Temporada de brujas

Plopping out in early January, time honoured dumping ground of inferior product and draped in mediocre to poor reviews, Season of the Witch had quite a lot stacked against it. But for all this it ended up being one of the better films I've taken in on a whim, albeit far from any kind of classic or even especially good. Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman play disillusioned crusaders against witchcraft who get caught trying to escape their service and are recruited for a particularly tricky witch escorting mission. So we get an arduous mission through harsh medieval lands, trekking interspersed with action and capped with a nice blazing finale, and it should be a blast, should be a lot more entertaining than it is, but owing to lack of budget or balls (or some combination of both), it ends up being rather forgettable. The first noticeable problem is studied downplaying from Cage and Perlman, they have some measure of chemistry and a small smattering of good lines, but there's no fire. Both have potential for greatness, and both have a facility for the fantastical but for some reason neither of them chew too much scenery or puff with much in the way of rage so the film constantly feels like its missing its opportunities as well. The ethereal Claire Foy suffers similarly as the witch, she has a sweetly otherworldly way to her and lights up the screen, so its a shame she doesn't have more to do. As for Christopher Lee, well he's barely in it and just about anybody else would have been a worthy substitute. These problems aside Season of the Witch manages to be quite good fun for enough of the time that I overall enjoyed the experience. Its well enough shot to conjure an effectively macabre and misty mood at times, while Dominic Sena handles his directing duties with fair adeptitude, making for some exciting and sporadically stylish action. The pacing is a bit off but never truly dull and one or two low key spooks (the highlight being a rather neat opening) keep things interesting in between the few action set pieces, while the ending is very daft and rather good fun. If only it gelled together better, if only it realised whether it wanted to be a rousing medieval fantasy or a creepy horror and got a better handle on its tone, heck if only it wasn't aimed at a younger audience with its PG13 certificate so it could get away with a few actual shocks. Bah, it could have been a lot worse, 5/10 from me.

Nicolas Cage. Magic. Blockbuster. A familiar combination, since Dominic Sena's Season of the Witch hits theaters only a few months after The Sorcerer's Apprentice (whose producer Jerry Bruckheimer, in the oddest of coincidences, worked with both star and director on Gone in 60 Seconds, eleven years back). While the latter was a by-numbers Disney effort (plenty of effects, a general lack of heart), Sena's latest work manages to also be quite a bit boring and occasionally ludicrous.

This time, Cage doesn't play a magician, but a crusader who, having witnessed too much bloodshed, runs off to Europe with his fellow soldier and best friend (Ron Perlman). They discover a plague-ridden landscape where witch hunts are an everyday routine, and eventually make it to a village where they encounter a priest (Stephen Campbell Moore) who needs help taking a potential witch (Claire Foy) to a monastery, where she will face trial. Assisted by a loyal knight (Ulrich Thomsen) and an eager youngster (Robert Sheehan), they begin a perilous journey that will test their faith in every possible way.

The storyline certainly had enough spark to produce an interesting movie, but Sena messes with the final product by not knowing what to aim for: depending on the section, Season of the Witch is a historical drama, a thriller with hints of the supernatural or, at worst, a clumsy meld of horror and fantasy (then again, what should we expect from a film that shares its title with the third Halloween flick?). Setting aside factual inaccuracies, namely the fact that the Crusades, witch hunts and black plague didn't occur simultaneously (and what's with Cage's sudden bout of modern cursing in a Medieval setting?), the uneven tone kicks in after a moderately promising first half, leaving room for basic plotting that culminates in a ghastly genre switch and a most annoying "twist".

The acting is a similar mixed bag: Cage does his usual generic blockbuster shtick, which jars considerably with the gravitas coming from Thomsen and, to a lesser extent, Sheehan, both of whom are taking the film far more seriously than required. A cameo by Christopher Lee - who actually looks more like Max von Sydow - livens things up despite its brevity (even Tim Burton has given him more screen time), and the joy of seeing him and Perlman - lovable as always - in the same movie could make up for the rest if the second half of the picture wasn't so shoddy. As for the witches (yes, they do appear in a few scenes), well... they look like cheaper versions of Doctor Who's Weeping Angels, minus the scares.

Season of the Witch could have been interesting, but it comes off as a bland blockbuster with very little to go for it. Sure, it's got Ron Perlman head-butting a demon, but is that enough? Afraid not.

I watch a lot of movies. I've seen a lot of Nick Cage's movies. Some are better than others - but he always seems to deliver "something" in each and every one. He's got this odd, weird - psycho kind of persona that just works in these adventure/fantasy/horror flicks. These kind of films just need the main actor be a tad "off". Trust me, there have been other films were he's been certifiable crazy - and this one pales in comparison in spots - but yet there is still that unmistakable Nick Cage fingerprint.

I love Ron Perlman too. The banter and friendship between him and Cage was enjoyable. I love Perlman in the "Hellboy" series. I loved him in this for all the same reasons. It was like "Hellboy", but without all the makeup.

I've read in other reviews people didn't like the special effects. I loved them - and thought they were excellent. Nothing about them was distracting - only an asset to the movie.

I highly recommend this movie. It's fun, exciting, scary at moments - and well worth a watch.

"Season of the Witch" was a hotly anticipated release for me, even though the mid-January release date and the heap of poor reviews were suggesting I should give it a miss. I'm very aware that some Hollywood attempts at historical movies can be appalling, but there is always hope that you will witness something rather special.

So I stuck to my guns and went to see it at the cinema in all its big screen glory. I'm glad to say that I was not disappointed and would have happily sat through an extra half an hour (the film only runs for 95 minutes).

Although it is far from being a classic, "Season of the Witch" fares better than most with good performances from three of the lead actors, Nic Cage, Ron Perlman and Claire Foy. Furthermore, the action is paced nicely throughout the story, keeping the tension levels and the viewer's interest high from start to finish.

The scenery is also used to excellent effect, helping to evoke the danger and despair of the period. The scenes set amongst the squalor of the villages helps to convey the desperate conditions that many people were living in. This helps give "Season of the Witch" a sense of realism that it occasionally lacks elsewhere.

The film makes a small attempt at ridiculing the religious ideals of the time but it's neither here nor there. It's simply an excuse to take the viewer to the dark depths that pervaded 14th century Europe.

On the downside, the special effects aren't very special, if you'll excuse the pun, and the dialogue occasionally borders on the cheesy but all in all, the film manages to succeed at delivering what the viewer wants - the fantasy of swords and sorcery, and ultimately the battle between good and evil.

For fans of the genre, this is a must see. For others, "Season of the Witch" won't give you a breathtaking viewing experience but it won't hurt either. I'd recommend that it is certainly worth a rental.

Nic Cage is becoming the master of these kinds of movies. I'm not talking supernatural thrillers, I'm talking films that themematically start out a certain way and then flip in to the land of complete crap somewhere along the way. (The recent film "Knowing" springs to mind as an example) As the film progressed, I thought it was interesting, albeit far darker then I was expecting. By the end, the story spins off to freaky land and beyond. A movie you think could be directed towards exploring religious fanaticism or even faith itself instead spins in to a supernatural clusterflub of demons and stupidity. The ending and terrible direction absolutely ruins what was a pretty good first two-thirds of a movie. What makes this twice as bad is the fact that it's a "journey" film, meaning that everything that was set up leads to the resolution. In this case, the resolution is nonsensical and unsatisfying and negates just about anything good about the first two-thirds of its running time.