MOVIE REVIEW
movie review
The Last Witch Hunter
W
eary, worn out and weather-beaten! That's how
The Last Witch Hunter, an action fantasy, in
a complex mythological universe, begins and
ends. It is a story that spans over 800 years - a man's
quest to keep at bay an army of vicious supernatural
creatures determined to wipe out humanity. The lengthy
prologue begins with a group of weary witch-hunters traversing a sloshy snow-clad path till they reach a lone
tree in the wilderness to battle the witches. The Queen
Witch is killed but not before cursing the man, Kauder
(Vin Diesel) who killed her. She curses him with immortality. 8000 years later, Kauder the last surviving hunter
of The Axe and Cross, the fellowship dedicated to keeping sorcery in check, stalks the universe to destroy the
witches who practice dark magic. It is after the death of
his priestly advisor, Dolan the 36th (Michael Caine) that
he lands up in New York where he realises that there
are a few witches who are trying to resurrect the Queen
Witch and destroy the world. So, Kauder teams up with
the 37th Dolan (Elijah Wood) and - Chloe (Rose Leslie),
a modern-day witch who runs a Memory Bar. Together,
they help him in his endeavour. The script written by
Cory Goodman, Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, has
a jumbled storyline - the curse, "Cursed with immortality"
and the clue - "Remember your death" can confuse the
viewers. Also, the narration shuttles between two time
zones. It establishes the backstory as well as reminds
the audience of Kauder's attachment to his wife and
daughter, but unfortunately apart from that, the narration is bereft of any emotional track, thus making it a
cut and dry epic in a fabricated Wiccan folklore set in
an ambiguous space. The dialogues are off the cuff and
occasionally lead nowhere and the pace of the narration
is tediously slow. While the graph of the characters is
flat, this film is Diesel's canvas. As Kauder, he is in every
frame but unfortunately he fails to leave an impact either
with his performance or action. Also, his get-up from a
wrinkled, bearded man to a dashing young man in today's milieu, "A man who has walked through history,
who had known Napoleon and Stalin" is implausible and
bizarre to the revelation. Leslie as the "Dream Walker"
and a female lead opposite Diesel, is perfunctory. Olafur
Darri Olafsson as the Nordic warlock Belial who is the
key conspirator to resurrect the Queen Witch along with
Caine and Wood as Kauder's confidants, are fascinating. But with under-developed characters there is only
that much that they can do. With fabulous production
designs, the film relies heavily on