Let’s not kid ourselves, if you make a conscious decision to watch a movie called The Last Witch Hunter starring Vin Diesel, you pretty much already know what you’re getting yourself into. Hence my surprise about all the bad reviews and the poor box office performance. I’m guessing it’s probably generated by people who pretend to be smarter than everyone else. Luckily, international screenings saved the movie from financial disaster and pushed it into positive balance signaling a possible sequel. The first thing you’re going to notice are the stunning special effects. The cinematography is sleek and sets imposing and authentic.
The Last Witch Hunter is a beautiful, clichéd fantasy movie with great visuals and decent acting. It also provides enough twists in the story for it not to be boring. Although the main plot is taking place in modern times, the flashbacks take us back some 800 years into the past. That way we get the best of both worlds. Did someone yell MacLeod or am I just imagining things? I’m probably am as I don’t remember any cool flaming swords. Anywhoo, you shouldn’t expect blood and gore from this movie as it’s streamlined for nice PG-13 action. Sure, there will be a couple of nasty murders and creepy effects to spice things up. The atmosphere, however, is more entertaining and exciting than it is frightening.
Witch-hunting is a difficult job, but someone’s gotta do it. Meet Kaulder, a witch-hunter who has been doing that job for over 800 freaking years! He’s working for an obscure organization called The Axe and Cross. Cursed with strength and immortality, he’s about to face his biggest challenge yet…
In case you didn’t know Vin has been a huge Dungeons & Dragons fan for more than fucking twenty years! He wrote the Kaulder (Kaulder with K, bitch) character based on his own D&D character Melkor. His performance here is more subdued and deliberate compared to the F&F franchise. Plus we won’t have to hear all that shit about the family. The car that Kaulder drives in The Last Witch Hunter is an Aston Martin Rapide S, in case you were wondering about that. Moving on, the supporting cast was also pretty good with a couple of familiar faces. After the end of Game of Thrones, you might be looking for your fix of Sword and Sorcery movies and this movie will do just fine. I guess someone else also knows nothing, wink wink.
If you’re looking for movies like The Last Witch Hunter you can start with Constantine, Season of the Witch, and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. Conan the Barbarian and Immortals, both released in 2011 are also pretty good choices. And finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one of my favorite fantasy movies from the nineties The 13th Warrior [1999]. Enjoy.
Director: Breck Eisner
Writers: Cory Goodman, Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless
Cast: Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood, Michael Caine, Joseph Gilgun, Armani Jackson, Allegra Carpenter
Fun Facts: The witch’s nest, and surrounding forest, was constructed on an indoor rain set, and was actually burned. It was made mainly from actual tree trunks and branches attached to welded steel frames.
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IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1618442/
