Review of Seventh Son (2014) by Ericka R — 28 Jun 2015

Over the years, fantasy films have become more popular and more respected. Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter paved the way for the fantasy genre. Unfortunately, not all fantasy films can be as impressive. Nor can a great cast save this piece of garbage. "Seventh Son" is directed by Sergei Bodrov, and stars Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Ben Barnes, Alicia Vikander, and Kit Harrington.

Master Gregory (Bridges)-a Spook-traps the evil Mother Malkin (Moore) in a cage. She is an evil witch, and after many years, she escapes during the Blood Moon. Tom Ward (Barnes) is the seventh son of a seventh son-whatever that means. He's a young farm boy who feeds pigs. For the past few months, he's been having disturbing visions of the future. One day, Master Gregory comes to him and implores him to come with him to defeat the forces of darkness. The two of them venture out to fight against supernatural entities.

Last year, Julianne Moore took home the award for Best Actress. I am surprised she won the award after seeing this film. Don't misunderstand me however. Her performance in Still Alice was incredible, and she deserved to win. I'm surprised this movie didn't soil her chances at winning the award. Her performance in this film was utterly horrifying. She seemed to be having fun with the role, but her dialogue was so cringeworthy that I can't blame her for her weak performance. Likewise, Jeff Bridges is also a favorite of mine. However even he was brought low by this abomination. Honestly, I couldn't understand a word he was saying. He attempted to do this accent that just fell flat. It sounded as if he was choking on peanut butter. Finally, Ben Barnes's character was just a brick. He's supposed to be the character you root for, but frankly, he's a generic farm boy apprentice that's just dull as hell.

I don't think I've seen a fantasy film this horrid since Eragon in 2006. Much like that film, Seventh Son is a rip off of so many other films before it. It's disgustingly generic. Basically, a low life farm boy-Luke Skywalker-has to go on a journey and become a hero. Guiding him is a wise old sage-Obiwan Kenobi-and they must defeat an evil villain. Nothing about this film brings anything new to the genre. Not only were the characters uninteresting, the script was so crass! Every bit of dialogue was predictable. I sat there and called out everyone's lines before they said them.

"Seventh Son" is one of the worst fantasy films ever made. Despite the great cinematography, sets, and costumes, the film falls flat on it's face. It's a generic, boring, soulless film. The performances-given by great actors-are horrible. Moore and Bridges are too good for this.