Der letzte Tempelritter (2011) Online

Season of the witch was a far better film than critics and fellow moviegoers led me to believe. The story is about Cage and Pearlman teaming up to take a witch to a castle where she will be put on trial. Chaos and terror ensue as they treck the mountainside and forest. The film depicts the times very well...and most the accents aren't that bad. But the thing i wasn't expecting was to see Cage actually put some effort into his role. Instead of woodenly walking through the film with terrible hair, Cage shows some true emotion and his hair ain't half bad. Cage is hit or miss, sometimes he's good ("Bad Lieutenant"), sometimes he's bad ("The Knowing"). I think Cage gets an A for effort. It's no his best acting but it's an improvement. Pearlman is great as the sidekick/friend and gets most of the good lines. The special effects are kinda lame and the film drags in certain spots, but overall "Season of the witch" is a decent thriller with some cheesy dialouge. This movie isn't bad as everyone makes it out to be. If you have low expectations like I did, you'll probably get a lot more enjoyment out of it.

Oh, and the priest named De Balzak...pretty hysterical name.

Nic Cage is becoming the master of these kinds of movies. I'm not talking supernatural thrillers, I'm talking films that themematically start out a certain way and then flip in to the land of complete crap somewhere along the way. (The recent film "Knowing" springs to mind as an example) As the film progressed, I thought it was interesting, albeit far darker then I was expecting. By the end, the story spins off to freaky land and beyond. A movie you think could be directed towards exploring religious fanaticism or even faith itself instead spins in to a supernatural clusterflub of demons and stupidity. The ending and terrible direction absolutely ruins what was a pretty good first two-thirds of a movie. What makes this twice as bad is the fact that it's a "journey" film, meaning that everything that was set up leads to the resolution. In this case, the resolution is nonsensical and unsatisfying and negates just about anything good about the first two-thirds of its running time.

I was excited to see the Season of the Witch. I loved The Scorceror's Apprentice, and I actually thought this would be better than that. Looking forward to an epic fantasy, I was highly disappointed. I found myself annoyed at the unnatural behavior of Nicholas Cage and Ron Perlman. It was like watching Starsky and Hutch with their witty bantering during battles and in the face of peril. Very cheesy. The movie lacked a good flow. It was mildly entertaining in parts, but never reached any peak, not even at the end, because it was just too absurd. The acting was not good, but I think it was just a poorly written script more than anything else. It seems like it had the makings of a very good movie, but fell very very short.

I walked out of the theater so thrilled to have spent my money on a Nicholas Cage movie. Its not often that happens.

I heard from a unenthusiastic review (one of numerous scathing reviews out there, as anyone with the internet can tell) about the on screen shenanigans with Nick Cage and Ron Perlman were so enjoyable that it made the rest of the movie bearable. Going in with that anticipation, I found myself not only pulled into their characters' fun and convincing friendship but also into an intense and yes even edge-of-your-seat suspenseful movie. I forgot about my troubles for the day and enjoyed a good adventure.

It was inspired, yes, by DnD, video games, and a number of other swords and sorcery books and movies that preceded it, but it is its own story. In a market saturated with sequels, prequels, reboots, comicbook diarrhea, etc... it's nice to see a story that is it's own, however simple.

Yes it plays by the numbers. You know guys will die. Hell, you probably know who and in what order, if you've seen movies of it's ilk. You know there is a supernatural bad guy. And you know there will be one liners, oh are there ever one-liners! But the characters are fun to watch, even a little engaging. You may not want to see them die. I didn't. They weren't a group of scum with a bullseye for heraldry. The enemy was threatening and tricky, a real danger to our protagonists. And the one liners were, gasp, funny! Yes, even Nicholas Cage is worth the price of admission here. If this was "just another paycheck" role for him, he looked like he was having a lot of fun with this roll. And I don't know about you, but I like to see my actors have fun in a movie that costs me 9-12 bucks to see..

It looses some points with me for the CGI. obvious CGI is obvious. But honestly the crispy gray CGI contrasting against a darker, colorful, moody lighting STILL didn't detract from the encounters or the climax. If you come to the movies to have CGI convince you that magic and demons are real, you come to the movies for jaded and asinine reasons. If you wanna see pretty visuals with a meandering pointless story, go see Tron.

But if you wanna see a fun yet dark heroic adventure, go see Season of the Witch!

Season of the Witch is getting ravaged by reviews as I write this. Is it that bad? I don't think so. Is it fantastic then? Well no. This is one of those sword and sandal fantasy films that tread the middle ground, having an interesting premise set up in a fantasy fellowship quest, only for the execution to be hovering around mediocre standards following a rote formula of introducing the problem, gathering the players, and have them encounter sequence after sequence of battle obstacles on the way to their objective.

Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman play buddies Behman and Felson respectively, knights of the Crusade who make a reputation of being fearsome warriors fighting for a higher cause, only to desert their army and turning their backs from continuing onto Jerusalem after realizing that they are nothing but fighting pawns for the whims of man. Their services get called for by a town inflicted by a plague because of a curse by a girl (Claire Foy) whom they deem a witch, and the agreement forged was for them to escort her to a monastery for a group of monks to decide on the authenticity of the claim, and if so, decide and inflict punishment.

