Season of the Witch

Season of the Witch – 95 min rated PG – 13.

Nicolas Cage portrays Behman, a knight who fights for the church, a skilled warrior who sees the error of his devotion and breaks from the church. His companion on this moral journey is Felson who is played by Ron Perlman. They make their way home and are swept up in a quest to end a plague that is being caused by a witch whom they have to take to an abbey to have a ceremony performed on her to end the plague. Christopher Lee plays the cardinal who puts these two runaway knights on this quest. He is completely covered in plague makeup in this role I had to look up who played that character because I could not place his voice. The Witch is played by Claire Foy. Her performance was good she had to bring to life several sides of a complex character, she has done a few other films but mostly she has done more television projects. I will be looking for her in the future.

When I went to see this movie I have to admit I have always loved fantasy movies. Even when I was a kid I was drawn to movies that had swords and magic. I have a fond memory of watching movies and enjoying them, this movie took me back to those early films. Season Of The Witch is a higher quality of film compared to the ones from the 80’s. Usually I never like to compare the past and the present based on technical aspect of films but this one is exactly as I remember movies being the only difference is that the technical advancements have made this film easier on the eye. I am in no way shape or form knocking fantasy films of the past, but it was a walk down memory lane to watch this movie I truly enjoyed the setting of the film. I really enjoyed the knights’ back story of questioning their place in the world after they realized that they were serving more of a organization than a divine purpose. As much nostalgia as this movie brought back to me, I was sad to realize that this movie was not very different in story or content than the films in the 80’s. The cast and crew deliver us a visually accurate telling of a fantasy film. We have all of the potential to make a great film. What fails is the overall story, it is average at best. After watching the movie my brother and I agree that it was like watching a D&D module being played out, without having the fun of actually being in the game. There was nothing particularly bad about the film but nothing really stood out either. If you like to watch this kind of movie: swords, witchcraft and a great setting, please enjoy the film. If you are looking for something that stand out of the crowd in film and TV shows that have this same type of story, you are going to have to look someplace else.

Dominic Sena directed this film and I would say he has stayed dedicated to the formula of the genre. His resume has some notable movies on it such as Gone in Sixty Seconds, Swordfish and Kalifornia. Out of those I would say this movie is below the mark. He needs to bring his A Game next time.