Name: The Last Witch Hunter (2015)
IMDb: link to The Last Witch Hunter page
Genres: Fantasy, Action. Country of origin: USA.
Cast:
Vin Diesel as Kaulder, Rose Leslie as Chloe, Michael Caine as Dolan the 36th, Elijah Wood as Dolan the 37th, Olafur Darri Olafsson as Belial, Julie Engelbrecht as the Witch Queen.
Directed by: Breck Eisner. Written by: Mark Sazama, Cory Goodman, Burk Sharpless (screenplay).
Image courtesy of TMDb
The Three Acts:
The initial tableaux:
Initial, part I: We're in the black plague era in Europe, say 13th century. The spread of the plague is attributed to the spellcasting of evil witches. Vin Diesel's character, Kaulder, is one of the witch hunters who finds the Witch Queen. Kaulder and company put an end to the plague, but at the cost of Kaulder's wife, his only child, and most of his hunter friends. While dying, the Witch Queen curses Kaulder.
Initial, part II: In current New York City, Kaulder is still hunting witches. Yes, the same Kaulder. He's allied with an old group within the church, the Axe and Cross, which tries and imprisons witches. They also keep secrets. Kaulder's main contact with Axe and Cross is Dolan the 36th, played by Michael Caine, in one of those short roles that he does so well. Dolan is quite old, and Dolan the 37th seems ready to take over being contact with the immortal Kaulder.
Delineation of conflicts:
In the present, witch activity seems to be picking up. Something large is brewing. Kaulder suffers a number of reverses, and his list of allies shrinks.
The film began in apocalyptic mode, and near the end it is almost there again. Kaulder must face what he did not face the first time, 800 years ago.
Resolution: Will Kaulder find new allies, or must he carry the day himself?
One line summary: Attempt at another Vin Diesel movie franchise.
Statistics:
Cinematography: 8/10 Well done on the whole; the visuals kept my attention.
Sound: 8/10 Dialog is clear. Music seemed appropriate.
Acting: 5/10 Michael Caine was fine in his short role as noted above. Vin Diesel is convincing as an action hero, even here with swords, magic, fists, and intention instead of cars, guns, and explosives. Julie Engelbrecht had her fine moments as Kaulder's arch nemesis, the Witch Queen, at the very beginning, and at the very end. Olafur Darri Olafsson was a blast as Belial, an in-your-face opponent for Kaulder.
Elijah Wood's performance sucked rocks. Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones, 17 episodes) was almost interesting as Kaulder's on-again, off-again witch ally. That was a bit weak, since she was supposed to be the female lead.
Screenplay: 5/10 Violence and threat moves the plot along, so the 106 minutes runtime does not drag too badly. I'm glad I saw the film, but would not watch it again. Why not? The narrative is not well-constructed. It seemed like every five minutes there was some change or rules, or some impressive (?) artifact to consider.
At the end of the film, I felt that I should have been happier for the protagonist, but just could not be. Would there be major challenges for him in the centuries to come? Would Chloe be a reliable ally? By this time I did not care, and I felt this to be a major failing of the film.
Final Rating: 6/10 I liked it better than most people did, but I would be hard pressed to say, 'you must see this one.'
Checking against Box Office Mojo and IMDb, the film took in 27 million USD domestically, against 90 million USD production costs, so the chances for a sequel are slim. The Numbers website puts worldwide revenue at 131 million USD, plus 19 million in disks. This does not increase the likelihood of a sequel by much. Chances for a franchise: none.
No comments:
Post a Comment