Gathering Priest Debelzag (Stephen Campbell Moore), guide Hegamar (Stephen Graham), one of the remaining fighting fit soldiers of the town with Eckhart (Ulrich Thomsen) and a priest in training Kay (Robert Sheehan) whom the party picked up early in their journey, the group has to band together if they are to get to their destination in one piece, with the accused girl being locked up in a cage but always seem to be drawing undue attention to herself, raising questions about her innocence as we get to see her demonstrate abilities and superhuman strength even, while putting on a saccharine sweet face. Now while all these may point to certain plot loopholes and irrational human behaviour, I'm willing to overlook these flaws since they do get addressed in the final reveal, so all's not totally lost in Bragi F. Schut's story.

Battle sequence design was a little sleepy, and although the introductory big battle scenes involving soldiers of the Crusade were plentiful, it didn't go beyond the usual slash-parry- stab-wash-rinse-repeat cycle coupled with cheesy dialogue exchange between Behman and Felson that try to pass off as comedy. There's an awfully long and painfully executed crossing of a creaky bridge that doesn't seem to want to end, but otherwise passable CG was employed in an attack of wolves, and the money shot in the final battle where all hell breaks loose in the monastery with grotesque looking winged beasts and the expected big boss to fight in an all out melee done arcade style.

Some will probably find the themes here quite objectionable, especially since it sets its sights squarely on how religion gets manipulated by the few, and made suggestive queries what if the Crusade wasn't a calling made by god as claimed by the messengers, but of more negative forces since it involves the killing of innocents. What more, this was played out in quite direct fashion when the final act made that cross-reference in point blank fashion. It's bold in its statement and association, which otherwise the story here lacks any selling points to make an audience sit up and take notice

I'm not sure what Ron Perlman is doing here - the billing on the poster doesn't seem to give him much respect, preferring to marquee Cage alone instead, so while there are inside nods to Hell and the devil and demons here, I'm hoping that we'll get to see another installment of Hellboy instead. Under Dominic Sena's vision, you'd know what to expect when you scan through his resume, being responsible for flicks like Whiteout, Swordfish, and yet another Nicolas Cage starrer in Gone in Sixty Seconds. They're no more than Guilt Trips with potential not lived up to, so don't expect a classic or a masterpiece, but at best entertainment that will struggle to satisfy jaded audiences.

The movie was entertaining. I thought the acting of Cage and Perlman specifically and a few of the others was not up to par. If you do a period piece you should act and sound like it rather than sound like you are just hanging out in LA. The casting could have been better. I really enjoy all things medieval. The plot was good, the scenery was great. All in all it was a good way to spend a few hours. To all the Cage fans - I generally enjoy him, I just don't feel that he and this part were meant to be. During some parts of the film, the acting was actually rather comical although I don't believe it was meant to be so. If you like period piece, especially those set during medieval times, you won't be disappointed.

Season of the Witch has a long and troubled history: production took place in November 2008 and it was originally supposed to hit cinema screens both in the UK and America in March 2010, but it was pulled from release, sat in limbo for several months, and seemed likely to bypass cinemas altogether and be quietly dumped straight onto DVD. Instead, additional footage was shot in September 2010 amidst rumours of extensive re-editing, and eventually a new release date of 7th January 2011 was announced. Initially intended as a dark, medieval horror film (rated R in America), it had been re-conceived - and was marketed as - a PG13-rated period fantasy/action-adventure.

The movie's narrative is uncomplicated and relatively straight-forward: in the 14th century, veteran Crusaders Behmen and Felson (Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman) grow weary of being ordered by the Church to slaughter women and children whose only crime is not being born Christian. Deserting, they set off on the long journey home and eventually reach eastern Europe to find it stricken with plague. The Catholic authorities have found a scapegoat for the spread of the disease: a young woman (Claire Foy) whose 'confession' of being a witch they obtained via torture. Arrested for desertion, Behman and Felson are offered a full pardon if they will transport the girl to a remote monastery, where the resident monks will perform a ritual to strip her of her powers, enabling her to be killed and thus ending the plague.

While nothing about the movie is particularly remarkable or ground-breaking, the cast all acquit themselves as talented professionals and for most of it's running time Season of the Witch is an entertaining and watchable effort. There are a number of well-handled setpieces on the knights' journey that whittle down their travelling companions, such as an attack by ravenous wolves that transform into hellhounds, and a perilous passage over a collapsing bridge. And although the film doesn't dwell on the wide-reaching effects of the plague, the Crusaders encounter some grisly and impressive sights: hundred of crows (carrion eaters, remember) circling over a city; a dying Cardinal (a cameoing Christopher Lee) hideously deformed by the disease; a starving dog - it's body ridden with weeping sores - feasting on a corpse; an apparently lifeless village in which two inhabitants suddenly emerge to silently dump a body in the street, before retreating back inside; and an open mass grave full of liquefying cadavers. The movie also touches upon all the blood that has been shed in God's name and the blinkered arrogance of those who claim to be His representatives. Some of the characters also express doubts: is the girl truly a witch? Is her early escape attempt merely the action of a terrified young woman who - understandably - wants to avoid being executed? And even if she does possess supernatural powers, is she responsible for the plague?

