Mark Joseph LeongSeason of the Witch, at first glance, looks spectacular. Set in 14th century Europe, it stars our oily-haired friend, Nicolas Cage (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) and wise-cracker Ron Perlman (Hellboy), as disillusioned knights returning from the Crusades, only to find themselves heading out on yet another treacherous mission to save their homeland from an evil force.
Sadly, Season of the Witch falls flat on its face one too many times to be deemed as thrilling – proven with a 5% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
To escape imprisonment, they need to bring Anna (Claire Foy), who’s suspected to be a witch and the source of the plague, to a monastry and await her trial.
From there onwards, it just starts to go downhill. Like in any adventure, a posse must be rounded up, and it is done so in a completely predictable fashion here. A sullen Behmen (Nicolas Cage) and his sidekick, Felson (Ron Perlman), leads the pack which includes a holy man, Debelzaq (Stephen Campbell Moore), Eckhardt (Ulrich Thomsen) as the senior voice of reason, underhanded rogue Hagamar (Steven Graham), and a young, brash, knight-wannabe Kay (Robert Sheehan).
What really makes my eyebrow twitch are the little details that really take away the medieval feel from the movie. In particular, how director Dominic Sena saw fit to have Hagamar sound like a conman fresh off the streets of New York baffles me too.
With a PG rating, Season of the Witch’s most exciting out of all its choppy action scenes is probably a two-minute fight with CGI wolves and maybe that little struggle across a rope bridge (an inanimate one, mind you).
Both scenes appear in the trailer:
Characters are also two-dimensional as many are killed before their storylines can be developed.
The movie, at certain points, seems undecided as to what it wants be – a realistic depiction of those disillusioned by God in a time of blind faith, or an action flick filled with plain bad-assery.
That said, Cage and Perlman do show some chemistry and perhaps, the movie’s true enemy is its stilted, unoriginal and sometimes, plain hilarious dialogue – “We’re going to need some more holy water!”
Also, a lamentable waste of talent is the casting of respectable actor Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars). He’s given barely more than 5 minutes of screentime as Cardinal D’Ambroise, a priest horribly disfigured by the plague.
The semi-twist at the end is hardly enough of a spell to help turn this movie around.
One thing’s for sure. Nicholas Cage’s financial troubles ain’t going away with Season of the Witch.
Movie: Season of the Witch
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Duration: 113 minutes
Language: English
Rating: PG (Violence and Some Disturbing Scenes)
Genre: Action, Adventure
Director: Dominic Sera
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Claire Foy, Stephen Graham, Ulrich Thomsen, Robert Sheehan