Seventh Son [Movie Review]

A rare weekend this was. I saw two films, one I expected to be better and one worse. Jupiter Ascending, I expected to be better, when in fact it was the worst. Seventh Son, I thought would be passable, but not the better of the two. I was wrong.  

Imagine if Obi-Wan or Gandolf spent their time insulting
their apprentices (padawans) / companions? You'd get Jeff Bridges!

I had heard about Seventh Son a long time ago. I think it was first slated for release back in 2013. Several strange studio deals happened and the date was jammed backwards time and again. Finally a 2015 release.
Crazy.

3 out of 5 stars

Now take that rating with a grain of salt. I was tempted to give it 3.5 stars, but am holding it where it is for several reasons. 

Djimon was also in a much better movie,
Guardians of the Galaxy.

The movie is actually pretty fun for the most part. The biggest problem comes from the fact that the cast never really seems to mesh. From the get go, the characters work together, or against each other, but they never really seem to click. Master Gregory (Bridges) never really bonds with his apprentice. There may be plot reasons for this, but if there were they never really made it on screen. The whole sister, mother, daughter group also lacked strong ties. 

This Bogart is completely different than one that hides
in a wardrobe and pops out as Prof. Snape in fancy dress.

That lack of cast meshing comes out really strong during the last battle. There is a strong and long battle at the end, as most fantasy movies are want to do. The problem is that when the heroes are victorious they simply walk off. Their group had some internal conflict going on beforehand... but nope - 'We won, all is ignored.'

Plot is supposed to go in a nice simple order.
- Introduction (this can be done many ways).
- Rising action, events occur, things become complex.

I though John Snow was supposed to have Plot Armor?!

- Climax, where things hit the fan. The turning point.
- Falling Action (denouement), events and conflicts resolve.
- Resolution, the clean up, the outcome.
(Bonus!)
- The Hook, new events are introduced compelling the plot forward (Hello Sequels).

Seventh Son had an issue with Falling Action. It works its way through Intro, Rising, Climax, and starts to stumble in Falling eventually collapsing after the major conflict is brought to an abrupt end. There is some Resolution, but it is quick and dirty. Yes, all the parts are there, but some are just not as well fleshed out.      

This was actually a movie based
on a book. I did not know that.

I still enjoyed this movie.
It was in no way a great movie.
However it was not a dismal movie.
The sets were nice, the costuming good, the sfx were very good. The acting was not great, but nor was it terrible. Well, Bridges had a strange accent that we probably could have left out... no idea what was up with that. The witches were nice to look at at, and Julianne Moore can pull off the dark queen thing quite well.

This movie came in at around an hour and half. It could have used about twenty more minutes to help the characters out a bit more. I honestly wonder if some characterization was left on the cutting room floor... 

I'm kinda interested in the original book now, to see if perhaps there was something important left out. Some movies transition from book to movie very well (Harry Potter), and some just do not... Jurassic Park for one (I like the movie well enough, but the book was so much better). The books that make the movie transition well, usually remain faithful while cutting only small side things and characters out. Sure we all (or just some) might miss Professor Binns, but he was not central to the plot. I am interested in seeing if this book was well translated, or if errors compounded to give the less than acceptable conclusion to the final battle.

Still, this is possibly worth matinee money to see.
If you are choosing between this and Jupiter Ascending... see this.

This movie made me think of this.
Here. Go Listen.