Season of the Witch

Fantasy
2.5
Disappointing. Nicholas Cage stars as a 13th century crusader who must escort a “black witch” thought to be the cause of the plague to a monastery where she can be exorcized (Claire Foy). I am a sucker for gothic era films, and I especially like evil supernatural things like witches and vampires, so I was really looking forward to this film filled with atmospheric special effects. I did like some elements of the film, but it was almost as disappointing as last year’s The Wolfman with Anthony Hopkins. To start, the film begins with some silly, overdone battle scenes to show what fearsome warriors Cage and Ron Perlman are (Perlman was the star of Hellboy) and to show that they adhere to a code of ethics. Then there is the expected long journey with the witch that I kind of liked. Then there are some great special effects once they reach their destination. But somehow, and I can’t put my finger on it - bad acting by Cage probably – I just couldn’t take the story seriously and truly get into it. At the very end is a needless, patronizing narration that should have left on the cutting room floor. Jim disliked it more than I did. Wait for Cable.