I have to admit I had been looking forward to this movie, because the trailer promised a fun movie, without too much depth but solid entertainment. Also with Framke Janssen, Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner it had very good cast.
To create a movie as a second part to the classic fairy tale was an almost brilliant idea. It had all ingridients to make an interesting plot: lead characters with personal issues, revenge, witches and magic, action, mystery and a lot more.
Unforunately the movie fails to explore its full potential. The action scenes are creative but for my taste a tad to bloody. Don't get me wrong I don't mind watching a bloody movie, if it fits the story but in this case the viewer gets the impression of a literal overkill. There are some things I really don't need to see while stuffing myself with popcorn.
*minor spoilers*
The actors were as good as expected, but unfortunately they are not given enough to work with. We get some interesting scenes with the siblings (Played by Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton) , while they try to deal with their past or when they face emotional dilemmas. Unfortunately these scenes remain very marginal and the director rushes back to bloody fighting scenes ,without exploring these issues in depth. This is not surprising considering the movie is only 88 minutes long.
The general look of the movie is great! The leather costumes are simply sexy and the guns look cool and retro. This gives the movie and almost steampunkish look.
It is a pity that the director Tommy Wirkola didn't make use of everything he was given. Simply by adding 20 minutes of storyline the movie would have improved significantly as the viewer would have cared more about the characters and they'd been given more depth. I felt well entertained nonetheless and would recommend the movie anytime for a dvd movie night with friends, where it doesn't matter if you miss two minutes of a movie while you get some popcorn.
Points 5/10
