Directed by:
Dominic SenaScreenplay:
Bragi F. SchutCinematography:
Amir MokriComposer:
Atli ÖrvarssonCast:
Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Stephen Graham, Ulrich Thomsen, Claire Foy, Robert Sheehan, Christopher Lee, Rebekah Kennedy, Simone Kirby (more)VOD (5)
Plots(1)
Supernatural thriller SEASON OF THE WITCH stars Nicolas Cage as medieval knight Behmen who undertakes a mission pitting him against a devious witch and making him the last hope for the world against an ancient and dark force.
His faith broken by years of battle as a crusader, Behmen returns to central Europe to find his homeland decimated by the Black Plague. While searching for food and supplies at the Palace at Marburg, Behmen and his trusted companion Felson (Ron Perlman) are apprehended and ordered by the dying Cardinal to deliver a young peasant girl ¬believed to be the witch responsible for the Plague to a remote abbey where her powers can be destroyed. Behmen agrees to the assignment but only if the peasant girl is granted a fair trial. As he and five others set off on this dangerous journey, they realize with mounting dread that the cunning girl is no ordinary human, and that their mission will pit them against an evil that even in these dark times they never could have imagined.
(official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (9)
Season of the Witch is significantly less disastrous than one would expect from a “period B-movie from the director of Gone in Sixty Seconds starring Nick Cage chasing digital witches” (could anything sound worse?). But it’s actually a grade-A, relatively entertaining and well-cast dumb flick with a veil of mystery and not a completely predictable ending. Plus, you’ll see the exterior of the Austrian's Dachstein glacier in the background of the epilogue scene. It is a class better than Van Helsing and Dominic Sena’s previous movie, Whiteout. And if we were to strictly divide Cage’s films into good and bad, I would label this one “good” with both eyes closed.
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Excellent visuals and a very likeable cast. The wisecracking Perlman is second to none, Cage's leading moral role fits well in this case, and Robert Sheehan shows he can play something other than the total moron in Misfits. I honestly wasn't expecting anything at all and ended up being pleasantly surprised. Dominic Sena is obviously not any miracle as a director, but in this case he’s outdone himself and managed to create some great scenes and evoke a decent period atmosphere. The story is linear and predictable, but by no means boring, and with its appealing running time, it slips by like water. One of the better B-movies of 2011, and a really great diversion on a decent level.
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An adventurous historical fantasy, thanks to which we now know that the witch hunt organized by the Inquisition was absolutely fine because those monsters allied with the devil were causing damage wherever possible. The devil had his hands full dragging as much evil as possible among the unfortunate Christians, including a devastating epidemic, and who else can stand up to such devastation than the heroic Nicolas Cage accompanied by the thunderous Ron Perlman? Similar productions have a decent budget, and therefore also a decent production design, which in many cases can disguise the fact that the screenplay and the story are just a mishmash that doesn't hold up under closer scrutiny. Quite a few aspects are saved in the case of this film, and, indeed, you don't usually get bored with this kind of film - there's always something moving, sneering, running away, or attacking, exploding, burning - in short, action, special effects, and spectacle. However, if you want the film to work as a whole, you can't turn off your brain and even nitpickingly look for errors in the logic, so it's better to avoid Season of the Witch. Overall impression: 45%. Season of the Witch is exactly the type of film that my nine-year-old son would be enthusiastic about.
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A lobotomy at which the more hardened may laugh, but I refuse to wallow in "guilty-pleasure" intoxication because it offended me from the first digital battle to the end that comes from the gaming industry. I don't mind Nick Cage’s medieval knight, as he’s backed up by the badass Perlman and Thomsen, but I was annoyed by Sena's attempt to be cool at any cost. It's obvious that he blew his modest budget at the beginning, so there’s mostly blabber going on, then it's digital wolves, and you want to turn back time and let the bridge fall a few seconds earlier. This is the first film this year that made me feel ashamed.
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If I overlook the really poorly done battle at the beginning, I'm willing to call this movie mediocre. I'm happy with the mystery and overall atmosphere. Except that the script was a bit off. I was bored for a while. Then I couldn't stop gaping at what a person is capable of coming up with when they can't think of what’s next. The ending couldn't be taken too seriously after that performance. I feel like the creators overestimated themselves. A weaker 3 stars.
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