Review of Seventh Son (2014) by Sue J — 18 Apr 2015

The 2014 fantasy film Seventh Son is loosely based (or rather inspired by) the YR novel The Last Apprentice written by Joseph Delaney. The film is directed by Sergei Bodrov (an excellent Russian director) and stars Ben Barnes as Tom Ward, the apprentice, Jeff Bridges as the Spook, John Gregory, Alice Deane is played by Alicia Vikander, with Antije Traue as Bony Lizzie and Olivia Williams as Mam. Kit Harington is seen in the beginning of the film as Billy Bradley, an apprentice, and Julianne Moore as Mother Malkin. Radu, a character that is not found in the novel is played by Djimon Hounsou and Kandyse McClure is Sarikin, the narrator of the movie.

The story in the film is supposed to be about Tom Ward, who is a seventh son of a seventh son and his time as the apprentice for the Spook. However, the film is actually a loose interpretation where most of the story elements have been dropped and the literature is simply used as a point of departure for the story and the protagonist of the movie is the Spook and not Tom Ward. In the novel, Tom is a twelve-year-old boy who lives on a farm in the countryside. As with the film, he is the seventh son of a seventh son, so he is able to see things that others can't, such as ghosts, and has been apprenticed to the Spook, John Gregory, who travels the county fighting the supernatural, with one day he may takeover the Spook's work.

Unfortunately, previous apprentices have failed due to many reasons. One of them was a boy named Billy Bradley (portrayed in the beginning of the film by Kit Harington), who died while fighting a dangerous mysterious being, had his finger bitten off and died from a blood loss. As promised to Tom's family, he (Tom) goes to live with the Spook in the nearby village, where the house is protected by a boggart (form of a ghost) who must guard the house and cook and clean it as well. Sent on an errand, Tom meets a young girl, who wearing pointy shoes and who he has been warned not to speak to, appears while he is threatened by a group of boys who have demanded food. This young girl is Alice, a relative of some dangerous witches, mainly Mother Malkin (buried in a safe protected grave) and Bony Lizzie,who Alice lives with and who uses bone magic of the ones she has killed. Mother Malkin uses blood of her victims for her magic.

Alice tricks Tom into giving Mother Malkin three cakes every night for three consecutive days exactly at midnight. Unbeknownst to Tom, the cakes are filled human blood which helps her to become stronger and allows her to break out of her grave prison. With the Spook away on business, Tom, by himself, must re-capture the witch. Mother Malkin is helped by her son, Tusk, a creature born of a witch and Satan, joins her and Bony Lizzie in imprisoning Tom, but Alice helps his escape. When the Spook returns, he kills Tusk with his staff, captures Bony Lizzie and tests Alice to see if she is evil . She is not, but could become so. Mother Malkin has escaped and follows Tom when he goes home to visit with his family. Possessing the body of the butcher, Mother attempts to kill Tom, but is thwarted again by Alice who saves him. Mother is killed by hungry pigs who devour her entire body, including her heart, which ensures that she will not return. Tom helps Alice to move to her other relatives in another town and continues his training with the Spook.

Now the movie uses the same characters and basic plot line, but rather than killing off certain characters, it has changed their story and has added other ones for dramatic purposes, which did not really work, especially if one is looking for any similarities to the literature. We find in the film that Mother Malkin (played by Julianne Moore) is confined to a cell by Master Gregory (the Spook from the novel and portrayed in the film by an inaudible Jeff Bridges - with sounds like he has marbles in his mouth and is slurring his words), the last of the knights known as the Spooks who defended humanity against the supernatural. The beginning of the Blood Moon increases Mother's power, letting her transform into a dragon and break free from her cell.

It is here that we are introduced to Billy Bradley (Kit Harington) who is Gregory's apprentice, who finds a drunken Gregory and they answer the call to help with what appears to be a small possessed girl. Realizing that she actually is possessed by Malkin, he exorcises the witch from her, while Malkin tries to control Billy with magic. They try to burn her, but she escapes again, killing Billy while doing so. At this point, Tom is having visions of Gregory and Alice and realizes that he will be leaving home soon especially when Gregory comes to his home and offers his parents a lot of money if Tom can become his new apprentice. Tom's mother gives him her necklace that has a very strange stone in it that helps him further into the film. On his way into town, Tom recognizes a girl about to be burned as a witch from his visions; she is wearing pointed shoes. He manages to rescue her while she tells him about what has happened to the previous apprentices, but asks him not to tell about her.

Malkin meets with her sister Bony Lizzie (and Alice's mother, not her aunt as in the literature), who has been disfigured by Gregory. It is here that Malkin heals her and together they bring their friends and allies to conquer the world of humans. Tusk, Gregory's assistant, trains Tom before the full Blood Moon; he also meets Alice for a second time who is watching Gregory for the witches. Tom and Alice unhappy with what is happening consider leaving the battle between Gregory and Malkin, but Tom has another vision where he sees Malkin killing Gregory and destroying the world. More now is learned about the relationship between Malkin and Gregory and the hatred that is between them. Surviving an encounter with a creature in the woods and a fall into the river, Tom is met by Bony Lizzie, who tries to take his heart, but the necklace from his mother saves his life. The stone in the necklace if used by a witch will increase the witch's powers revealing that Tom's mother was a witch. Meanwhile as Malkin attacks the town, Tom's mother confronts Malkin and unfortunately is killed in the ensuing fight. Alice's second attempt to steal the stone is successful and believing she is a spy for the witches, Gregory attempts to kill her, unsuccessfully as Tom saves her again. Attacked by Radu, Gregory is captured and Tom is left for dead. Having a vision of his mother, who warns him, Tom realizes that he must stop Malkin from using the stone. Upon hearing that Tom was left for dead, Alice takes the stone and runs away with it, breaking whatever hold Malkin has on Gregory.

Another fight begins with Radu becoming a dragon, Bony Lizzie fighting against Malkin to protect Alice, Tom confronts Alice, who is fighting against Malkin. Tom finds the stone, kills the Indian warlock called the King of Swords for hurting Alice, while Gregory kills Radu and Malkin kills Bony Lizzie. Malin is wounded, but eventually is killed and burned by Tom. Sensing that Tom's training is successful, Gregory names him his replacement and Tom, along with Tusk, can defend the town as the new Spook.

I was curious about this film since I read the novel, but have to admit that I was totally disappointed. As much as it possesses an excellent cast and a mysterious storyline and plot, it was a rather lifeless adventure. The literature was about Tom, not Gregory, but the adaptation made it all about Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore, who it would appear had some fun with the material, but unfortunately, the audience did not. Their performances were at best FLAT! The special effects were not that special, overused and seen before. There did not appear to be anything original to the adapted story. If only the film had followed more closely the literature, this would have been a really enjoyable and well scripted science fiction film and not the action adventure movie it attempted to be! It will probably be up for one of the "worst" movies of the year! It probably is! GRADE: 1 of 5 crowns (I liked the dragons!).