Season Of The Witch (15)
2011. 95 mins approx.
Directed by Dominic Sena, written by Bragi F. Schut
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Stephen Graham, Ulrich Thomsen, Robert Sheehan, Claire Foy and Christopher Lee
I had every right to expect that this would be bobbins. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed it so much! Low expectations can generally be a fine way to approach a movie, and an ideal frame of mind when approaching most of Nic Cage’s recent output…
Season Of The Witch is lots of hokey fun, from its chewy faux-medieval dialogue – “I’ll take the 300 on the left, you take the 300 on the right” – to Nicolas Cage’s silly helmet in the opening sequence. Veteran knights Behmen (Cage, in another incredible hairpiece) and Felson (Perlman, on top form) retire from the crusades when it becomes apparent that killing women and children is no fun. On their way home they come across a city in the grip of the plague. A young woman has been captured (Claire Foy, as far away from Little Dorrit as possible…) and accused of being the ‘Black Witch’ responsible. Our deserting knights are caught by the city watch and are charged by Cardinal D’Ambroise (a Christopher Lee cameo, with the great man almost hidden by hideously fascinating prosthetics) with taking the witch to the abbey of Severac where she will be tried.
Along for the ride are Ulrich Thomsen’s weary knight, Eckhart, Robert Sheehan (he of tv’s Misfits fame) as young wannabe knight, Kay, Stephen Graham’s slippery guide, Hagamar, and Stephen Campbell Moore’s righteous priest, Debelzaq. Each actor does a decent job without stealing the limelight from Cage and Perlman, whose onscreen chemistry is lots of fun (on this showing, these two should work together more often). The camaraderie sparkles between the men-on-a-mission and they are faced by quite a decent sequence of set-pieces on their way to Severac; a thrilling chase through a network of tunnels leading to a mass plague grave; an attack by wolves-who-aren’t quite-wolves; a rickety old bridge over a cavern… A fair assembly of adventure cliches convincingly brought to life by Schut’s competent script and Dominic Sena’s stylish direction. He gets the tone about right, with a restrained use of CGI, and a hefty mix of action and suspense. The finale at Severac is brilliantly done and, I’ll admit, I was surprised at the ending.
If you like big, daft, fantasy films, I’d recommend giving it a go.
Andy Jamieson, Editor
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