Grade (D-)
The tagline of this one should have been “Live forever. Hunt forever. Forget immediately.”
“THE LAST WITCH HUNTER” stars Vin Diesel as a witch hunter (haha) who lives for eternity to protect the human race from the evil witches who live secretly among them. This is probably one of the shortest synopsis’ I have written but there really wasn’t much more to this newest Diesel romp against CGI witches.
This was a pretty lazy pic in my opinion. The story is predictable and Diesel was essentially the same character from his “Fast and Furious” flicks. The acting was what you would expect and the only the solid scenes were those carried by Elijah Wood and Michael Caine. Which leads me to mention my surprise seeing Caine accept this role, but then again a paycheck is a paycheck. He did however add some validity to a less than impressive fantasy tale carried (kind of) by Diesel. Although his screen-time was not near enough to make this one worth the time.
Elijah Wood was also convincing enough in his this one with his performance easily making the most out of the character and lines he was given. Rose Leslie was decent but for the most part her and Diesel showed no chemistry together which made most of their scenes feeling flat and lifeless. There was no real connection to the characters and it was hard to keep my attention on this film that was already a ‘turn your brain off’ supernatural-thriller.
But let’s keep it real, no one watches an film like this for a intricate plot or compelling character acting. The purpose of this film is to see Diesel kill witches and that aspect of this one also, fails. The action was sparse, not very ambitious and delivered next to no excitement as I watched. The choreography of some of the sequences were elementary and not very well shot. As for the CGI, it was cartoonish for the most part and never was able to create a truly menacing antagonist for Diesel to take on. Thus there was never any tension or build-up in the script and in the end the third-act climax was very, anti-climactic.
There isn’t much more to say about “The Last Witch Hunter.” It gives you pretty much what you would expect and if you are a fan of the fantasy genre you may also see the underwhelming delivery this one gives. Fans of Diesel may enjoy this one but even then it will be quickly forgotten.
– Starring –
Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood, Michael Caine, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Isaach De Bankolé, Julie Engelbrecht
– Directed By –
Breck Eisner
Time: 106 min
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (For sequences of fantasy violence and frightening scenes)