Der siebte Sohn

It isn't easy to make a good fantasy film – as borne out by Seventh Son, which has suffered a particularly arduous journey to the silver screen. Originally slated for release in February 2013, its visual effects house went bankrupt and its studio, Legendary Pictures, parted ways with distributor Warner Bros. The film that's finally stumbling into cinemas almost two full years later (courtesy of Universal Pictures) should be an unmitigated disaster. Surprisingly, it's not. The film isn't exactly great, but it's a largely entertaining romp that's more inspired by than strictly faithful to Joseph Delaney's series of bestselling books.

Tom Ward (Ben Barnes) is the seventh son of a seventh son: a rare genetic lineage that sets him on the path to becoming a Spook a.k.a., a slayer of the myriad evil creatures that haunt the land. He becomes the apprentice of grizzled, alcohol-addled John Gregory (Jeff Bridges), shortly after Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore), an evil witch, escapes her earthly prison to claim the world as her own. With only a week to go before the blood moon rises, Tom trains with Gregory but finds himself distracted by the charms of Alice (Alicia Vikander) – a mysterious young lady with a few secrets of her own.

While hardly groundbreaking in any way, the story unfolds with unexpected punch. Tom's story – one in which he comes of age and comes into his own – is accompanied by plenty of action sequences, courtesy of bone-crunching battles between men and other men (and women) who turn into soaring, swooping, fire-breathing dragons. Tom tumbles over a cliff to avoid a pursuing monster, Gregory battles a gigantic bear, and wraiths of smoke and despair trail after the Spook and his apprentice as they make their way through a dark, brooding forest.

It helps, too, that the film is leavened by a welcome bite of humour. Seventh Son doesn't take itself as deadly seriously as some of its brethren in the fantasy genre do. That's why Gregory plunges into a bar brawl armed with nothing more than his flagon of beer, and Tom is allowed to make quite a few cutting remarks about his purported mentor that are heartily returned with interest.

Ardent fans of Delaney's books should be warned: Seventh Son riffs on elements of the novels rather than staying strictly true to them. For one thing, Tom is considerably older in the film. Most noticeably, Malkin is a very different character than she is on the page. She's given more depth and complexity here, her vile behaviour explained, if not strictly justified by, her past entanglements with Gregory. It's actually quite nice to see a fantasy world that doesn't simply perpetuate the trope of the wicked witch, but instead dreams up characters that fall along a broad spectrum of morality.

Barnes is well-cast as Tom, holding his own as both a hero and quasi-romantic lead. He shares a sweet, though not particularly electric, chemistry with Vikander who is, thankfully, called upon to do more than simper and flirt. But there are considerably more thrills to be had with Bridges, who manages to fold charm, menace and darkness into Gregory; and Moore, who's clearly having plenty of fun cutting her way through scenes as a whirlwind of madness and malevolence.

By all accounts, Seventh Son should really have been an outright flop. It may still play as such to any fantasy aficionados who are demanding greatness on the level of The Lord Of The Rings. But, for pretty much everyone else, Seventh Son is an entertaining, undemanding film with some good ideas and a lot of fun moments. It's not a particularly great example of its genre but, given its troubled production history, that it's not completely execrable is probably nothing short of a miracle.

This film tells the tale of a seventh son from a village, who is chosen by a master to fight the evil witch who will rule the land.

"Seventh Son" is one of the rare mediaeval fantasy film, that don't seem to be made anymore. This fantasy tale is entertaining, and Julianne Moore gives a good performance of a cold blooded witch. The story itself is not particularly interesting or engaging, and there is little thrill. The film is heavily reliant on computer generated graphics, but we have been wowed by "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" already. Hence, "Seventh Son" offers nothing new, and only offers a brainless way to kill two hours.

The long-delayed young adult book adaptation finally shows up on big screen. Asia noticeably has an earlier release date. The question now is "Is it worth the wait?" For a movie delayed this long, people have already forgotten about it so I won't be surprised if it flops at box office. This gets as generic as what a fantasy period film can be. It is packed with every cliché you find in the genre however it is still entertaining with its action set pieces, decent CGI and 3D.

