Classic Review: The Last Witch Hunter (2015)

Since I’ve started this site, I’ve written a lot of reviews. In case you missed some of my earlier ones, I would like to share an older review of “The Last Witch Hunter” which originally appeared here.

The world as we know it holds many secrets. Most importantly, witches still live among us. Centuries ago, Kaulder (Vin Diesel) managed to kill the almighty Witch Queen (Julie Engelbrecht), eliminating her followers in the process. Before her death, she cursed the valiant warrior with her own immortality, separating him from his wife and daughter from the afterlife. Her resurrection now threatens the survival of the human race as Kaulder, the last of his kind, and his allies Chloe (Rose Leslie) and Dolan 36th and 37th (Michael Caine and Elijah Wood), face her vengeful wrath.

I was interested in this one because I haven’t seen a Vin Diesel movie that was neither fast nor furious (Yes, I know he was in Guardians of the Galaxy but he only voiced a character and didn’t appear in person). It will say that it was weird at first for me watching this since I have always imagined him as his character from the Fast and the Furious series but that went away quickly. I also wasn’t sure what the film was trying to be, a fantasy film or an action film. They set up the fantasy angle early on but I did not like the time jump after we see him kill the Witch Queen because that it is the only time Kaulder was actually a witch hunter. From then on that fact is only implied because they already established his history of being a witch hunter off screen during that time. So it was a little disappointing that a film called The Last Witch Hunter did not include any actual witch hunting. I did not like the pacing of the film either as it felt like most of its time was spent trying to stop the curse that was cast on Dolan 36th instead of advancing the plot by trying to figure out who was responsible for what was happening and we they did, try to stop them. The fact that Diesel’s Kaulder was immortal was unnecessary to the plot as I felt it bogged the film down with his immortality making him feel alone, also you never really felt a sense of danger since his character can’t die (and introduces the possibility of further films, of course), and it just doesn’t feel right when Michael Caine’s character is technically younger than Vin Diesel’s character. Despite all of that, the story isn’t overly original either so you can probably predict what’s going to happen, except for maybe a twist at the end which was just stupid and felt forced. The action was decent in this one but you just can’t ignore the excessive use of CGI here. When it’s good, it’s good but when it’s bad, it’s bad. I probably would have cared a little more about the characters if they weren’t so one-dimensional. Some of the characters, especially Dolan 36th and 37th, were mostly in the background not really adding much to the plot. It was a shame because I am a big Michael Caine fan. Overall, The Last Witch Hunter is just your run-of-the-mill generic action movie that doesn’t really bring anything new or original to the table but it is just a under two hour sequence of mindless fun.

Score: 6/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.