SEVENTH SON - 2014

Fantasy adventure films have always had their place amongst the realm of cinema, when I was young I loved fantasy adventure, films like: Conan, Krull, Beast Master and alike. These days though I feel as though everything that gets released in the genre are recreations of plots done to death and were done much better, sure the special effects in the 70’s and 80’s were nothing compared to what they are today but that’s what made those films so great, those little special effects. These days CGI is king and a lot of the time is so over used that it leaves nothing for our imaginations to grasp hold of.

Seventh Son is the story of Gregory the spook (one who hunts the supernatural) and his mission to destroy the Queen of the witches Mother Malkin set in the 18 century. After trapping Malkin years pass by and she remains in prison until the threat of a new blood moon looms, Malkin escapes her prison and takes off to cause havoc and reclaim her kingdom once more. Gregory and his newest apprentice Ben; the seventh son of a seventh son set about the task of stopping Malkin and protecting the world from the devastation she plans to bring…

​Sound familiar???

It’s a story that has been told time and time again, set in all ages and in all places but especially medieval times where this is set once again. The stand out for the film and the reason you should see it though is for Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski, True Grit) who plays Mater Gregory, he has created a fantastic character in Gregory, everything from his voice to his movements is exciting to hear and see. Also helping the film out is Julianne Moore (Still Alice, Mockingjay pt 1) who plays Mother Malkin, she manages to bring an over the top possibility down to Earth and even a little humble, she has done a marvelous job with her character and even though she is the “bad guy” you can’t help but root for her in some places, and that’s about all the goodness the film has to offer. The other characters are annoying, the actors should be on an Australian soap opera, they were lifeless, plain and boring, they brought nothing to the screen but a presence, and I hate to say it; but I doubt if the actors were even replaced with A list celebrities their characters would have been any different. I feel all the effort was put into Jeff and Julianne and the CGI landscape and beasties. Ben Barnes (Chronicles of Narnia, Stardust) plays the son of the seventh son Tom Ward, Alicia Vikander (Anna Karenina, A Royal Affair) plays Alice, Olivia Williams (The Sixth Scent, Rushmore) plays Mam who does bring a little something more to her character at least.

This is Sergey Bodrov’s first real English film he is really well known for his Russian films so I did expect a lot more from him, I have a feeling that perhaps the actors may have directed themselves in places as he sat back and took it all in. I was disappointed as I definitely expected more from the director of “Mongol” and “Nomad”. The CGI used was so extensive at times there was so much happening on the screen it was hard to make heads or tails of what was taking place, don’t get me wrong it was great, the dragon scenes in particular were legendary it was just a little messy is all. It seems to be CGI has taken over a lot of the substance a film can deliver when cheap thrills and special effects are used.

Seventh Son isn’t worth rushing out to see, it is worth waiting to see on dvd at least but I wouldn’t be wasting my money at the cinemas. Being a fantasy adventure its appropriate for kids with only a few swears nothing they wouldn’t hear in the school yard on a daily basis anyway.

Seventh Son – 2 out of 5 BanShee Screams

Thanks for reading.

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