But eventually the travelling party arrive at the monastery... and the film goes horribly wrong. All the moral uncertainties are abandoned and the movie becomes a disappointingly conventional struggle between clearly defined Good and Evil. The all-action climatic setpiece is marred by hectic and muddled editing. But worse of all is what happens to the title character. In the trailer that played in cinemas prior to the film's aborted release in early 2010, there were three shots taken from the movie's climax as it was clearly originally conceived, before the film was substantially reworked: Claire Foy walking straight towards the camera in close up as the caged wagon burns and melts into molten scrap behind her; her then levitating - spinning - through the air, over the heads of her captors; and finally Foy grabbing Nicolas Cage by the throat and slamming him against a wall. All those scenes are still in the film - but Foy is no longer in them. Instead, she's been digitally removed from the footage and replaced by a CGI monster. Yes, that's right - at the movie's conclusion, the witch transforms into an unimpressive seven-foot-tall CGI winged demon that looks as though it's wandered in from the final reel of The Golden Child (1986). Ugh. In my opinion it's unnecessary, misguided and a complete mistake. For example, I thought the 'levitation' shot in the original trailer looked stunning... but in the released film, Foy merely morphs into a dodgy special effect, then blandly flies away. It's hugely disappointing.

Hopefully the original ending, with the heroes battling a demonically-possessed Foy (as opposed to an enemy comprised entirely of pixels), will be included as an extra on the DVD. Even more ideally, I'd like to see a two disc set with the original director's cut on one disc and the theatrically-released version on the other, but it'll never happen.

No sir, did not like it, the film felt slapped together from too many clichés. It felt like the production company didn't know if they wanted to make a camp horror or a historical thriller and decided to go halfway in the middle. which did not work.

The opening scene where the heroes are shown is just the same low budget battle shown in different lighting, with different city names but the same bad guys, and with snow thrown in once.

The special effects were comparable to the "legend of the seeker" series. Good for TV, bad for the big screen.

The actors where OK, nothing really to blame on them.

The dialogue wasn't horrible but the fact that it jumped from "well site and drink at the table of my for-bearers" to "let's kill this (female dog)" just didn't work! Please pick a linguistic style and stick to it. Ron Perlman was speaking like hamlet one minute and Hellboy the next.

The photography was well... bad. as in dark, grainy, who fogged the movie screen bad.

The ending is fairly predictable and the only reason I saw the end is because my wife said she was liking it when I asked here about 20 minutes in. If not I would have left and asked for my money back.

"Season of the Witch" is a genuinely suspenseful and thrilling start to the 2011 movie year. With a cast comprised of screen veterans and relative newcomers, this period piece about witchcraft and true nobility will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. After a gripping prologue which establishes that witches do, in fact, exist and can be quite deadly, the movie dives straight into the heart of the Crusades in the mid-14th Century, the stage for some of the bloodiest and most brutal battles in history; and also some of the greatest abuses of authority by the Christian church. Two knights, Behmen and Felson, played by Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman, enter the wars eager to fight at each other's side. However, as the horrors of war set in, the two become convinced that it would be better to desert and risk execution than continue the savage pursuit. It's a bit of a cliché, but director Dominic Sena handles it very well. The pair are eventually captured and brought to justice. However, the town in which they are arrested lies in the middle of a plague-stricken region. Even the local Cardinal, played by Christopher Lee, has fallen ill. He promises the knights they will be pardoned if they agree to help lift the curse he believes is the cause of the plague: a young woman accused of witchcraft must be taken to a monastery where certain rites must be performed that would end the curse. The girl, of course, would be executed. The errant knights have no desire to aid the church that has been the cause of so much suffering, but Behmen believes the girl's chances of a fair trial are much higher if they travel with her. It is not long before the small band of travelers encounters trouble, though, and even Behmen cannot ignore the likelihood that the girl is behind it all. As the young priest who accompanies them warns him, the girl will try to sow doubt and dissension in the minds of whomever comes close enough to hear her speak. Soon, it becomes clear that even traveling with her places each of their lives in danger. "Season" hovers on the edge of clicheness fairly often. There are a few moments that could have gone either way, including the "buddy" dynamic between Behmen and Felson and the inclusion of Kay, the young altar boy who accompanies them hoping to become a knight like his father was. These moments, however, lend a much-needed lightheartedness to a movie that keeps your heart pounding almost nonstop, and the caliber of the acting and directing keep it from going over the edge. The balance of seasoned and up-and-coming actors also works well in "Season". Claire Foy, in particular, is a delight to watch as she runs the gamut of roles from simple peasant and hapless victim to shrewd manipulator and evil menace. Cage and Perlman seem a touch out of place at times in medieval Europe, but as friends willing to fight together even in the face of Hell, they fit perfectly. It's not the standard winter movie fare, perhaps, but it's definitely spellbinding. )

