[yasr_overall_rating]
Young Thomas is apprenticed to the local Spook to learn to fight evil spirits. His first great challenge comes when the powerful Mother Malkin escapes her confinement while the Spook is away.
“Seventh Son” tells the classic fairy tale of the noble knight, Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges), and his awkward apprentice, Tom Ward (Ben Barnes), going against all odds to save the world from the forces of darkness and evil led by Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore). We are pulled into a world where monsters are real, magic is powerful and nothing is certain. Science fiction/fantasy is my favorite genre. I was the kid who always wanted real armor for Christmas, or a Princess gown complete with tiara and cape – it depended on what fairy tale I was currently entrenched in. When I was chosen to review “Seventh Son,” I looked forward to an evening of magic, adventure and amazing 3-D action scenes. The special effects were done by the same creative team that brought us “Jack the Giant Slayer” and “Godzilla,” both movies that delivered award winning special effects and a new spin on childhood legends.
The story of “Seventh Son” begins with the ancient and mystical Knight – Master Gregory – needing a new apprentice. In fable and fairy tale, the seventh son of the seventh son is always portrayed as having super human abilities. To Master Gregory’s great disappointment, Tom Ward doesn’t display any super human strength or intellect. Tom does have visions of the future. They are preceded by epileptic fits with occasional black outs afterwards. Unfortunately these visions never really seem to help our heroes in their quest, or move the story along in any meaningful way. Ancient Supreme witch Mother Malkin, has escaped from a century long imprisonment, and has until the full blood moon rises to assemble her evil army to take over the world. Malkin’s army consists of six very powerful male and female witches from all corners of the earth, each with unique powers and abilities.
In equally as short a time, Master Gregory will need to train and ready his new apprentice Tom Ward, after the previous apprentice of 10 years meets an inconvenient death. With mere days instead of years to train, Gregory takes Tom off to learn what it means to be a witch killer – or Spook, as the villagers call him. The obligatory trudge through a haunted swamp and foreboding hide-away to train in, add familiar elements to the story, but aren’t enough to make me believe that anything meaningful happens to prepare Tom. The amazing special effects show us how all the evil witches can transform into horrific monsters as they convene at Mother Malkin’s palace. I was blown away by the 3-D dragons, giant beasts, ogres and demons. Sadly, there simply wasn’t enough story told or dialogue written to make me afraid of the villains, empathetic towards the villagers or supportive of the heroes.
After seeing the trailers, I thought I would be ready to fight alongside Master Gregory, partly because Jeff Bridges has had a piece of my heart since 1984 with “Starman,” and also because Ben Barnes held such promise as Tom Ward. Bridges’ overacting as a drunk made me wish for subtitles to know what he was saying half the time, and Barnes’ character never showed any passion for the quest. Elements of love and betrayal are layered throughout the story. The relationships of Master Gregory and Mother Malkin and that of Tom Ward and half-witch Alice (Alicia Vikander), bring a spark of romance to the film. When Tom and Alice steal away for a night of forbidden love, we get a glimpse at what Gregory and Malkin’s relationship must have started out like. The love scene is done in very suggestive tones without any nudity or vulgarity and completely suitable for young viewers.
Because Alice is the daughter of Mother Malkin’s sister, but also the daughter of a human gypsy, she is torn between the duty and loyalty expected from the dark and evil Malkin, and the promise of love and goodness with Tom. But here’s the hitch, Tom is supposed to be a witch killer. Unlike Gregory however, Tom struggles to believe that all witches are bad, and helps Alice escape execution time and time again. When the inevitable battle between good and evil begins, the village is utterly destroyed while Gregory and Ward seam to do little to save the defenseless village. The surprise reappearance of Tom’s mother, Mam Ward (Olivia Williams), in the heat of the battle brings both hope and despair to Tom. After a “night on the mountain top” and a visit from his mother’s spirit, Tom gains resolve to help Gregory defeat Mother Malkin and save his heart’s desire, Alice.
As in most fairy tales, the hero wins, good prevails and all is right with the world again – except for the village that Gregory promises to protect which is left in ashes. With the breathtaking landscape of Alberta, Canada used and a fantastic book that the movie was inspired by, I would like to say that Universal and Legendary Pictures have a winner. I wish that the two hours spent in the movie theatre had swept me into an adventure I was sad to see come to an end when the lights came up; or even that it was fun to cheer for the heroes and be frightened by the monsters and witches. Sadly, I can not. My evening would have been better spent, and my imagination better served had I stayed home, taken out my dice and dusted off my old Dungeons and Dragons books.
In theaters February 6th
