Film Filter: Off- I was prompted to watch this film based off of a lack-luster recommendation from a friend. I generally like to go into a film with a neutral expectation, so I'm often hesitant to blog about movies that are recommended to me, but I figured I'd give this one a shot.
Pros- I think having Ron Perlman in the cast was a step in the right direction. Nicolas Cage is sort of a wild card, depending on the cast, but I think Perlman helped the movie have some diversity to its characterization.
The premise of the film itself is actually pretty good. It's essentially about witchcraft and the ability to decipher whether or not a young woman accused of such is innocent. The first 80% of the film follows this plot point with a fairly interesting and moving pace.
The cinematography of the film was very appropriate to the time period, and quite well done. It featured beautiful, mysterious scenery which looked and felt very realistic.
Cons- I had thought for sure that Nicolas Cage would have been one of the top cons of the film, but as it turns out, he wasn't. In fact, he wasn't a con at all. That being said, he was also not a pro to the film either; he was pretty much neutral.
One of the things that I thought was done poorly, and stood out as such in an obvious manner because of the good cinematography, was the effects. The scene where a plethora of wolves descends upon the caravan looked like a poor man's Twilight transformation scene. There was also a scene that incorporated a heavy use of fire. Again, it resembled more of a cheap N64 game graphic than that of actual fire.
By far and away the biggest con of the film was its inconsistency to remain true to the predetermined plot of the film. It was a decent witchcraft movie for the first 80%, but then turned into a bad demonic-possession-monk-zombie-devil movie with really bad effects for the last 20%. I have no problem with movies taking twists at the end, but this one didn't even feel like it was the same movie. It took this realistic looking, mostly believable film and turned it into an excessively affected fantasy with poorly done special effects and way too much blasé fighting. Oh, and bad dialogue.
Wrap up- This movie is not great on its own merit for the first 80% that was normal. The remaining 20% is the nail in the bad-movie coffin.
No comments:
Post a Comment