Season of the Witch

This is the best movie I've ever seen that was based on a song by Donovan, although both Atlantis and Riki Tiki Tavi were very good as well.

I'm kidding, of course, and this film has nothing to do with the Donovan song, other than the fact that both share the same title. In fact, one of the only reasons I'm even writing a review of this movie was so I could open with that dumb joke. Having used up my one line, I'm starting to lose interest.

Season of the Witch? Why did I even rent this movie anyway? Like most people, I avoided it like the plague when it came out in theaters. A Nick Cage movie about a knight during the time of the plague? Boy, that don't sound too good. But, I dunno. I did end up enjoying that movie Black Death about the same time period and setting and that other movie the Sorcerer's Apprentice starring the same actor, so my brain must've assumed I'd enjoy this combination of those two films. And... I did! This wasn't exactly up there with Leaving Las Vegas (or even Honeymoon in Vegas), but it was a pretty neat, pretty fun, pretty entertaining movie starring Cage and Ron Perlman as knights of the crusade on a mission to deliver a witch to some monastery to be put on trial or something. It's basically just a medieval buddy movie starring two of the coolest actors ever. What's not to like about that?

Well, the story is kind of cliche I guess, and the ending throws in a really weird twist that is kind of hard to swallow, offering a big climactic set piece that makes no sense and features some mediocre CG, but all in all, I liked it. This was a cool movie that's worth checking out if you have the time and a buck or two to waste on a rental from Red Box. Just go in expecting a piece of crap like I did, and maybe you too will be pleasantly surprised that it's actually just not all that good.