Plopping out in early January, time honoured dumping ground of inferior product and draped in mediocre to poor reviews, Season of the Witch had quite a lot stacked against it. But for all this it ended up being one of the better films I've taken in on a whim, albeit far from any kind of classic or even especially good. Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman play disillusioned crusaders against witchcraft who get caught trying to escape their service and are recruited for a particularly tricky witch escorting mission. So we get an arduous mission through harsh medieval lands, trekking interspersed with action and capped with a nice blazing finale, and it should be a blast, should be a lot more entertaining than it is, but owing to lack of budget or balls (or some combination of both), it ends up being rather forgettable. The first noticeable problem is studied downplaying from Cage and Perlman, they have some measure of chemistry and a small smattering of good lines, but there's no fire. Both have potential for greatness, and both have a facility for the fantastical but for some reason neither of them chew too much scenery or puff with much in the way of rage so the film constantly feels like its missing its opportunities as well. The ethereal Claire Foy suffers similarly as the witch, she has a sweetly otherworldly way to her and lights up the screen, so its a shame she doesn't have more to do. As for Christopher Lee, well he's barely in it and just about anybody else would have been a worthy substitute. These problems aside Season of the Witch manages to be quite good fun for enough of the time that I overall enjoyed the experience. Its well enough shot to conjure an effectively macabre and misty mood at times, while Dominic Sena handles his directing duties with fair adeptitude, making for some exciting and sporadically stylish action. The pacing is a bit off but never truly dull and one or two low key spooks (the highlight being a rather neat opening) keep things interesting in between the few action set pieces, while the ending is very daft and rather good fun. If only it gelled together better, if only it realised whether it wanted to be a rousing medieval fantasy or a creepy horror and got a better handle on its tone, heck if only it wasn't aimed at a younger audience with its PG13 certificate so it could get away with a few actual shocks. Bah, it could have been a lot worse, 5/10 from me.

This thrilling film deals with 14th-century knights who transport a suspected witch to a monastery, where monks deduce her powers could be the source of the Black Plague which spreads death across the lands and villages , decimating life across Europa . Set during the time of the first outbreak of bubonic plague , a warrior is tasked with learning the truth about his fate as he is charged in leading a fearsome witch , as Beheman and his group of mercenaries have to go a remote location. It's an exciting story plenty of battles , action and excitement . The scenery is beautiful, and so was the cinematography . The music was great. The acting and directing was acceptable . A beleaguered church ruled by Cardinal D'Ambrosio (Christopher Lee), deeming sorcery the culprit of the plague, commands the two knights named Beheman (Nicolas Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) to transport an accused witch (Claire Fay) to a remote abbey, where monks will perform a ritual in hopes of ending the pestilence. A priest, a grieving knight (Ulrich Thomsen), a disgraced itinerant and a headstrong youth (Robert Sheehan) 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. The group must fight mysterious creatures for consuming every living thing in their path . Eventually surrounded by the frightening and ferocious foes, they must conquer his personal fears and help battle the illusive invaders who emerge out of the shroud of fog in the black of the night. When the embattled party arrives at the abbey, a horrific discovery jeopardises the knight's pledge to ensure the girl fair treatment, and pits them against an inexplicably powerful and destructive force .

This sword and witchery epic movie begins with a real sense of wonder and surprise with impressive battles set in Crusades and wind up with continuous struggles against weird beings . The picture packs great loads of action , special effects abundant , horror, breathtaking combats and a little bit of gore and blood . Stunning battles scenes illuminate the full-blown adventure with a plethora of engaging action set pieces on the combats in which the heads and limbs are slice off here and there and everywhere while other parts of body are slit open . The film gets an impressive control of the crowd scenarios with a climatic and overwhelming finale battle . Exceptional and colorfully cinematography is shot on location in outdoors from Hungary , Salzsburgo , Innsbruck , Tyrol, Austria , Croatia and Shreveport , Louisiana . The camera work by Amir Mokri in this film is dangerous and thrilling . Our perspective is intimate and that lends a great deal of excitement to the movie experience . Beautiful scenery, tense and bloody battles and a claustrophobic climax in a castle lift this story . Musical score by Orvasson is evocative and spectacular . There's something for everyone here ; fans of horror, fans of action, fans of medieval adventure should all find something to enjoy about this film . It may not be the best film ever made, but its still one passable movie. The motion picture is professionally directed by Dominic Sena who has got a career full of hits as ¨60 seconds¨ , ¨Operation Swordfish¨ , ¨California¨ but also some failure as ¨Whiteout¨ . Rating : Acceptable and entertaining film that will appeal to Nicolas Cage fans .

"If you don't have anything nice to say ..." Is this an adequate review?

An embarrassingly bad, schlocky swords and sorcery movie starring Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas, National Treasure, Adaptation) as a heroic crusader tasked with transporting a witch to a remote monastery in central Europe during the time of the Black Death. Accompanied by his fellow crusader (Ron Perlman -- Hellboy I and II, City of Lost Children) and a young priest (Stephen Campbell Moore -- Bright Young Things, Amazing Grace), the "witch" soon proves to be not-what-she seems and before anybody knows it -- all hell breaks loose.

This is a film that is rather stupid when it begins ... and it becomes a bit stupider and than more stupider and even more stoopiderer as it goes along (I groan each time I type that).

It could be entertaining enough for others but I just had too many problems with dialogue (references to things not in existence in the Dark Ages) and bad jokes and Nicolas Cage's irritating performance (this guy is an Oscar-winner and he can be excellent; but these paycheck films always elicit terrible performances out of him).

There is enough action and some special effects that could impress ... but by the plot's "big reveal" (not really so big) I'd had enough. Seriously ... now I will heed that advice I have been told so many times before. I don't have anything nice to say so ...

Thankfully I waited until this came out on DVD, borrowed it from a friend, and then watched it. This is one of the most atrocious movies that I've had the opportunity to view in the last decade. Where can I possibly begin?

Let's start with the basic premise. A girl is accused of being a witch and spreading the Black Plague across Europe. She's held in a dungeon in some random European locale and needs to be transported "four hundred leagues, which is about a six days journey" to a monastery in an even more remote random European locale by a batch of relapsed Catholics held together by a suspicious-looking priest. Of course she's in a prison wagon, and of course all sorts of bad things happen. And, I might add, not just any old bad things. Clichéd bad things. Wolves attacking at night in a forest. Your quintessential rope bridge spanning a thousand- foot gorge in the mountains. Ooh, and guess what? The planks are old and rotted and the ropes are unraveling and about to give way. Stop me if you've heard this one.

Someone decided that it would be a sneaky move to cast doubt and suspicion on the priest. After all, priests are great bad guys, right? So you have this innocent-looking "waif" (their word, not mine) who keeps screaming that she doesn't want to be alone with the priest (Really? How subliminally anti-Catholic is this?). The priest does his part by keeping his cowl up and looking suitably creepy and everyone else looks at him with a marked lack of trust. Now, about halfway through this, loyalties shift and the people who wanted to provide this girl with a fair trial are now suddenly hellbent on killing her and the priest is the good guy again. Whew! Crisis averted.

Speaking of anti-Catholic, Nicholas Cage's character, who is so memorable that I've already forgotten his name less than twenty minutes after watching the movie, is a Crusader. He decides that he's had enough of crusading after he and his trusty sidekick (played by Ron Perlman, who should have stuck with Hellboy) arrive at an epiphany about the evils of killing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. They make absolutely no bones about this fact to anyone, and their heart-stirring rebellion culminates in Cage's guy saying (very dramatically), "I serve God. I no longer serve the church!" *gasp!* It's farcical.

Speaking of farcical...have you heard the one about the bunch of actors who are portraying Europeans but all speak with Midwestern accents? There's not a bad British accent anywhere in here. You know, I've never yearned for a bad British accent until this movie.

Long story short, the girl's not a witch, she's a demon. The demon's revealed to be a horrible CGI, people get burned, everyone dies, the young kid and the girl ride off into the sunset, Black Plague avoided.

Best part of the movie? Watching Ron Perlman trying to keep a straight face while he delivers his lines. Or is it Nicholas Cage trying to rediscover his inner Sorcerer's Apprentice?

I'll never get these two hours back.

This is one of the worse scripts I've seen.

I just saw Quest for Fire. What a difference a script makes! We have a town that is going to judge three witches. Are these villagers going to be punished somehow for their injustice? No, people, witches actually exist. Why this first scene? To prepare the watcher for more cruelty without any sense. We cut to two crusaders under the lead of a murderer, whose only objective is to kill infidels. Well, you say, don't worry, the moral of the story is coming.

They take a girl to trial. For half an hour you expect the film to show how credulity should be despised, because, for the love of Pete, who's going to believe that you should burn a person for witchcraft? In a fantasy film, where characters have a purpose and our hero an objective, well... OK, but what's this? Don't trust on coherence. The sweet girl they see and that is going to be judged for causing a pest, well, yeah, it is actually a monster and it is really causing the disease. So, of course, you can stab, maim and kill without a hint of conscience.

There are too many flaws in the mind of the writer. Styria, part of Austria, becomes the cost of... Syria? I don't know. Jackrabbits exist in the middle ages. The conquest of Jerusalem is a fanatic race to kill the inhabitants. There is a fictitious battle of Edremit, a siege of Tripoli moved from 1102 to 1334, the battle of Imbros, which happened in 1717 is moved to 1337, the battle of Artah is also moved from 1101 to 1339, the Battle of Smyrna beats me... it can be the name of the 1922 Battle of independence of Ataturk... that happened in 1922. The last crusaders were expelled in 1291 in the name of Herodotus soul! These guys are fighting 50 years later. That's how good is the script, made probably with a map in the hand and a LOT of imagination.

Acting is good.

Do not waste your time in this movie, unless you like stories without coherence, nonsense killings, more than regular computer animated characters that say nothing and films where everybody is killed. It's a miracle that the director and cameramen weren't killed in this movie.

This is a great movie. when i read the reviews before viewing i thought it would be crap bu when i watched it i was amazed how people could find that movie bad. Unfortunately people today hate amazing movies like this one and like crap like the Twilight and The Hangover. Nicolas Cage, as well as the other actors supported the movie excellent and the acting was more thank just fine. It is a smart movie and a well-written one. Nicolas Cage, again, gave a magnificent performance. I would suggest this movie undoubtedly to anyone who likes good movies and I would tell them not to listen to the critics. I have seen masterpieces getting ravaged by the critics and in the same time i have seen extremely bad movies getting high ranks. This is an absolute 10 for me.

Nicolas Cage. Magic. Blockbuster. A familiar combination, since Dominic Sena's Season of the Witch hits theaters only a few months after The Sorcerer's Apprentice (whose producer Jerry Bruckheimer, in the oddest of coincidences, worked with both star and director on Gone in 60 Seconds, eleven years back). While the latter was a by-numbers Disney effort (plenty of effects, a general lack of heart), Sena's latest work manages to also be quite a bit boring and occasionally ludicrous.

This time, Cage doesn't play a magician, but a crusader who, having witnessed too much bloodshed, runs off to Europe with his fellow soldier and best friend (Ron Perlman). They discover a plague-ridden landscape where witch hunts are an everyday routine, and eventually make it to a village where they encounter a priest (Stephen Campbell Moore) who needs help taking a potential witch (Claire Foy) to a monastery, where she will face trial. Assisted by a loyal knight (Ulrich Thomsen) and an eager youngster (Robert Sheehan), they begin a perilous journey that will test their faith in every possible way.

The storyline certainly had enough spark to produce an interesting movie, but Sena messes with the final product by not knowing what to aim for: depending on the section, Season of the Witch is a historical drama, a thriller with hints of the supernatural or, at worst, a clumsy meld of horror and fantasy (then again, what should we expect from a film that shares its title with the third Halloween flick?). Setting aside factual inaccuracies, namely the fact that the Crusades, witch hunts and black plague didn't occur simultaneously (and what's with Cage's sudden bout of modern cursing in a Medieval setting?), the uneven tone kicks in after a moderately promising first half, leaving room for basic plotting that culminates in a ghastly genre switch and a most annoying "twist".

The acting is a similar mixed bag: Cage does his usual generic blockbuster shtick, which jars considerably with the gravitas coming from Thomsen and, to a lesser extent, Sheehan, both of whom are taking the film far more seriously than required. A cameo by Christopher Lee - who actually looks more like Max von Sydow - livens things up despite its brevity (even Tim Burton has given him more screen time), and the joy of seeing him and Perlman - lovable as always - in the same movie could make up for the rest if the second half of the picture wasn't so shoddy. As for the witches (yes, they do appear in a few scenes), well... they look like cheaper versions of Doctor Who's Weeping Angels, minus the scares.

Season of the Witch could have been interesting, but it comes off as a bland blockbuster with very little to go for it. Sure, it's got Ron Perlman head-butting a demon, but is that enough? Afraid not.

The Next Three Days was an excellent drama thriller, which is the first film I saw this year on the big screen, followed by the sensational 127 Hours. I didn't think I could get three out of three for great films. I was wrong, though not in the same league as the last two, Season of the Witch continues the chain of a great year of films for 2011.

Season of the Witch obviously wasn't highly publicised as much as other Hollywood films and most critics I have read in newspapers and quite a few people on here have lambasted this movie for being terrible, which is fair enough as everyone is entitled to their own opinion and even I thought I wouldn't give this higher than a five or six out of ten on here, but I really enjoyed this.

Basically set during the ages of the Crusades in the 14th century we are introduced to two of the main characters Behmen (Nicolas Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) who are knights and part of the Crusade fighting in wars for God and the Church, but during one battle Behmen kills an innocent woman and realising what he's done, he and Felson abandon the Crusades and become deserters. Eventually they come across a small town where they find the plague spreading and a cardinal (Christopher Lee) when the two men are captured asks them to transport a young woman (Claire Foy) who he believes is a witch to the monks in a remote abbey to ascertain if she is actually a witch and kill her to end the plague. Eventually Behmen and Felson agree as long she is given a fair trial. On the journey four other people join them a priest Debelzaq (Stephen Campbell Moore), a swindler who has journeyed to the abbey before and acts as their guide Hagamar (Stephen Graham), a young altar boy who dreams of being knighted Kay (Robert Sheehan) and another knight Eckhart (Ulrich Thomsen)

The cast give good performances all round. Nicolas Cage gives a great one and perfectly fits into the role gracefully. He's done some very different and daring roles recently to flex himself like The Socerers Apprentice and playing Big Daddy in Kick-Ass and like Season of the Witch it's paid off and I commend him for that. The other performance, which I thought was the best one was Claire Foy as the girl accused of being the witch, she was excellent and perfectly transitions herself into being a frightened innocent girl one moment to being very manipulative and menacing the next, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell and Robert Sheehan give decent supporting performances. Also there was a convincing buddy friendship between Cage and Pearlman with some witty one liners, though a bit cliché were used to useful comic effect, the script isn't the best, but it's certainly not too bad and is average enough. Other great things about this movie is the action, which was choreographed well and entertaining with suspense and tension, particularly the moment where the characters have to cross a deteriorated wooden bridge, the cinematography was lovely with some gorgeous scenery and the special effects were superb. Yes there is little character development and the plot is quite simplistic but even so there is a good twist near the end, which I wasn't expecting. However this is a great film overall and one which should have received much more recognition from critics and a higher rating on here overall. No it might not be anything Oscar winning, but it fulfils it's function to entertain for the whole ninety five minutes. I felt I had got my money's worth and I never got bored throughout. Very enjoyable fun.

Nicholas Cage needs to pick his roles more carefully. Some actors can carry period films, but unfortunately, Cage isn't one of them.

