Season of the Witch

Season of the Witch is getting ravaged by reviews as I write this. Is it that bad? I don't think so. Is it fantastic then? Well no. This is one of those sword and sandal fantasy films that tread the middle ground, having an interesting premise set up in a fantasy fellowship quest, only for the execution to be hovering around mediocre standards following a rote formula of introducing the problem, gathering the players, and have them encounter sequence after sequence of battle obstacles on the way to their objective.

Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman play buddies Behman and Felson respectively, knights of the Crusade who make a reputation of being fearsome warriors fighting for a higher cause, only to desert their army and turning their backs from continuing onto Jerusalem after realizing that they are nothing but fighting pawns for the whims of man. Their services get called for by a town inflicted by a plague because of a curse by a girl (Claire Foy) whom they deem a witch, and the agreement forged was for them to escort her to a monastery for a group of monks to decide on the authenticity of the claim, and if so, decide and inflict punishment.

Gathering Priest Debelzag (Stephen Campbell Moore), guide Hegamar (Stephen Graham), one of the remaining fighting fit soldiers of the town with Eckhart (Ulrich Thomsen) and a priest in training Kay (Robert Sheehan) whom the party picked up early in their journey, the group has to band together if they are to get to their destination in one piece, with the accused girl being locked up in a cage but always seem to be drawing undue attention to herself, raising questions about her innocence as we get to see her demonstrate abilities and superhuman strength even, while putting on a saccharine sweet face. Now while all these may point to certain plot loopholes and irrational human behaviour, I'm willing to overlook these flaws since they do get addressed in the final reveal, so all's not totally lost in Bragi F. Schut's story.

Battle sequence design was a little sleepy, and although the introductory big battle scenes involving soldiers of the Crusade were plentiful, it didn't go beyond the usual slash-parry- stab-wash-rinse-repeat cycle coupled with cheesy dialogue exchange between Behman and Felson that try to pass off as comedy. There's an awfully long and painfully executed crossing of a creaky bridge that doesn't seem to want to end, but otherwise passable CG was employed in an attack of wolves, and the money shot in the final battle where all hell breaks loose in the monastery with grotesque looking winged beasts and the expected big boss to fight in an all out melee done arcade style.

Some will probably find the themes here quite objectionable, especially since it sets its sights squarely on how religion gets manipulated by the few, and made suggestive queries what if the Crusade wasn't a calling made by god as claimed by the messengers, but of more negative forces since it involves the killing of innocents. What more, this was played out in quite direct fashion when the final act made that cross-reference in point blank fashion. It's bold in its statement and association, which otherwise the story here lacks any selling points to make an audience sit up and take notice

I'm not sure what Ron Perlman is doing here - the billing on the poster doesn't seem to give him much respect, preferring to marquee Cage alone instead, so while there are inside nods to Hell and the devil and demons here, I'm hoping that we'll get to see another installment of Hellboy instead. Under Dominic Sena's vision, you'd know what to expect when you scan through his resume, being responsible for flicks like Whiteout, Swordfish, and yet another Nicolas Cage starrer in Gone in Sixty Seconds. They're no more than Guilt Trips with potential not lived up to, so don't expect a classic or a masterpiece, but at best entertainment that will struggle to satisfy jaded audiences.

I went into this film with a relatively open mind, knowing I'd never seen a Cage film (shocker) in its entirety and neglecting to look at any reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised. For the most part it's well acted, Perlman played a blinder as Cage's sidekick and Cage himself was quite good too. It was good to see MisFits star Robert Sheehan in a starring role, and the writing wasn't bad either, aside from the odd cheesy line. As far of the story goes, it works, although some of the aspects (such as Cage's motivation for going on the journey in the first place) seem a little far fetched, it's difficult to understand that Perlman's character in particular would go to such lengths for something which only affects Cage, perhaps a more developed background of the two knight's may have helped. The special effects, although in my opinion at times rather unnecessary, are pretty good, and I think the atmosphere of England suffering from the plague was recreated very well, except for the plague suffers seemed to look a little extreme.

I would have scored the film higher, except for that I feel it is very much aimed at quite a small audience, if you don't like the themes this film explores, you won't like it. The film could also have been longer (at 1h34m including a 10m credit sequence) I feel certain things (such as the Cage/Perlman background) could have been developed further to provide a more well-rounded film. Still worth a watch though, not as bad as people are saying.

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.

"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.

Well shot, surprising cast, cheese on toast script and the effects aren't bad.

There are very few dark fantasy movies around, this isn't as bad as the internet pundits would have you believe.