Seventh Son

Every year, there are so many releases of medieval films, or films that mix science fiction with medival styles. You know exactly what you will get, sword fighting, monsters or dragons, sorcery and of course beautiful women ( because in the medieval times, women always looked great, even if make up did not exist ). Film conventions worldwide seems to love this genre, and dress up like certain characters, including from Lord Of The Rings of course. And i admit, i did grew up watching Hercules with Kevin Sorbo, and Xena : Warrior Princess, and similar shows on tv. Hell, i even tried to watch Conan The Barbarian - The Series, and i could not watch more than 2 episodes......because it was horrible. There are actually some fun B movies that mix medieval style with horror, especially the 90´s classic Army Of Darkness. If you have not seen this one, Jesus will punish you for sure, i know. Everyone loves Bruce Campbell, and if someone says they don´t ? Well, they are lying, just because Eric Saade told them not to tell the truth. Even if there are most low budget films released in this genre, we do have some bigger budget films released that try and mix it all together. Does anyone of you remember Eragon ? failed at the box office, but hang on, there are exceptions. Did you know that Season Of The Witch with Nicolas Cage actually made a profit, and was not a box office bomb ? It is true, check online if you don´t belive me. I know that Nicolas Cage recently released another sword fighting film lately called Outpost, have not seen it yet, but critics have told us to avoid it. I can´t understand why, besides, does not Nicolas Cage always make great films ? Anyway, let´s take a look at a new fantasty, sci fi film with Jeff Bridges. It is not R.I.P.D.2, so don´t worry, if that will be made, we will guaranteed see Uwe Boll direct it. Have you ever dreamed of seeing Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore in a fantasty film ? Well, i think you will be happy now. They are both in the new film Seventh Son, that seems to be a mix of everything, including fights, and sorcery. Sounds like a great combination right ? After a very short run in the theatres, i had to take a look at Seventh Son, to see if this would be any good at all. With a great cast, and the director of Mongol, is this a fantasy film that will be respected among fans, or is this a failure from start to finish ?

The malevolent witch Mother Malkin ( Julianne Moore ), is imprisoned in a chamber by Master Gregory ( Jeff Bridges ). He is the last of a knightly order known as the Spooks, who defend humans from supernatural threats. Years go by, while Mother Malkin is still locked up. Until one night, when the beginning of a centennial event known as the Blood Moon, give her enough power to break free. Master Gregory finds out that Malkin is loose. Gregory manage to find Malkin again, with the help of his apprentice Billy Bradley ( Kit Harington ). Malik have posessed a little girl, but they manage to get her out of the girls body, and try to trap her. They fail, and Malkin take over Billy, letting him burn alive. Gregory realise that he needs to find The seventh son of a seventh son Tom Ward ( Ben Barnes ), to stop Malkin. Gregory travel to the home of Tom, where he offers Tom´s mother money if he can go with him on this journey. Tom recognize Gregory from his dreams, where he have visions of Gregory and a mysterious girl. On their journey, Tom finds the girl that he dreamed of, her name is Alice Deane ( Alicia Vikander ). She is about to be burned, as a mob think she is a witch. Tom manage to help her out of the situation, as she tell him about Gregory´s last apprentice. She suddenly dissapear, and Tom continue the journey with Gregory. Malkin is becoming more powerful, and she must be stopped.

I am quite shocked that Julianne Moore is in this film. Remember that she won an Oscar for best female actor in Still Alice ? I can´t say that she does a great performance here, well, at least she is better than some of the other actors. Jeff Bridges, who also won an Academy Award for best male actor in Crazy Heart, is also here. With 2 actors with so much potential, to end up in a film like Seventh Son, you realise that they must have been paid good to say they would do this . So is it any good ? Honestly ? No. I have seen worse films in this genre, but even if we have good actors, does not change the quality of the film. If i would say i prefer Season Of The With in front ot Seventh Son, you might be shocked. Let´s just say that the combination of Nicolas Cage and Ron Pearlman was more fun. And who does not want to see Nicolas Cage with a " Hockeyfrilla " swinging a sword ? That´s right, a combination like that could never go wrong. If there is one thing that Seventh Son, manage to do right, is to bring out acting, at least better than what we got from Scary Movie 5. The plot is not anything we need to talk about, it is about as trimmed as Tom Selleck´s mustasche. If you are reading this Tom Selleck, remember you are the greatest, just so you know. So is there anything that i do like ? Well, not much, but you do get to laugh hearing Jeff Bridges accent, with the goat beard. I wish he could wear the same costume and use the same accent at Wasa Museum in Stockholm, that would be splendid. Some of the action sequences might be fun to watch, sometimes, but not because it looks good. This is more of a fantasty film, where you can laugh, because of cheesy special effects, and bad dialogue. Director Sergei Bodrov, who directed the very powerful russian semi-historical film Mongol, have tried to make Seventh Son a more traditional fantasty film. But he should have changed this concept, considering he managed to make Mongol look so good. With his latest film, he fails to capture that feeling, and the acting is not very good at all. I begin to wonder if he really was pleased with the final results, if this did not turn out as he expected. Either way, it is too late to change now. Seventh Son is not a disaster, we can have a good laugh about this film at least. There are plenty of fantasty films i would see over this one, but if you love fantasty you might have some fun with this.

Rating: DD