Seventh Son (2014) [Blu-ray]
Action | Adventure | Fantasy

Tagline: When darkness falls, the son will rise

In a time of enchantments when legends and magic collide, the sole remaining warrior of a mystical order (Oscar winner Jeff Bridges) travels to find a prophesized hero born with incredible powers, the last Seventh Son (Ben Barnes of The Chronicles of Narnia). Torn from his quiet life as a farmhand, the unlikely young hero embarks on a daring adventure with his battle-hardened mentor to vanquish a dark queen (Oscar winner Julianne Moore) and the army of supernatural assassins she has dispatched against their kingdom.

Storyline: John Gregory, who is a seventh son of a seventh son and also the local spook, has protected his country from witches, boggarts, ghouls and all manner of things that go bump in the night. However John is not young anymore, and has been seeking an apprentice to carry on his trade. Most have failed to survive. The last hope is a young farmer's son named Thomas Ward. Will he survive the training to become the spook that so many others couldn't? Should he trust the girl with pointy shoes? How can Thomas stand a chance against Mother Malkin, the most dangerous witch in the county? Written by Anonymous

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, May 23, 2015 -- Call it "jaded reviewer syndrome" or "genre fatigue" or simply call the picture trite, but whatever the reason it's hard to get behind a movie like Seventh Son, a film based on Author Joseph Delaney's book The Spook's Apprentice. The film adaptation is admittedly well made in all the right ways -- it's a skillful work from Director Sergei Bodrov -- but it's otherwise a black hole of storytelling, a movie with nothing to offer that hasn't been done before, sometimes better, sometimes worse, but seen plenty of times down that same straight path called "Fantasy Convention." The story feels wholly inconsequential, its basics gobbled up by its trite run through the genre checklist: a great journey, an aging warrior, a young apprentice, an ancient evil, a powerful talisman, and various adventures in clearly demarcated natural arenas stocked with numerous beasts of all shapes and sizes trying to stop the adventurers at all cost. It works well enough as basic entertainment and the movie is far from an abomination, but there's nary a thread of creativity in it, favoring the easy way through the basics and eschewing the darker, trickier presentation of more creative ideas and a more richly novel tale.

Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges) is a "Spook" -- a noble defender against dark powers -- and he's managed to imprison a powerful witch by the name of Malkin (Julianne Moore) in a seemingly inescapable cell. But, years later, when a rare blood moon rises, Malkin regains her strength and frees herself from captivity. An aged Gregory is reluctantly called back into duty to confront her. His apprentice is killed in the chaos and she escapes. Gregory is now tasked with tracking down a replacement apprentice and he finds one in Tom (Ben Barnes), the seventh son of a seventh son who has previously seen visions of Gregory. Before he begins his training and embarks on his quest, his mother (Olivia Williams) gifts him a sacred talisman of incredible power. Now, he and Gregory must confront one of the most dangerous evils the world has ever seen on a journey that promises deadly consequences should they fail.

Where the movie lacks in creativity, it makes up for in spirit and special effects. There's a big, sweeping, epic cinematic flavor to the movie. Seventh Son plays with a good sense of know-how behind the camera and a gloriously realized world in front. It seems unapologetic as it races through cliché towards its predictably inevitable conclusion, doing so with commendable visual and aural efficiency as it develops the plot and characters and maneuvers towards, and through, its basic motifs. But the world around it all feels expansive and lived-in, complete and never wanting for just a little bit more of a push to put it over the top. The visual thoroughness certainly helps to sell the movie and does a decent enough job of covering up the ridiculously straightforward story to the point that, if nothing else, the movie proves baseline entertaining. Various battle scenes and large scope grand adventure bits are spot-on and the digital effects, while not quite good enough to fully sell the illusion, are some of the better the Fantasy arena has seen. There's a very real, tangible sense of scope and size to the digital effects and a commendable realism in the way humans interact with them. Seventh Son gets far more right than wrong in terms of its support pieces, but there are sill a few chinks in its armor beyond the bland story details.

Perhaps the biggest drawback beyond the crude simplicity of the plot are lead performances. Both Julianne Moore and Jeff Bridges seem disinterested in the film, probably because they recognize it as filler with no aspirations beyond, but there's a flatness to both performances at best and a sly hamminess to them at worst. Neither one injects much life into the characters beyond basic qualities that are less descriptive and more emotive; their characters seem built on look and cadence more so than inward depth. In fact, Bridges plays, essentially, the same character from another recent book-turned-film starring him, The Giver. Obvious time and place differences aside, Bridges in both films plays an aged man of some importance to the community who is charged with finding and training a replacement who can help him save a world in peril, both at the hands of powerful female figures. Ben Barnes, himself no stranger to the Fantasy genre considering his parts in the Narnia sequels Prince Caspian and Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is the film's best acting asset, not appearing so bored or reliant on excess as his counterparts but doing what he can to flesh out a stock zero-to-hero character by giving the part a bit more seriousness and thoroughness that fits in with the world around him.

Seventh Son works well enough as basic filmed Fantasy entertainment. It's hopelessly trite but it seems content nevertheless, taking itself rather seriously but never so much so that it loses its raw entertainment value. If one can look beyond the miles and miles of tropes, there's a familiar yet comfortable ride for the dedicated genre fan. Performances from its two biggest names aren't great, but the positive sense of rich setting helps sell the illusion. Universal's Blu-ray release of Seventh Son features outstanding video and audio. Supplements are of good quantity and quality. Definitely worth a rental and fans can buy with confidence.

[CSW] -2.4- You won't find much originality in Seventh Son, but it serves up every sword & fantasy cliché well enough to be somewhat entertaining. The general story has also been done countless other times, so seeing it play out exactly how you'd expect it to can get a bit tedious despite the impressive visuals. I was actually kind of able to enjoy myself while watching, in a goofy sort of way. Jeff Bridges playing this drunken warrior mentor who happens to be the biggest bad-a** in all of the land. I will admit, it's typically never a good sign when a film gets pushed back a couple of years, or when the studio goes bankrupt mid-production on a film. It's also never a good sign when a film gets released in February. Both Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore make this movie more entertaining than it has any right to be with plenty of one-liners. The special effects look good enough, but are not groundbreaking, which is appropriate enough for the material. I did enjoy many of the sets which I have to admit, most people aren't that interested in. If there is anything about this that interests you, give this a fun rental as there is enough here that you might enjoy it as a once-is-enough popcorn movie.
I rented the 2D version to see if I might be interested in getting the 3D version... I'll Pass.
[V4.5-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box 10/10.


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