Season of the Witch (Greg)

After seeing the number of ruthlessly negative reviews for Season of the Witch, I knew I had to see it. Having seen a lot of bad fantasy in recent years, I was intrigued to see one supposedly so bad that it warranted Uwe Boll comparisons. Having seen it, I can safely conclude that either my standards are too low or the critics are overreacting, though not by much.

The story follows two knights defecting from the crusades (Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman) and a company of extras not worth naming on a mission to bring an accused witch to justice. This is second-rate fantasy in the truest sense, with imitation ringwraiths, bad cg monsters, and a war sequence that looks like it was lifted from a poor man's Lord of the Rings meets 300.

Nicolas Cage is disappointingly bland, as he is in most roles that force him to play the upstanding hero. He's a more than  capable actor when the material is in his range, and when it's not, watching him embarrass himself is sometimes worth the price of admission. This is far from a career low for him, but considering the lows his career has seen that's as backhanded as a compliment gets. The rest of the cast is the same: adequate but unremarkable. Ron Perlman once again manages to make himself likable just by being Ron Perlman, and for what it's worth, he knows how to get some entertainment value out of stock action roles.

The dialogue is awkward in a way that reminds me of Shymalan's The Village; it sounds outdated but never convincingly period. Characters speak casually in American accents, which is at least better than the faux-British accents we're used to hearing in so many second-rate fantasies. The action is on par with everything else in this film. Attacks are thrown around with choreography better fit for pro wrestling.

The movie tries to create some intrigue about whether the unnamed girl is actually a witch, but it's obvious from the beginning that the movie isn't going to pull any clever twists. I won't give away what happens in the third act, but it steers the movie from uninspired but watchable fantasy into sci-fi channel territory. If Season of the Witch had ended before that point, with no closure or explanation for why it ended, it would still be better off.

So in closing, Season of the Witch isn't a disaster, but it's far from anything I'd recommend paying money for. If second rate fantasy is your thing, then I suppose you could do worse.

Score: