Movie Review: Season of the Witch

Date: 22 January 2011
Time: 7:50pm
Location: GV Plaza
Kaki: MLSA
Rating: 3.5 stars
Language: English

Synopsis:
A 14th century Crusader returns with his comrade to a homeland devastated by the Black Plague. A beleaguered church, identifying sorcery as the culprit of the plague, commands the two knights to transport an accused witch to a remote abbey, where monks will perform a ritual in hopes of ending the pestilence. A priest, a grieving knight, an itinerant swindler and a headstrong youth who can only dream of becoming a knight join a mission troubled by mythically hostile wilderness and fierce contention over the fate of the girl.

Review:
A beleaguered movie. It got a 3.5-star cuz, it's not a bad movie, it's well filmed and generally, you can still trust in Nicholas Cage's acting skills, even if the hang-dog look is one that is tried and tested.

So, throughout the movie, nice as it may be, I finally managed to put my finger on what's really wrong with it. Other than Cage's role, the rest of the supporting cast came without any of the flashback/information that lends them more character or depth. So it's like, the whole movie is supposed to be one of those epic movies, where a group of very different people come together, with their different emotional baggage, that through the journey, they learn to trust each other, or they learn more about each other, but it just sorts of drifted around so, the "guide" came without any background, and died without any reason... and the BFF that is around, but doesn't seem to have much role to play, except to be the ugly sidekick.. weirdest.

Also, methinks the problem came cuz they focused too much at the start of the movie, which was on the crusades.. probably cuz they spent too much money filming (cuz of the multiplr war scened and all), and sorta felt that it had to be included in the movie.

See.. if you want to focus on the crusades, and the cruelty or the religious theme, then stick to it. Instead, they chose to dwell too long on it, only for it to not be very relevant to the rest of the movie, which was about the journey to bring the witch to trial. Maybe it's a man-thing... but really, if you want the movie to be on witch-hunting, then be focused. Don't bring in the crusades, cuz it really doesn't do anything to progress the plot. If you want to do crusades, then just do a crusades movie!

Anyway, the twist towards the end of the show when the witch is revealed for what she is (nah, I am not going to spoil it for you) is quite a nice one. So.. I would say, maybe not that great as in the movie meanders a little too much, but worth it for a DVD rental, or stay home movie when it comes on cable as the entertainment value is still there. This is the kind of movie that as a Singaporean, I would say, "Not bad lah, not great, but not bad"... Now the next movie that I am eagerly looking forward to in anticipation - Shaolin... *shadow punch and kicks* bring it on!