The Last Witch Hunter (2015)

**The initial tableaux:**
**Initial, part I**: We're in the black plague era in Europe, say 13th century. The spread of the plague is attributed to the spellcasting of evil witches. Vin Diesel's character, Kaulder, is one of the witch hunters who finds the Witch Queen. Kaulder and company put an end to the plague, but at the cost of Kaulder's wife, his only child, and most of his hunter friends. While dying, the Witch Queen curses Kaulder.
**Initial, part II**: In current New York City, Kaulder is still hunting witches. Yes, the same Kaulder. He's allied with an old group within the church, the Axe and Cross, which tries and imprisons witches. They also keep secrets. Kaulder's main contact with Axe and Cross is Dolan the 36th, played by Michael Caine, in one of those short roles that he does so well. Dolan is quite old, and Dolan the 37th seems ready to take over being contact with the immortal Kaulder.
**Delineation of conflicts:**
In the present, witch activity seems to be picking up. Something large is brewing. Kaulder suffers a number of reverses, and his list of allies shrinks.
The film began in apocalyptic mode, and near the end it is almost there again. Kaulder must face what he did not face the first time, 800 years ago.
**Resolution:** Will Kaulder find new allies, or must he carry the day himself?
**One line summary:** Attempt at another Vin Diesel movie franchise.
**_Statistics:_**
**Cinematography:** 8/10 Well done on the whole; the visuals kept my attention.
**Sound:** 8/10 Dialog is clear. Music seemed appropriate.
**Acting:** 5/10 Michael Caine was fine in his short role as noted above. Vin Diesel is convincing as an action hero, even here with swords, magic, fists, and intention instead of cars, guns, and explosives. Julie Engelbrecht had her fine moments as Kaulder's arch nemesis, the Witch Queen, at the very beginning, and at the very end. Olafur Darri Olafsson was a blast as Belial, an in-your-face opponent for Kaulder.
Elijah Wood's performance sucked rocks. Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones, 17 episodes) was almost interesting as Kaulder's on-again, off-again witch ally. That was a bit weak, since she was supposed to be the female lead.
**Screenplay:** 5/10 Violence and threat moves the plot along, so the 106 minutes runtime does not drag too badly. I'm glad I saw the film, but would not watch it again. Why not? The narrative is not well-constructed. It seemed like every five minutes there was some change or rules, or some impressive (?) artifact to consider.
At the end of the film, I felt that I should have been happier for the protagonist, but just could not be. Would there be major challenges for him in the centuries to come? Would Chloe be a reliable ally? By this time I did not care, and I felt this to be a major failing of the film.
**_Final Rating:_** 6/10 I liked it better than most people did, but I would be hard pressed to say, 'you must see this one.'

***Pedestrian horror sorta-superhero starring Vin Diesel***
An 800 year-old immortal Witch Hunter (Vin Diesel) now lives in swank New York City, still hunting malevolent witches with the help of two priests, an aged one (Michael Caine) and a novice (Elijah Wood). Rose Leslie plays a winsome witch with mettle while Ólafur Darri Ólafsson is on hand as a formidable evil warlock.
I thought I’d like "The Last Witch Hunter" (2015) since it mixes “End of Days” (1999) with “Van Helsing” (2004) and elements of “Ghost Rider” (2007) and “The Mummy” (1999) but, while Vin Diesel towers in the lead role, the story is meh. The overblown intro with its CGI-laden witch grotto sequence wasn’t a good first impression. By the halfway mark I wanted to turn it off, but I persevered.
Everything is here for a quality movie of this sort, but the story isn’t captivating and doesn’t build any drive. It just goes through the motions. The script needed a serious rewrite. But Vin Diesel is charismatic as the witch-hunting ‘James Bond’ and redhead Leslie has some appeal.
The film runs 1 hour, 46 minutes and was shot in Pittsburgh and Southern Cal.
GRADE: C/C- (4.5/10)