Season of the Witch

Oh the wonderful world of advertising...it can make the worst of films look like the most exciting blockbuster. This is exactly the case for Nicolas Cage's new film, "Season of the Witch." Whenever I told someone that I was going to see this movie, almost every answer was the same, "Oh, the trailers for that look really good!" CURSE YOU MARKETING...and your ability to fool the moviegoer. Indeed, the previews did manage to make "Season of the Witch" look quite entertaining, save for seeing Cage in another disappointing role, but I soon found out what the film was really like.
It is the time of the crusades and two knights, Behmen (Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) have been ravaging cities and fighting in battles for years. For the most part they enjoy the killing, but when Behmen accidentally kills a woman during the siege of a city, he realizes all of the innocent lives they have taken during the wars and chooses to leave with Felson, making them outlaws. In their travels through England, the two see how the Black Plague has spread over the country. Arriving in one town, the two are identified and taken prisoners. A priest approaches them and takes them to a man named Cardinal D'Ambroise. The Cardinal and the priest believe that the Black Plague is from Hell and is being caused by a witch that they have captive. The Cardinal tells Behmen and Felson that if they escort the witch to a monastery (where she will most likely be killed), he will pardon both men. Of course they agree and set out with the priest and several other men on a journey that will pit them against ghosts, zombie dogs, and other creatures the don't exist like the undead priests infected with the Black Plague.
Now c'mon Cage, I love some of your movies, but I hate a lot more, why are you so inconsistent? The same thing for you Ron Perlman. You had a good thing going with the Hellboy franchise and now you decide to be in this movie? Before I go on, I do think that both of these men are very good actors, in fact its not the acting in "Season of the Witch" that I have a problem with. The problem is the script, which ends up making the two lead actors look bad with its cheesy dialogue. Not only is it corny, but it tries too hard to sound like "The Lord of the Rings" and it doesn't work, especially when curse words are involved. Did people really say, "Oh s--t" back then? I don't think so. Strike one!
Strike two...the plot line is so poorly developed. First of all, the film is only 90 minutes and is an action film so looking at that there is a good chance that the makers of the film won't consider the story very important. Sure enough, the film does a lackluster job of telling a gripping, creative story and tries to throw in unnecessary twists and turns that end up making it even less impressive.
Strike three (I'll try to pick a good one from my long list)...no character development. The script gives no effort whatsoever to connect the audience with its characters. In fact many of the character's names are never even given. Some are just thrown in and (SPOILER ALERT) five minutes later, they are dead (am I sad? NO!).
Three strikes Cage, your latest attempt at the action genre has struck out (again). There is truly nothing to be praised in "Season of the Witch," if anything it is the action. If you need a second opinion just go ahead to rottentomatoes.com to see the little 5% (out of 100%) hanging on by a very thin thread. But, since I wasn't burning in agony throughout the whole film, I guess I can at least give it one star out of four.
"Season of the Witch" has a running time of 98 minutes and is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, violence, and disturbing content.