Season of the Witch (2011) starring Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Stephen Graham, Ulrich Thomsen, Claire Foy, Robert Sheehan directed by Dominic Sena Movie Review

Season of the Witch (2011)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Nicolas Cage in Season of the Witch (2011)

The Hair Witch Project

I've tried to find some fancy way of saying it but words escape me so to put it bluntly "Season of the Witch" bored me senseless. There was absolutely nothing from visual effects to Nicolas Cage's flowing mane which entertained me especially the storyline which struggled to even fill the 95 minute running time. To be honest it is a movie which feels like it was made because people needed money rather than because anyone had any real desire to make it and so rather than being an exciting fantasy adventure it is a slow painful trudge through a few CGI enhanced action scenes and not much else.

Behmen von Bleibruck (Nicolas Cage - The Sorcerer's Apprentice) and Felson (Ron Perlman - Enemy at the Gates) are two 14th century Knights, part of the crusade to rid Europe of those against God defeating them in combat like a well oiled tag team. But after their latest killing spree ends up with Behmen killing a young girl he questions what they are doing and together quit, in doing so becoming deserters. When after days of travelling they come across a town struck down by a plague they find themselves back doing the work of the church when they agree to transport a young girl (Claire Foy) accused of being a witch to a monastery with the aid of a jittery monk and a young boy who wants to be a Knight like them.

Ron Perlman in Season of the Witch (2011)

Now there are some who probably enjoy this sort of fantasy adventure movie and on occasion I have been known to enjoy them but when it comes to "Season of the Witch" it left me feeling empty. Not only did a simple storyline with a twist feel barely sufficient to fill out an hour let alone 90 minutes but the various dramas which happen left me bored senseless. Take the opening, or at least the first scenes where we encounter Behmen and Felson going medieval on anyone who is not for God, not only do the CGI effects look like they are a left over from "300" but what action there is is boring and cheesy thanks to some weak macho dialogue.

But in many ways that opening is as good as it gets because on from there not a lot really happens. So okay we have Behmen and Felson along with a small group of others transporting the girl through dangerous woods and over a ropey bridge but the action of it all is actually very dull. It's not till nearer the end that something in the slightest interesting happens but even then it is played out with no real heart, just a script being visualized and that is it.

And that is in many ways what is wrong with "Season of the Witch" it feels like no one had any real interest in making the movie. Nicolas Cage draws on a variety of cliche looks from other movies rather than trying to create a character whilst Ron Perlman gives us some typical tough macho stuff as he wrinkles his face but that is about it. Even the direction feels almost lifeless and it feels like Dominic Sena was brought in to direct a movie purely because it needed a director and he had worked with Nicolas Cage before rather than because he had some great vision for it.

What this all boils down to is that "Season of the Witch" just didn't do it for me and ended up feeling like a movie made on autopilot where all those concerned were involved for the pay check rather than because they had a desire to be in it.


LATEST REVIEWS