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Nicolas Cage isn’t the kind of guy who turns down a role just because a film’s script sounds silly. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’d taken roles based on scripts that were scribbled in crayon on water-stained paper restaurant tablecloths. And I’m okay with that—because Cage can easily make a ridiculous film into a ridiculously entertaining one. Still, it might be advisable to let Cage and his co-stars study the same crayon-scribbled tablecloth—instead of two very different ones.
In Season of the Witch, Cage plays Behmen, a 14th-century knight who’s dedicated more than a decade of his life to fighting in the Crusades. But after watching a woman die in battle, he’s suddenly stricken with guilt—so he and his friend, Felson (Ron Perlman), decide that it’s time to walk away.
On their journey home, Behmen and Felson arrive in a village that’s been devastated by the Black Plague. The village’s priest, Debelzaq (Stephen Campbell Moore), believes that their only hope of ending the plague is to deliver a confessed witch (Claire Foy) to a nearby abbey, where the monks can perform a ritual found in the Book of Solomon.
Threatened with imprisonment for their desertion, Behmen and Felson agree to help transport the accused to the abbey on one condition: that she’ll get a fair trial. But as they make their journey, even Behmen begins doubt the girl’s innocence.
In the beginning, Season of the Witch seems as though it’s trying to be a dark, historical action film about brave knights on a mysterious mission. But the tone (and the writing in general) is so uneven that you’ll never really know what it’s supposed to be.
Of course, the dialogue doesn’t help. Some of the actors (like Cage) take the time period seriously, speaking in a kind of stilted, archaic style that seems (almost) fitting. Others, meanwhile (especially Perlman), use a more laid-back, colloquial style that sounds more like the 21st century than the 14th century.
The two stars, in fact, seem to be starring in two very different movies. Cage’s version of the film is ultra-serious and dramatic, while Perlman’s version is dark but silly (think Hellboy 3: The Black Plague).
Together, the uneven tone and the ever-shifting dialogue (along with stars who aren’t even working on the same movie) have an unsettling effect. You’ll never be able to get fully into the movie because you’ll never really know what you’re supposed to be getting into. Is it supposed to be a historical drama with period-appropriate dialogue? A creepy supernatural thriller that uses modern language? Is it supposed to be serious or light, dramatic or scary? Or maybe it’s just a joke. In the end, it’s all of the above—or it’s none of the above. It just depends on when you happen to be watching.
Fortunately, the film has a pair of eccentric stars—and Cage and Perlman at least make for some entertaining late-night viewing. But the writing and direction are an absolute mess—and the end result feels like a Monty Python parody of dark medieval thriller.
Blu-ray Review:
The special features menu on the Season of the Witch Blu-ray release includes several deleted scenes (including an alternate ending and an additional scene with an almost unrecognizable Christopher Lee), as well as the theatrical trailer and a pair of making-of featurettes.
The featurettes highlight some of the outside experts who worked on the film to create the special effects used in the film’s final sequence and the epic battles in the film’s opening sequence. If you have time to watch one of them, I recommend browsing through On a Crusade, which shows how the battle scenes were rehearsed, filmed, and edited. It’s far from required viewing, but it does offer a closer look at some of the film’s most thrilling moments.
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