Here we are supposed to buy Cage as Behman, a disillusioned 14th century knight, who has deserted the Crusades and the Church and returned to Europe with his comrade-in-arms, Felson. It sounds alright on paper, but Cage looks uncomfortable in his chain mail, leather costume and horrendous hairpiece.

The land is ravaged by a mysterious plague, and the religious masses believe it is the work of witchcraft. As deserters, Behman and Felson are arrested, but soon get roped into a mission to transport a 'witch', who looks just like an abused, frightened girl, to a faraway monastery in order to stop the plague.

Accompanying the two former Crusaders on the mission are a righteous priest, a noble knight, a guide for their journey and an altar boy who wants to become a knight. Soon, however, Behman realizes that there might be more to the girl than meets the eye, and that she might actually have some evil powers lurking inside her after all.

The film sets itself up as a supernatural adventure film, but despite a couple of really good sword fight scenes, something is missing. The characters don't have much time to develop, and the paper-thin plot, with its many clichés, just makes everything feel rushed.

Making things worse is the fact that Cage and Perlman are forced to utter some of the most forced-Shakesperean dialogue ever put to film. It sounded like a secondary school production of Hamlet.

And despite the European setting, for some reason the director has deemed that all the accents should be American, which means the British and European cast members have to put on fake American accents. One of them even sounds like a New York cabdriver! The only thing saving this movie for me are the thrilling fight scenes, and this one suspenseful scene where the group are trying to cross a shaky, rotting, wooden bridge. The supporting cast do a much better job than the two leads, especially Clare Foy who plays the witch.

Strictly for Cage fans, or people who don't have very high expectations from a Nic Cage film.

If you enjoy unauthentic accents, looking at hair plugs, listening to B movie dialogue and if you agree with the delusional and paranoid religious fanatics of this time period that the innocent women they hanged and burned were INDEED witches and possessed by the devil then you'll love this movie.

It also included a couple of ripped ideas: Keira Knightley also rode in a caged wagon in the King Arthur movie while Clive Owen rode on horseback beside her during their journey.

Filming the forest and mountain scenes were just like ALL the scenes in Lord of the Rings. It was confusing because I wasn't sure if the director was taking us to a castle in the middle of nowhere to save the witch-demon-devil or if we were taking her to Middle Earth to drop her in the fires of Mordor ...but only if Gollum didn't catch up with them first.

PS: one of the character's name in this movie was Debelzaq. My sister whispered in my ear during the movie that When the other characters said his name it sounded like "Ball Sack". So every time I heard "Ball Sack" I giggled. (this was the only comic relief in the whole movie)

Another PS: There was actually one more comedic relief in the movie I almost failed to mention, when the devil or demon or whatever the hell it was finally showed itself at the end, his face was all scary-like and nasty and gruesome ...and then he spoke... and sounded like a very soft-spoken and refined Rupert Everett. Gotta love it.

First, it may or maybe not be intended by all clerical leaders, fact is that a big number of innocent women has been ghastly brought to death in the name of god during the middle age. Now someone had the idea to shoot a movie that rises some doubts about the complete moral failure of Christianity in this matter, and two big numbers from the Hollywood's actor's scene agreed to participate.

Maybe Nicholas Cage and Ron Pearlman read only their remuneration proposals, not the script. Four out of four suspected witches in this movie are possessed by the evil, so, torturer's where right, that's the message in the first place. It's like to say the Jews earned their holocaust because they all conspired to bring German society down.

Nevertheless, historically the Jews, although they died at the same rate of this disease, were blamed for the Black Plague and were assaulted and wiped out widely in Europe, since no doctor knew where the plague came from, and medicine didn't exist as a science but as Alchemy. Witch persecution began about a hundred years later and ended in the 18th century. And, for the record, the Black plague is still active today.

Second, when it comes to the crusades, the two heroes in this twisted holy buddy movie turn their backs on their unholy duty only when they kill some European looking females, and the countless other murders they committed are somewhere rightful, because they were misled by the catholic church, poor soldiers with bloody swords but well-hearted to the core.

The movie, with those two hypocrisies in mind, is something that should not happen and should not be shown and should not be watched, as it is far away from any truth but claims to have some. As far as we know, most of US history productions are far from history, and people do not care and watch those abominations like the Germans watched propaganda movies during the NS regime.

You can call it merely moronic and enjoy some medieval atmosphere and the professional but not really participating acting of two big names, along with some CGI at SyFy level and a tiny adventurous plot. Popcorn-cinema, and there are uncounted numbers of such movies, produced only to keep the industry running.

Unfortunately, there are subliminal messages coming along with the historical pretension. The movie is plainly stupid, but make no mistake, stupidity has the biggest influence on earth since the human brain is capable of what is called 'thinking'.

Historical set supernatural action/horror have slowly been more popular with studios. In 2011 Solomon Kane and Black Death and these films are an attempt to make to cash from fantasy fans whilst have an adult edge. Season of the Witch is a small addition to this trend.

Behmen (Nicolas Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) are two 14th Century knights fighting in the Crusades. After deserting the army, the two knights discover Europe has been decimated by the Black Death and after being captured in a town, a Cardinal (Christopher Lee) ask them to escort a suspected witch (Claire Foy), blamed for the plague, to a monastery. At the monastery is the last Book of Solomon that will destroy her. With another knight (Ulrich Thomsen), a priest (Stephen Campbell Moore), a teenager who wants to be a knight (Robert Sheehan) and a dodgy merchant (Stephen Graham) the knights accept the quest but question both the mission and what the girl really is.

