By: Cynthia Ayala

Seventh Son stars Ben Barnes and Jeff Bridges in this science fiction/fantasy journey about the seventh son of the seventh son becoming the next “spook” apprentice. Ben Barnes and Jeff Bridges play side by side as master and apprentice, keepers of the dark, and the darkest of the darkest being witches.

Julianne Moore plays the lead villainess, the Queen Witch and scorned lover of Jeff Bridges. Taking a central focus on her, the movie builds an army of exotic villains spanning through various cultures.

While the comical aspect of the various villains diminishes the overall quality of the film, Julianne Moore makes a spectacular villain. She taps into her darker side to play the woman scorned, the evil witch with a broken heart. She was amazing, as was Jeff Bridges. However, Jeff Bridges did a little too much lip smacking, making it difficult for the audience to understand what he was saying half the time. He’s a great actor, very fun and energetic, but when the audience can’t even understand or struggles to understand, it takes away from the film and the enjoyment of the film.

The acting was decent overall; these are experienced actors who know what they are doing and know how to connect with other cast members, creating a unified film in regards to casting and character development. Jeff Bridges and Ben Barnes in particular had very good chemistry with one another making it fun to watch them on the screen.

Now, as far as the plot goes, there was too much in too little of a film. And by too much, that refers to special effects. Too much is going on, and some of the special effects were a little outlandish. The audience gets it, this is a fantasy film, that doesn’t mean you throw every last bit of your budget into it. It was obvious overcompensation due to the lack of story development. The villains were supposed to be witches, yet all the audience got to see as far as magic goes was them turning themselves into dragons, demons and another assortment of animals. It was just ridiculous.

It’s wretched how little story there was in the movie. It follows the basic plot line of a farm boy becoming the great hero. It’s a clichéd formulaic story, something that could develop into something great like Star Wars or Eragon – the novel, not the film – but instead it just laid there like a flat piece of film. On the bright side at least it flowed from one scene to the next. The fact that it could have been better is, however, still depressing, and what’s worse is that the production company felt confident enough to spit out this mash up of special effects and cultures is worrisome.

But, beyond all that, the worst thing this film could have done was bring in that Mortal Kombat Goro character fashioned as the God Vishnu. One word: overkill. (★☆☆☆ | C-)

– Film Credits –

Directed by: Sergei Bodrov

Screenplay by: Charles Leavitt & Steven Knight

Story by: Matt Greenberg

Based on
The Spook’s Apprentice
by Joseph Delaney

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes, Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Olivia Williams, Antje Traue, Djimon Hounsou & Julianne Moore

Genre | Rating | Length:
Fantasy, Adventure, Action | PG-13 | 1 hr. 42 min.