The Last Witch Hunter is a special effects fueled action adventure with a very supernatural twist as the most powerful witches, wizards and sorcerers plan their attack on the earth. Set in New York City and the crazy Dreamworld, a doorway land in which the harbingers of magical tyranny live, it looked set to be a visual treat and while it didn’t perform all that well in terms of box office takings, the average three star review it’s getting would indicate that it could do a bit better on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download.
If we were being cynical we’d say that it feels a lot like a reboot of Blade with witches replacing vampires and an immortal Vin Diesel replacing Wesley Snipes. However, from the look of the trailer below there’s no super cool Stephen Dorff character in the mix, so maybe the comparisons break down when you scrutinise them in any detail, but it’s definitely in the same mold as the 1998 action horror.
Release date
Cinema: The Last Witch Hunter made its way to the big screen with a US and UK release date of Friday the 23rd October 2015, just a week ahead of Halloween. With so much emphasis on the visual impact of the film, which does in all fairness look impress in parts in the trailer, you might have been fooled into thinking that it would have been a perfect 3D release, but it was only available in 2D screenings unfortunately. It arrived on the big screen a week ahead of the release of SPECTRE, which could have contributed to it’s slightly less than impressive box office takings.
DVD, Blu-ray and digital download: It had a second bite at the cherry with the DVD, Blu-ray and digital download release date in the UK on the 7th March 2016, following the US where it arrived on the 2nd February 2016. Special features include a featurette on crafting the magic of The Last Witch Hunter, an animated short film, audio commentary with director Breck Eisner and a collection of deleted Scenes.
Story
Vin Diesel (Guardians Of The Galaxy) plays an immortal warrior called Kaulder, who was cursed with his undying superpowers by the Witch Queen when he defeated her centuries ago. Having outlived his family and the remains of his people, he has spent the years on a dark life hunting down and killing evil witches throughout the ages. However, in modern day New York things are coming to a head once again as the Witch Queen has been resurrected somehow and now she’s out to wreak her revenge on Kaulder and the world that spurned her.
Cast
In addition to Vin Diesel, The Last Witch Hunter also stars Rose Leslie (Game Of Thrones) as Chloe, Elijah Wood (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) as Kaulder’s priestly assistant the 37th Dolan, Julie Engelbrecht (Nicholas on Holiday) as the Witch Queen and Michael Caine (Kingsman: The Secret Service) as Father Dolan. The cast also includes Icelandic actor, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty) as Belial, and Isaach de Bankolé (The Limits Of Control) as Schlesinger.
Producton
The film has been directed by Breck Eisner, who takes a step into more well established waters having had a number of lessthanimpressives over the years. It’s been produced by Mark Canton (The Pyramid) and Bernie Goldmann. The screenplay has been written by Cory Goodman, Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless.
Review
While we were a little cynical about the vague similarities between The Last Witch Hunter and Blade, the film did go on to be an action-packed adventure with some very fancy special effects, backing up the impressive visuals in the trailer below. It’s a shame it didn’t get a 3D release to really show off the dark eye candy in its best possible light, but that doesn’t stop it from looking pretty cool when the SFX kick in, even when you watch it on DVD, Blu-ray or digital download. We weren’t expecting anything particularly ground breaking, shaking or moving from the movie, but it does more than it says on the tin, surprising with a very entertaining fantasy horror action adventure.
On a negative note, it does put an inaccurate portrayal of witches forward that does little to emphasise the historical reality that they were simply elderly, infirm, misunderstood or misguided women that were persecuted by religious zealots. If Terry Pratchett has taught us nothing (and in all fairness he’s taught us a lot) it’s that witches were really just kindly, smart, or troubled women that were often just trying to help, in their own way, with the odd one or two cacklers thrown in for good measure. There’s a tiny reference to this in the film, and the fact that there are good witches as well as the vicious witch queen and her horde does take the sting away a little, but in general it’s a case of the bad witch versus the good hunter. Read our review of the DVD for more details.
