Season of the Witch is an average movie with a good performance from Cage, some fine production and costume designs from Uli Hanisch (The International) and Carlo Poggioli (Cold Mountain) respectively and decent action scenes at the beginning but all of that cannot make up for a lackluster story which by the end becomes nonsensical. The Blu-ray at least has solid video and audio transfers while the features have much to be desired.
Season of the Witch (2011)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Fantasy, Adventure
Fox | PG13 – 95 min. – $39.99 | June 28, 2011
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Dominic Sena
Writer(s): Bragi Schut (written by)
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Claire Foy
Theatrical Release Date: January 7, 2011
DISC INFO:
Features: Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Digital Copy
Number of Discs: 2
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.78
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A
THE MOVIE – 2.5/5
There’s no question that Nicolas Cage is an enigma. He won a well deserved Academy Award for Leaving Las Vegas but since his career has meandered in some good projects and several truly awful flicks.Now his latest project, no doubt made to pay off his tax or mortgage bill, is Season of the Witch, an average flick with above average production design.
Behman (NICOLAS CAGE) and Felson (RON PERLMAN) are two 14th century Knights who, after abandoning their commitment to the church after the killings of innocent men, women and children, are captured months later. Instead of being imprisoned and punished for going AWOL on the Church, they are summoned to a head priest (CHRISTOPHER LEE) who is suffering from the plague as much of the countryside has also perished from the disease. This plague is believed to have been brought about by a witch (CLAIRE FOY) and the church requests Behman and Felson, along with others, to transport the girl to a remote abbey where she will go on trial with the hopes that if she is found guilty the suffering will finally conclude.
Along for the journey is a priest (STEPHEN CAMPBELL MOORE), a young fighter (ROBERT SHEEHAN), a guide (STEPHEN GRAHAM) and a man (ULRICH THOMSEN) who lost his family and wants to see the ordeal end. The group makes the arduous trek through mountains, ominous forests while also dealing with a psychological, and sometimes physical, challenge by the accused witch.
Season of the Witch is a movie that doesn’t present anything new or interesting and yet it’s not nearly as bad as the trailers make it out to be especially when you have star Nicolas Cage who is thankfully subdued rather than the over-the-top chap seen in Ghost Rider and The Wicker Man. Here he strikes the right balance between drama and action and doesn’t become overly dramatic with material that at times tends to get heavy (his character accidentally kills a woman).
In terms of the supporting cast, journeyman Ron Perlman plays the tough friend well enough I guess though he doesn’t make much of an impression either way as it’s a fairly forgettable performance to go along with an average supporting player. That being said, Perlman does bring a certain amount of charm just being there so I can’t imagine anybody else doing a better job anyway. Although the other supporting actors are alright, including Claire Foy as “The Girl”, but I have to mention a strange cameo by veteran and legendary actor Christopher Lee as a Catholic Cardinal dying from the plague. The man is under about 2 pounds of make-up on his face and while he normally brings a certain amount of weight whenever he comes on screen, here it all seemed a bit pointless (and could mean he was doing a favor for somebody).
The film was written by Bragi F. Schut with his feature film debut before which he created on the short-lived television series “Threshold” starring Carla Gugino and also has another film in the pipeline directed by David Slade and set to star Jude Law. For his debut, Schut paints an interesting world that I think had some potential but could’ve used another rewrite.
Season of the Witch was, surprisingly enough when I saw the credits, directed by Dominic Sena who previously helmed a couple of guilty pleasures on my list including Swordfish and Gone in 60 Seconds, also starring Nicolas Cage. Sena’s previous effort was a couple years back with Whiteout, a critical and box office failure, though I didn’t hate nearly as much as others (it’s still not a good film, however). Sena is a talented guy able to handle some decent action sequences but he seems more like Bay-lite meaning he can direct action but the scripts behind said action has much to be desired.
This isn’t nearly as bad, or cheesy, of a film as the trailers made it out to be. Cage actually turns in a respectable performance and the supporting cast, while unremarkable, fills out their roles well enough. I can’t give this a full recommendation but for a Friday night rental, it might be worth the 90-minute commitment.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.25/5
This release comes with a glossy slip cover and on the disc is some OK, but forgettable, features. First up are some nice looking, though needless, deleted scenes (9:56; HD); Becoming the Demon (8:29; HD) featurette which gives a behind-the-scenes look at the demons in the movie; On a Crusade (6:07; HD) featurette focuses on filming the fight sequences; an Alternate Ending (9:02; HD) which has some new scenes but ultimately isn’t anything special; a theatrical trailer (2:26; HD) and on disc 2 is a digital copy compatible with iTunes.
VIDEO – 4.5/5
Season of the Witch comes to Blu-ray on a 50GB, dual-layered disc, in its original 1.78 aspect ratio and a 1080p high definition transfer. As with the Rogue studios other HD release, The Warrior’s Way, this one looks great with a fine amount noise and natural film grain throughout making for a well detailed transfer. There’s also a wide array of colors from the darker elements which don’t show any signs of pixilation which often shows up in darker shots while the lighter moments also looks great with no flaws that I could discern.
AUDIO – 4.0/5
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track meanwhile doesn’t exactly have that extra punch I had expected yet it’s still perfectly serviceable especially during the more action-packed scenes which shows off most of the depth while the quieter, more dialogue-driven moments, have the necessary clarity.
OVERALL – 2.75/5
Overall, Season of the Witch is an average movie with a good performance from Cage, some fine production and costume designs from Uli Hanisch (The International) and Carlo Poggioli (Cold Mountain) respectively and decent action scenes at the beginning but all of that cannot make up for a lackluster story which by the end becomes nonsensical. The Blu-ray at least has solid video and audio transfers while the features have much to be desired.
Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 07/05/2011
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2.