Witches, Nordic warriors, and bugs. Lots of bugs. That’s what “The Last Witch Hunter” consisted of.
We get to witness the journey of Koulder, an immortal witch hunter (Played by Vin Diesel) as he protects the human race from witches. He is part of the Axe and Cross; a secret organization that is designed to lay down the law against any malicious witches that refuse to obey the law. He is their main weapon. Why? Well has been cursed with immortality. Nothing can hurt or kill him, not even dark magic. He has been alive for 800 years which is both a curse and a blessing. Throughout the years he has gained a lot of experience, no one is as well equipped to enforce the law against witches like he is. But he has also lost a lot of friends throughout the years.
He wasn’t always immortal; he used to be a regular human being. At the time he was mortal the world was being affected by the black plague, a plague that was created by the Queen Witch. The leader of the witches, she hated humans and wanted to wipe them into extinction. She believed that they were not worthy to be alive. The plague was carried and passed by bee like creatures; anyone who was infected by it was doomed to death. After losing his family to the plague, he and a group of others decided to end things once and for all. They knew if they killed the queen witch that her black plague spell would wear off. Koulder successfully defeated the witch, but in her last words she cursed him with immortality after knowing that he was alone in the world.
Fast forward a few centuries into the future and we find out the Queen Witch is back, she wasn’t entirely dead, her plan is to finish what she started.
Overall the movie had a great plot, it had lots of potential. The directors could have done so much with the story, unfortunately they did not seem to know how to deliver it. It’s not like they had a low-budget, the graphics and special effects were amazing. If budget was an issue, I believe they could have afforded to spend less on special effects and more on adding more texture to the story.
The acting was amazing, Vin Diesel really embraced his role and played it well. There were also some good action scenes. But it seemed like there could have potentially been more action scenes. The film contained a lot of dialog scenes, a lot of back and forth chatter. Another thing that bothered me about the whole movie was the ending. I was expecting a BANG but was left disappointed, the big fight scene between the Queen and the witch hunter only lasted a couple of minutes. It just seemed like it all happened too fast. Like the fight was too easy. They could have built the fight a bit better. After he killed her for the second time that was it. The human race was saved again, and everyone moved on with their lives.
Overall I would rate the film as a 2.5 out of 5. I do not recommend spending your hard-earned cash going to the theaters to see it. I would suggest waiting until it is available on Netflix or other online streaming sites. Watching it once should be more than enough, unfortunately it’s not the classic it had potential of being.
