The first shot of “Seventh Son” is from atop a beautifully mountainous region, looking out over jaw-dropping scenery. That, however, is about as good as it gets.
Directed by Sergei Bodrov, this action, adventure and fantasy film is based on Joseph Delaney’s novel “The Spook’s Apprentice.” In the film, Master John Gregory (Jeff Bridges, “Step Up”), takes Tom Ward (Ben Barnes, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”), a seventh son with the ability to see supernatural existences, under his umbrella to teach him how to fight spirits and supernatural beings. While Master Gregory is teaching Tom, Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”), a dangerous witch that Master Gregory had once captured, escapes. Master Gregory sets out to prevent Mother Malkin from defeating the world in a war between supernatural beings and humankind.
In a plot twist, Master Gregory realizes that Tom has a powerful stone that his mom stole from Mother Malkin. Mother Malkin, after realizing this as well, forces a witch named Alice (Alicia Vikander, “Testament of Youth”) to retrieve the stone from Tom. The audience sets out on a journey with the characters to see who will be the one to obtain the stone.
The movie’s special effects were mediocre and rather boring for a movie based on fantastical and supernatural beings. There was not nearly enough time for character development and connection building, being that the majority of the film consisted of stylistic fighting. Not only was the writing rather ordinary and boring with out-of-place humor, but also the cliché
one-liners were pretty bothersome.
The director accomplished what the movie was supposed to encompass and entail - an action-packed and supernatural movie filled with numerous battle scenes and special effects. Bodrov may have created what he set out to create but not in the most appealing way. Even the scenery didn’t improve the disappointing film adaptation of this book.