The story: Jeff Bridges plays a gruff Master Gregory who has lost his apprentice (Kit Harington) during a fight with a powerful witch (Julianne Moore). Thomas Ward (Ben Barnes) is chosen to be Gregory's new apprentice. And there you go, an action-packed adventure with perilous monsters and witches lurking. Nothing in the movie surprises, even the twists have been seen before. There are a few set pieces including a full-blown climax that use extensive CGI. Although entertaining to watch, they are lacking in the creativity department. Acting wise is alright. Music is generic but does elevate a sense of peril during the action.

3D: It is surprisingly decent. I thought it would be another sloppy post-converted 3D movie that barely has depth. The 3D effects work the most during the CGI set pieces with monsters chomping right at your face. It has a reasonable amount of depth between characters and the background.

Overall: Is it worth to watch it in cinema? Only if you are interested in young adult adaptations. If you don't, you are not missing much. It has all the clichés what a fantasy period movie has and does not break any new ground. Is it worth the wait? Probably not. But if you are in need of entertainment, this would just entertain you for 2 hours.

More on: http://moreviewsed.blogspot.sg

-Seventh Son (2015) movie review: -Seventh Son is a fantasy/adventure film about the last man in an order of knights that were basically medieval Ghostbusters. He takes on a new, young apprentice who is destined for greatness and blah blah blah prophecy, blah blah blah training, blah blah blah evil threat, blah blah blah fulfil his destiny type of thing.

-The entire film is like a cliché video game complete with boss battles, side-quests, and gaining new equipment. It was not bad, but not good or anything new.

-The story is cliché and predictable as pretty much anything. I knew exactly how it would go down throughout the entire film.

-The pace is somewhat inconsistent, with a few parts that rush and a few parts that drag.

-The acting is fine. Jeff Bridges did his best imitation of himself from True Grit, which was only so-so believable. Ben Barnes did his best impression of himself as Prince Caspian, minus the accent. So he was convincing at least. Julianna Moore is the villain, and she was the best one in it.

-The characters are all cliché and offered nothing new.

-The music…. I'm going to go back to this one….

-The CGI was not as bad as the trailer, but not great. The originality the film offered in the villains was not terrible either. They just played Dark Souls and said "Hey! Let's use all of the villains!" -There are some scenes that are pretty witty, and some others that are pretty entertaining. So it was enjoyable to an extent.

-So my least favorite thing about the film was the music…. Right off the bat I noticed. Here is what happened: They were done with the editing and somebody said "Oh guys! We forgot music!" and another guy answered, "Oh crap! It's okay, just use music from Game of Thrones, Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans, and Robin Hood! Problem solved!" Oh my gosh I knew every song that played. And they picked two of my favorite soundtracks to use! So totally took me out of the moment. All of the moments. All of them.

-Anyway, Seventh Son is nothing new and has some elements, like the freaking music, that make it not good. However it has some entertainment value to it, so really, if you don't care about predictability and music, Seventh Son would actually be worth watching on Nexflix.

-It is PG-13 for some light violence, scary-ish images, dealings with things like sorcery, and a random F-word. Because that existed?

I'm afraid after many delays and with a February release date in the US, this would flop. I would understand it in a way. It looks like a cheap B-movie. And a B-movie it is: offers nothing new, nothing special, it exists only to entertain. And you know what? I LOVE that. I'm THAT kind of person.

Despite it is based on a book, the story is so average it hurts. And while the characters are also clichéd, at least they have some flesh, thanks to the actors and the director.

It has some nice monster action set pieces and the pace moves in a good fashion. While its production cost is nowhere to the likes of a Hobbit movie, the effects are great and I was very surprised that the 3D actually worked.

My advise: If you want an experience like the Hobbit or the Harry Potter movies, don't watch this. But if you like fantasy movies like Willow or Dragonheart (and maybe Stardust), give it a chance.