabre — they can be like horror tales for kiddies — but the story of Hansel and Gretel is downright sick.

A brother and sister are attracted to a house made of cake; they are captured by the witch within, who fattens them up for the oven; but the tykes turn the tables, throwing the witch in the oven. Imagine the screams. Imagine the stench. Imagine the PTS suffered by Hansel and Gretel.

The twist concocted by Norwegian writer-director Tommy Wirkola is that H&G grow up to become, to witches, what Van Helsing is to vampires.

This sort of update is hardly groundbreaking; it's merely part of a bleak trend that includes "Snow White and the Huntsman" (2012) and "Red Riding Hood" (2011).


As Hansel, Yankee movie star Jeremy Renner heads up a we-are-the-world cast: British Gemma Arterton as Gretel, who specializes in head-butts; Netherlander Famke Janssen as Muriel, a dastardly witch who covets Gretel's heart (literally); Finnish Pihla Viitala as Mina, a "white witch" with the hots for Hansel; and Swedish Peter Stormare as Sheriff Berringer, whose nose takes the brunt of Gretel's fury.

Final answer: The setup is cool; the concept is cool; the execution is an FX-laden mess.

The unrated cut has enough gore to warrant coverage in Fangoria, and plenty of vulgar language. Extras include a making-of featurette on the creation of Edward, a sympathetic giant troll.

$39.99 (Blu-ray/digital copy), Summit Entertainment


You've gotta hand it to Ric Roman Waugh, director of "Snitch." He delivers an action movie that never goes over the top, never tumbles into "Die Hard" territory. And he coaxes an understated performance from Dwayne Johnson.

But there's much you can't buy. We're told "Snitch" is based on "true events"; this is reiterated in an accompanying featurette. But, seriously, would a state's attorney green-light an untrained civilian dad to go undercover among murderous drug dealers? If it did happen this way in real life, the movie fails to convince us so.

Johnson plays John Matthews, successful owner of a construction company whose son from a previous marriage, Jason (Rafi Gavron), makes a big mistake. As a favor to a friend, Jason accepts delivery of a box of dope. Some "friend"; busted while shipping the box, he fingers Jason. Under a tough new law, Jason will do 10 hard years.

Thus, John makes a deal with the state's attorney (Susan Sarandon) to reduce Jason's sentence if he can bring in usable evidence on real-deal dealers. These include Michael Kenneth Williams (unforgettable as Omar in "The Wire") as local dealer Malik and Benjamin Bratt (unforgivable as some dude in "Catwoman") as a cartel kingpin known as "El Topo." John Bernthal (Shane in "The Walking Dead") is intense as an ex-con employee of John who is drawn into the sting.

Extras include a making-of featurette, audio commentary by Waugh and deleted scenes.

Mark Voger can be reached HERE.