The Last Witch Hunter - Odd and cliché

The Last Witch Hunter is an odd film to tackle. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really like it either. It functions well as a fantasy-action film, but it misuses action set pieces and its characters are poorly constructed, and overall the movie is cliché, but it still might serve as a treat for fans of the genre.

Kaulder (Vin Diesel) is a witch hunter from the 1300s that was cursed with eternal life after killing The Witch Queen. After her death, the witches and the humans made a pact to never attack each other again. 800 years later Kaulder is still a witch hunter under The Axe and Cross, and he handles threats from witches who seek to break the truce. His life is documented by priests who call themselves “Dolan” and after his 36th Dolan (Michael Caine) is attacked by witches after his retirement, Kaulder investigates the attack with the help of the 37th Dolan (Elijah Wood) and a witch named Chloe (Rose Leslie). He discovers a sect of witches that are determined to break the pact, and even seek to resurrect The Witch Queen.

This film has an awesome selection of performers, but their characterization often falls short, and they try their hardest with the cliché dialogue and poor direction they have been given. Vin Diesel tries his hardest to portray Kaulder as a likeable protagonist, yet he ultimately falls short attempting to fluidly switch between scenes of relaxation and wisecracking to scenes of screaming and demanding answers, ultimately he comes off as somewhat bipolar, but it isn’t all bad, for a character that is not well handled in terms of personality Vin Diesel still has several scenes that paint him as entertaining character. Rose Leslie’s portrayal of Chloe is disappointing, as an impressive actress who portrayed the wonderful Ygritte in Game of Thrones has been cast in a movie role that will ultimately hurt her chances at improving her growth in the Hollywood market. Her character Chloe is a poor juggling attempt between cute affability to bossy jerk, in the end she comes off as bipolar too. The only characters that fit well into their archetypes are the two Dolans, which are portrayed by Elijah Wood and Michael Caine, but their characters are spread so thin and given almost nothing to do that they are easily forgettable.

I actually fell asleep at one point because I did not receive an exciting film, the pacing is so slow, and then when we do get an action scene it only lasts a minute. There is a scene where Kaulder battles the magically enchanted guardian known as the Sentinel, which moves almost like a mixture of a spider and snake but is made out of stone and wood. The build-up to this scene is suspenseful and exciting and you feel very excited only to be disappointed as Kaulder takes down the Sentinel in one foul swipe with his sword. This makes the inclusion of The Sentinel completely inconsequential, and the scene which has a very exciting build is capped off with a really boring ending.

Speaking of the sword, why does Kaulder decide to go up against dangerous enemies with only a sword when he has a vast arsenal of magical and practical weapons that are more advanced than his steel sword? I certainly don’t have the answer, but for some reason the filmmakers didn’t seem to think that was an important plot hole.

Overall, I think people will enjoy The Last Witch Hunter if they are fans of the genre. I went away thinking the movie was not great, but there was still some enjoyment to be found from it. If you think it sounds like your type of movie than try it out, but it certainly wouldn’t be my first recommendation.