The one thing you can always expect from any movie that casts Nicholas Cage in the leading role is a rollercoaster ride of emotion. And we’re not talking the good kind of emotion, the kind where you’re touched by the movie or deeply disturbed by a scene, we’re talking about that flurry of confused emotion where you are sure that what you are watching is suppose to be taken seriously, but you can’t stop yourself from laughing. Or that one minute, the movie holds some hope of being more than horrible and the next something ridiculous happens to ruin any potential it had of you not hating it.
That’s what Season of the Witch gives you. Theoretically, it held potential to be a somewhat entertaining movie. There were good moments, clever lines, impressive acting from some of the supporting characters, but none of that can ever overshadow how awful Nicholas Cage is. (For the record, if you haven’t noticed, we are not a fan.)
Whether it’s his choppy delivery, his ill-timed pauses or just his overall unsettled look (specifically the unnaturally blonde and wavy hair piece he was sporting proudly), we could not look past the fact that it was Nicholas Cage and accept this character for who he was suppose to be. And to this day, we still can’t understand how he gets all the roles that he does. But we digress.
Season of the Witch takes us back to the good old days when the Church reigned power over most of the land and their army of puppets did God’s bidding by killing off masses of sinners who defied what the Church believed in. Behman (Cage) and his right hand man Felson (Ron Perlman) are knights leading the Church’s crusade until one night they are sent into a village to slaughter hundreds of innocent women and children. Disgusted with their actions, the knights desert the Church’s army and take to traveling, carrying with them guilt and vicious inner demons.
During their travels, they come across a small village overcome with a plague. People are dying and everyone is convinced that the cause of the illness is due to a mysterious girl (Claire Foy) who wandered into their village, wreaking horror as she went. This girl, of course, is deemed a witch and locked up in a cell for holding until she can be transported up into the mountains to the Monks temple, where the sole ancient book that contains the holy scriptures to rid a witch of her powers, among other helpful demonic remedies, remain.
Behman and Felson are enlisted by the dying churchhead of the small village to escort the witch to the temple for the monks to decide her fate. His trusty priest, Debelzaq (Stephen Campbell Moore), his best knight Ekhart (Ulrich Thomsen) and altar boy Kay (Robert Sheehan) tag along for the journey. Along the way, strange things start to happen and Behman struggles with his inner demons and desire to save the girl. The question remains – is she a witch, or isn’t she?
The answer, of course, is the climax of the movie, and we have to admit it seemed a little unexpected. Or maybe not unexpected, but definitely disappointing. The ultimate twist took the movie in a different direction that we personally felt was, well, stupid. It turned a hopeful little film into a typical Hollywood movie and it probably could have ended stronger had they remained on the path they were initially traveling on.
That said, the film did have its moments and as mentioned, the supporting characters were redeeming. Pearlman was a pleasant distraction from his counterpart, providing comic relief and the general tough guy attitude. Foy was eerily radiant as the witch, slipping between innocence and deceit too easily. She effectively kept you debating whether or not she really was a witch, and furthermore, debating whether or not you really wanted her to be a witch.
Even Thomsen and Moore proved their acting chops held more credibility than Cage. And Sheehan, well, every movie needs that wide eyed disheveled pretty boy to swoop in and eventually carry on the legacy. And he carries it well.
Ultimately, Season of the Witch proves to be more tolerable than some of Cage’s previous movies, but it’s going to take a lot more than a thrown together mystical film to ever get us to look past a Nicholas Cage performance. Or a very awful hair piece.
images from google images
The Mechanic is an action packed movie about an elite hit man named Arthur Bishop (Statham) who faced a hard decision when his next job was to murder his own mentor and father figure, Harry McKenna (the irreverent Donald Sutherland). In Bishop’s quest to unravel the reason behind the hit on McKenna, he befriends Steve (Ben Foster) and teaches him the ways of a hired killer. 
Admittedly, Statham is rather one dimensional and his roles never stray far from the action genre, but in The Mechanic, it works all in his favor. From his flat delivery to his insistence in doing all his own stunts, including leaping off a 30 story building, is what makes him a one of kind Action star.
This badass movie loaded with brutal murders wasn’t enough for director Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft), as he added in over the top explosions that were unnecessary. But he did balance it out nicely with the calm, quiet scenes of Bishop’s New Orleans secluded bayou home. 
Aside from Statham’s obvious charm, this movie delivers more than what you’d expect from the trailer alone. It was a surprisingly enjoyable and entertaining ninety minutes of kickassery and macho fun. 
