The Last Witch Hunter (2015)

The Last Witch Hunter (2015)

4/10

Starring

Vin Diesel

Rose Leslie

Elijah Wood

Directed by Breck Eisner

Vin Diesel has tried many times to step out of the shadow of the Fast and the Furious franchise. After making so many of those movies, it’s become difficult for critics to see him in a different light. Even when he delivers a decent performance in other films, they often get overshadowed by the weight of his association with that franchise. That said, this movie is not one of his better efforts outside the Fast and the Furious universe.

I didn’t enjoy this dark fantasy movie, and it’s not just because of the lackluster dialogue, which desperately needed work. The real problem lies with the ending. The final battle against the villain made the entire journey of watching the movie feel pointless.

The plot revolves around a group of witch hunters who, eight hundred years ago, were hunting down a witch queen. They eventually found her, but she killed everyone who entered her cave—except one man, Kaulder (Vin Diesel). He survived and managed to kill the witch queen, but not before she cursed him with immortality as a form of punishment.

Fast-forward to the present day, and Kaulder still looks the same as he did eight centuries ago. He’s still a witch hunter, though now witch hunting has become an organized operation run by the church. Kaulder is assigned caretakers, known as "Dolan," to assist him. As the story begins, Kaulder is saying goodbye to Dolan number thirty-six, who is old and retiring. But soon after, Dolan thirty-six is found dead.

While everyone else believes it to be a natural death, Kaulder suspects foul play. He investigates and discovers that Dolan thirty-six was murdered. His search leads him to uncover dark magic—magic at a level he hasn’t seen since the time of the witch queen. Something sinister is brewing, and Kaulder must stop it.

The movie is filled with centuries of backstabbing, enough to make anyone question humanity's ability to forgive. While the twists and betrayals are surprising and serve as major turning points, they aren’t enough to save the movie from its disappointing ending, which makes the entire journey feel like a waste.

Vin Diesel delivers his part well, as does the rest of the cast. But the movie's shortcomings ultimately fall on the filmmakers. It’s clear they were hoping to launch a franchise with this film. Instead of focusing on that goal, they should have prioritized good writing. That would have gone a long way in making this movie better rather than leaving it as it is.