Season of the Witch is basically what would have happened if The Seventh Seal was made as a silly B-Movie. The relationship between Behmen and Felson and their characterisation is similar to Antonius and Jöns, but obviously without the intelligence or the depth of themes. Both sets of men are on a similar mission, battling an supernatural force and going through Europe during the height of the Black Death. But the issues of lose of faith felt very false in Season of the Witch.

Dominic Sena, is a gun-for-hire director. He gets the job done and made a fast pace movie but with much of visual flair. The action scenes were standard, decent enough, but we have seen this all before. The fights were clean and quick, it was not like Ridley Scott's brutal, realistic style, Zack Snyder violence comic-book style or Peter Jackson's epic sense of filmmaking. Sena was unable to give this film any atmosphere and any horror moments are limply handled, done in that typical way of turning the music up really loudly. The humour was also weak and this is a film that is hard to take seriously.

The acting in Season of the Witch was appalling. Cage just gave a lazy, phoned-in performance and many of the actors of seemed like they did not care (whoever thought he could play a Medieval knight should reevaluate their career in the film industry). The actors' voices and looks were wooden and shows that none of them did not really care. It is made even more shameful because some of the talent who was involved. I would have though Perlman should have learnt from his from his experience with In the Name of the King and I would not be surprised if Cage earns an Razzie nomination. But there is some hope, Foy was able to show some range, playing someone who can be seem innocent to someone with menace. Foy was a decent bit of casting because of her young, girly look, but that is the only bright spark on the acting front.

The script by Bragi F. Schut is a poor piece of work. The dialogue is laughable (in a bad way) the story is thin and characterisation is non-existence. We do not get to know anything about the characters and we simply see a bunch of clichés. He is not J.R.R. Tolkien or Robert E. Howard and shows what happens when a supernatural fantasy is not done properly and filled with plot-holes.

This is a truly bad film. Terrible dialogue - and no attempt whatsoever to fit into the time period - they might as well have worn watches and looked up things on their iPads. Yankland hadn't been invented yet, but most of the characters talk in Yank, with yank idiom, as if the action is taking place in Los Angelese. You'd have thought that just a tiny bit of effort to fit into the period would be worth making.

The plot is badly thought out - as you can tell by their dreadful attempts to explain the plot later on. The effects are hopeless.

It's so bad that, occasionally, it's unintentionally funny - that's all that can be said for it. The deep-seated inability of the actors to act is a standing joke. The 20th century attitudes force- fitted onto a badly imagined past has the other standing joke.

This isn't a historical or true story, it's a popcorn movie with action stars made to entertain you and on that side, it delivers. The movie open with a long series of battles with a few blood and gore. Then, Nic Cage and Ron Perlman, who are a team of soldiers in this movie, left their legion because they don't like what they are seeing and doing... killing childs and womens in the name of god. This is anything to them. They go on their own quest and end up being prisoners in a small village. And in that small village, they are almost all touched by the pest. Also a nice cameo by Christopher Lee here. Then, the two of them will go on a mission to escort a ''witch'' to see if she's really a witch in fact. And they will meet demons and other fictionnal creatures. It's a fun ride, 95 minutes seems to be quick, but in this one, there's so many things that happen all the time, you won't be bored. Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman as well as Claire Foy as the Witch all impress me in this title ! It's not an Oscar worthy and not intended to be but it's pretty entertaining if you like the genre.

A very cheaply made movie and not worth the $10 to see it. Visuals make the movie seem as if it were recorded entirely in front of a green screen.**Spoiler Alert** "focus on the backgrounds" **Spoiler Alert** Characters have.. no.. um... character. They don't really interact with one another throughout the story. Not worth the gas or the ticket that you have to buy to watch the movie. I do not recommend this movie to anyone. f 2011 will have more movies like this, then ill be on here, writing reviews for quite some time. And if you still decide to watch it, please come back to prove me wrong. However if you find that my article was useful, come back and tell me which of the scenes you found to be the most ridiculous.

In "Season of the Witch", Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman play a couple of 14th century Crusaders who were asked to lead a band of men to escort a girl accused of being a witch to an abbey where monks can exorcise her demons. However, is she really a witch or was she just randomly blamed for causing the pestilence in their country?

I do not know how Nicolas Cage chooses his projects, but he sure gets the cheesy ones like "Wicker Man," "Sorcerer's Apprentice" and, in the same general vein, this one. Different times in history, but the same lame storytelling. The acting of everyone involved was so over the top, and yet, they were taking it all so seriously.

The supposedly exciting scenes, like crossing the rickety old bridge, the attack of the wolves and even the Grand Guignol-style face-off with the demons at the end, were plagued with unsatisfactory special effects. You know they were meant to be special because they sure took a lot of screen time. However, I found them unexciting and predictable.

OK, this may be entertaining for a lazy afternoon, where you can simply turn off your brain and watch it to while away the time. But watching it in January where all the Oscar bait films are being screened, it surely exposes how bad this film really is.