Seventh Son (2014)

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nSeventh Son (2014)

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nDirector: Sergey Bodrov
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nCast: Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore, Djimon Hounsou, Olivia Williams, Jason Scott Lee

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nSometimes movies get the shaft at the box office because ofna lot of crap that goes on behind the scenes, stuff sometimes we as an audiencenare completely unaware of. For example, Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of BaronnMunchausen (1989) was a huge box office bomb, not because it was a bad film,nbut because of a shift in administration at Columbia Pictures, and so the newnhead honchos treated the previous administrations films like crap, sonAdventures of Baron Munchausen wasn’t promoted well, the result was annexcellent film that died a quick death at the box office. Of course, now thenfilm is considered one of Terry Gilliam’s best, but when it was first releasedna shift in administration at Columbia turned it into a 60 million dollar fiasco.nA similar thing happened to Seventh Son, not that Seventh Son is anywhere nearnas awesome as Adventures of Baron Munchausen, but it is a film that deserved anbetter chance at the box office. For me, it’s a fun film that’s far from beingnterrible. The problem with Seventh Son was that it was produced by LegendarynPictures, who at one point were going to partner up with Warner Brothers tondistribute the film (if you check the poster I’ve posted it actually has the WB logo!) but that partnership fell through and Warner Bros. and LegendarynPictures parted ways. Then Legendary partnered up with UniversalnPictures, but by then, the film’s release had lost momentum. The thing is thatnwhen movie buffs see constant delays and changes in release dates they get thenfeeling that the film isn’t going to be that good, because the studio isnstalling its release. Film buffs can sniff a stinker from miles away! I myselfnfelt the delay was because the film wasn’t going to be that good. What did Inknow about a shift in partnerships between studios? So the film was a boxnoffice bomb in the United States which at least made its budget back with its worldwide intake. Still, I feel American audiences could have given this one a better chance.
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nSeventh Son is all about a Master Gregory, a sorcerer whondedicates his life to killing monsters, demons and witches. He has annapprentice, but loses him in a battle with an evil witch called Mother Malkin;nso since a sorcerer cannot be without an apprentice, now Master Gregory has tonfind a new apprentice, The Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. You see, supposedly,nthe seventh son of a seventh son makes perfect sorcerers’ apprentice. SonGregory is searching for that special young man. Once he finds him, they havento team up to go up against Mother Malkin, before she becomes all powerful andnrules the land with her coven of witches.
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nThe thing about Seventh Son is that it was actually entertaining.nI was ready to rip it a new one, because honestly, I was expecting a terriblenfilm. The fact that the studio held this one back for so long made me raise anred flag. Usually when a studio gets cold feet with the release of a movie, it’snbecause the movie is bad and they are looking for just the right moment innwhich to release it so it won’t have much competition at the box office.  Also, who the hell was this director? I knewnnothing of Sergey Bodrov’s body of work, I didn’t know what to expect. I had nonbasis of comparison. Thankfully the film turned my expectations around. Almostnimmediately Jeff Bridges portrayal of Master Gregory got me to like the film, Inmean, here’s Jeff Bridges breathing life into this character, he gave it a realnunique persona, I liked that about it. Bridges infused the character with justnthe right amount of comedy and charisma. So much so that some reviews say that it’snBridges Master Gregory that saves the film. I have to say that it certainly isnone of the films high points, but the film has other good things going for itnas well.
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nYou see, this is a fantasy film along the lines of let’snsay, Willow (1988), Legend (1985) or Krull (1983); films in which our heroesnexist in a magical land filled with monsters, magic and witches. On these typesnof films, the main character goes from zero to hero, sometimes in a matter ofnseconds and obviously, always going through a quick training montage with theirn‘master’. In this sense, Seventh Son is not original at all, which is one ofnthe reasons it doesn’t get a perfect score from me. You see, this film goesnthrough all the cliché’s of a heroes journey, finding his magical sword in a magical cave…being trained by his master and finally,nseeing  the main character put what hisnlearned to good use in his first adventure. But it’s all cool, because itnsurprised me that Seventh Son actually took some of those clichés and turnednthem around. For example, there’s a moment in which the apprentice, Tom Ward, findsna magical sword and grabs it from the hands of a corpse, a scene that reminded menof identical scenes in Conan the Barbarian (1982) and Legend (1985), then thenfilm surprises me and has the spirit of the former owner of the sword actually fightnwith Tom for his sword! So while Seventh Son isn’t completely original, itnstill has the ability to surprise you at certain points. It’s well aware of fantasy movie cliche’s so it tries its best to turn them around. The dialog is quick and witty because the filmmakers know that we’re savvy, so the dialog gets to the point rather quickly, it doesn’t stall.
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nFilms like Seventh Son are essentially monster films; they existnto wow us with their monsters. Remember the two headed dragon in Willow (1988)?nOr Meg Mucklebones, the water witch from Legend (1985)? How about the army ofnSkeletons in Jason and the Argonauts (1963)? All show stopping monsters! Well,nSeventh Son is this kind of film, filled to the brim with monsters at everynturn. I enjoyed the creatures on this one, in fact this film felt like a homagento all those old Ray Harryhausen fantasy films like Sinbad and the Eye of thenTiger (1977) or Clash of the Titans (1981). Actually, one of the creatures thatnthey fight in Seventh Son feels like a total update of the Kali Statue thatnSinbad fights in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973). So at least the filmmakersnbehind Seventh Son knew exactly the kind of film they were making. They madensure the monsters were awesome to behold. Modern “monster films” sometimes offernus generic monsters that we can’t really take a good look at, in Seventh Sonnthe monsters are a showcase and I have to admit I loved that about it. Not onlynthat, I found them to be well animated. The only time I like computer generatednimages is when they are done right, and on this show they got the monstersnright. The only negative thing I can say about the effects is that they decidednto use morphing effects, which I think are out dated. Sadly they use them onnSeventh Son all the time, which was a huge let down. So the computer effects gonfrom freaking awesome, to not so freaking awesome and in that sense the film isna bit uneven. But I will say that in terms of effects, the good out weights thenbad.
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nSo what we got here ladies and gentlemen is not a classic orna masterpiece, but a damn fun fantasy film with cool monsters and a coolncharacter thanks to Jeff Bridges Master Gregory, who infuses enough comedy andncharisma into the proceedings to keep us entertained. The monsters are cool,nand the film harkens back to the old Harryhausen fantasy classics, wherenmonsters mattered! And speaking of the monsters and the effects on this movie, the visual effects were produced by John Dykstra, the visual effects genius who’s worked in films like Star Wars (1977), Lifoforce (1985) and Spiderman (2002) among many other effects heavy films, so this is probably the reason why the monsters on this film are so cool. Plus it has an excellent cast. We even get a The Big Lebowski (1998) reunion with Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore working together again. The only thing that brings it down is that it isn’t all thatnoriginal, and the CGI is sometimes off. But otherwise, we have a fun film younshould give a chance to if you like fantasy and monster films.

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nRating: 4 out of 5  
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