Deserters From the Crusades
Movie Review By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS
By this point most of us have stopped trying to figure out Nicolas Cage’s career logic. With a résumé that encompasses Oscar winner, action star and indie darling, this supremely talented actor continues to confound us with choices like “Season of the Witch,” a 14th-century road movie with 21st-century cuss words.
Tired of hacking infidels and pleasuring wenches, two deserters from the Crusades (Mr. Cage and Ron Perlman) agree to transport an accused witch (Claire Foy) to a remote abbey to stand trial.
Accompanied by an uptight monk, a ringleted altar boy and a swindler (Stephen Graham, recently seen having much more fun as Al Capone on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”), our heroes traverse a wolf-infested forest, plague-stricken villages and a plot with more holes than a macramé plant holder. Around them, characters converse in period-appropriate dialogue (“We’re gonna need more holy water”), while the cinematographer, Amir Mokri, conceals the magnificent Austrian Alps beneath a palette of sludge and fudge. The entire film seems to be happening on the other side of a dirty window — good news for the dreadful computer-generated effects, if not for our eyes.
“At least it’s not in 3-D,” my viewing companion remarked, and for the sake of Mr. Cage — who’s as convincing a Crusader as he was a combustible biker in “Ghost Rider” — I had to agree. But having worked with his director, Dominic Sena, a decade ago in “Gone in 60 Seconds,” he can’t say he wasn’t warned.
“Season of the Witch” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Hanged witches, skewered wolves and a pustular Christopher Lee.
SEASON OF THE WITCH
Opens on Friday nationwide.
Directed by Dominic Sena; written by Bragi Schut Jr.; director of photography, Amir Mokri; edited by Mark Helfrich and Dan Zimmerman; music by Atli Orvarsson; production design by Uli Hanisch; costumes by Carlo Poggioli; produced by Charles Roven and Alex Gartner; released by Relativity. Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes.
WITH: Nicolas Cage (Behmen), Ron Perlman (Felson), Stephen Campbell Moore (Debelzaq), Claire Foy (the Girl), Stephen Graham (Hagamar), Ulrich Thomsen (Eckhart), Robert Sheehan (Kay) and Christopher Lee (Cardinal D’Ambroise).
http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/movies/07season.html?nl=movies&emc=mua3&pagewanted=print
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