A keeper for immortality

With a pretty linear story, The Last Witch Hunter aims to establish a new franchise. There is a conscious effort to develop some vocabulary and concepts that would further mature in sequels to come. The dream- walker is an interesting concept as is the symbol of the society of cross and axe, and so are the totems like the sword, the pen and the weather stones. Franchises like Harry Potter or Batman did well by establishing this sort of a language and construct. An exceptional sequence is that of a bar run by the witch Rose Leslie. Vin Diesel plays Kaulder, who along with his band of hunters reached the den of the great witch for vengeance. When he manages to stab her, she curses him with immortality. Eight hundred years later, Kaulder is the weapon that the society of cross and axe has against the witches and the dark forces in the world. He is helped by a Dolan played first by Michael Caine, then by Elijah Wood, in keeping his notes and a tab on the witches and evils captured by Kaulder. The society has also setup a dungeon for locking in the evil beings. The witch Queen is resurrected by her followers and slaves leading to another face- off between her and Kaulder. Like most other films, the decision to kill the Queen is a tough one. Throughout, Vin Diesel is very calm and charismatic though we lust to see him shift gears in his Aston Martin Rapide S. Although he has one massive job to protect humanity from evil, Diesel does manage to take time out for the stewardess. Rose Leslie’s introduction is another twist to the story for the simple reason that she becomes an ally, betrays her kind and helps in killing the Queen witch. So is the turning of the younger Dolan, Elijah Wood. Michael Caine’s presence is comforting; he is the only sane character. He stays in his coffin waiting for Kaulder to kill the witch who cast the spell on him. But he does make his point by making a sharp comment after smashing the insect with his notebook. “Try doing that with an iPad”, he says. The movie has its awesome moments — the special effects are good and there is enough suspense in the first half to make you stick around for the second. It also has a lot of detailed work on both visuals and sound. But largely it seems a construct to the end, and to quote the witch hunter himself. The movie seems very predictable, almost has a pattern that is most likely to be repeated if they do make a sequel. It is more like a roller- coaster ride. We like the thrill, knowing that we are safe as long as the hatch is locked. Director Breck Eisner who replaced the first choice Timur Bekmambetov, has done a good job at crafting the moments for us, but the movie fails to scare us. He does however present a good masculine drama with a strong sense of style and finesse. Its difficult to say if this will eventually become a franchise, but if it does, indeed it will find a good following in people looking for light thrills and heavy charisma.