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Nicolas Cage had a
very odd run of
movies that he made
over the past year
or so. There’s
The
Sorcerer’s
Apprentice,
Drive
Angry,
and
Season of the Witch.
Out of those three,
Season of the Witch
is the final one to
come to Blu-ray and
DVD. Out of those
three movies,
despite all three of
those movies being a
little underrated,
Season of the Witch
is the best.
In
Season of the Witch,
Cage stars as Behmen.
Along with his
friend Felson (Ron
Pearlman) they are
deserters of the
Crusades. After
beings commanded to
do some unspeakable
things, the two
leave the war front
and start traveling.
They eventually make
their way to a small
village that’s been
tortured by a
witch’s curse. The
curse is a deadly
plague that’s killed
tons of people and
left others ill and
near death. Upon
visitation of the
village, the lord of
the town and the
priest find out that
Behmen and Felson
are deserters and
they get assigned
the task to take the
witch who put the
curse on the town to
a monastery where
monks have the book
to slay her. Behmen
and Felson have seen
enough of falsities
with religion in the
crusades to be
skeptical of the
witch, but they take
her anyway. Along
with the bravest
knight in the town,
a young altar boy, a
priest, and their
guide they set out
into the mountains
to rid the town of
the witch. They get
far more than they
intended during
their journey.
There’s not a lot
you can say about
Season of the Witch
other than its
decent. Pearlman and
Cage carry this
movie basically from
start to finish, but
that’s the way it
was supposed to be.
Both of those guys
are great in this
movie, especially
Pearlman who never
gets to play the
role of a real hero
(other than
Hellboy.)
The other thing that
stands out with
Season of the Witch
are its special
effects. There
really was some
great work done
here, the battle
scenes in the
beginning and the
big finish of the
movie at the end of
it look awesome. As
for what’s wrong
with the movie… I’m
not so sure that the
production crew
captured the mood
that the script was
going for. Instead
of dark, dramatic,
and ominous, they
cheapened it a
little bit. If this
movie would have
been implemented
with some
seriousness, it
would be a classic
movie. Instead, it’s
pretty normal. I’ll
also say that Ron
Pearlman and Nicolas
Cage aren’t exactly
believable as
knights of the
crusade and they
look ridiculous in
the battle scenes
early on. Also- will
someone please fix
Nicolas Cage’s Chad
Kroeger hair? I mean
seriously… we’re
still talking about
this?
It’s
not cool… I promise.
As far as features,
this blu-ray has the
correct amount.
There are some cool
special effects
features, an
alternate ending
that’s not
completely terrible
for once, and some
deleted scenes.
There’s not a ton
here, but it’s the
perfect amount for
this movie.
Season of the Witch
could have been
better with a
different cast, a
different director,
and a more serious
approach to the
script. I’m a huge
fan of Nicolas Cage
and Ron Pearlman but
they weren’t right
for this movie and
it needed to be shot
in a more serious
way. It’s still a
decent movie, but it
could have been so
much more than that.
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