The Season Of The Witch

When I tell you that this is arguably Dominic Sena’s best film, you’ll no doubt point out that could hardly be difficult from the man that lensed Gone In 60 Seconds (amongst over quickly forgotten films). Ironically, it’s the fact that his back catalogue is so mediocre that The Season of the Witch, despite being only an average film, your expectations would have been so low anyway it ends up being surprisingly enjoyable in places. Sena’s old mucker from 60 Seconds Nicolas Cage takes the lead here, as a deserter from the 14th century Christian Crusades who finds himself, along with a group of other men charged with transporting a suspected witch (Claire Foy) across the land to a city where a group of monks will pass judgement on her. In effect, this is a classic “transport the goods” storyline used in everything from The Wages Of Fear to Smokey and The Bandit II. The catch with this is whether Foy’s character is actually a witch at all. Direction wise, Sena does a good job with a quick and smart opening scene leading onto more substation efforts later on in the film as Cage and Co encounter (supernatural?) difficulties during their journey, including a whispering wind and creaky door chase in a plague ridden town and the standard rickety bridge crossing. Cage phones it in, but does an OK job and there’s good support from Ron Perlman as a fellow crusader and Stephen Campbell Moore as a priest. Foy is also good, leaving us unsure whether she is a witch or not, until the smart twist towards the end. However, it all falls apart spectacularly quickly at that point. The films effects are quite ropey throughout, but the main creature which appears at the end of the film looks like that winged thing from The Golden Child with a voice that sounds like the trailer voice over man doing an impression of a Mexican pirate. It’s a shame the film ends in such a way, but it’s still entertaining….just not in the way Sena would have wanted. The film has been panned across the board, but I don’t think it’s that bad and is silly Friday night entertainment.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Some cheesy dialogue, but a few decent scenes will see you through until the disappointing, yet unintentionally comic, ending. Rating: 6/10.