SEVENTH SON (2015) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

seventh son (2015) movie

Genre              |   Fantasy

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   103 minutes

Released         |   5 March 2015

cast

Jeff Bridges ... Master Gregory
Ben Barnes ... Tom Ward
Julianne Moore ... Mother Malkin
Alicia Vikander ... Alice
Antje Traue ... Bony Lizzie
Olivia Williams ... Mam Ward
John DeSantis ... Tusk
Kit Harington ... Mr. Bradley
​Djimon Hounsou ... Radu

director

Sergei Bodrov ​

writer

​Charles Leavitt ... (screenplay) and
Steven Knight ... (screenplay)
 
Matt Greenberg ... (screen story)
 
Joseph Delaney ... (novel) (inspiration)

cinematographer

​Newton Thomas Sigel

music

​Marco Beltrami

film editor

​Michael Kahn
Jim Page
Paul Rubell

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box office result

Worldwide               $114,178,613   ​​  

Australia                 $​1,268,690

North America        $​​​​17,223,265

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the best dialogue

Master Gregory: Salt and iron, they are crucial. Salt burns, iron burns away the strength of any creature of the dark. Tincture of copper, for flesh wounds. Silverbane, repels witches. Ogre scrotum, for your own enjoyment.

Tom Ward: So you're the only one left?
[silence]
Tom Ward: So you're the only one left, Master Gregory?
Master Gregory: [walking past him] Thank you for reminding me.

Master Gregory: Do you remember all I taught you? Ignore it. The rules, Tom, do not be bound by them. Use them in your own way. Live your own life. Your destiny.

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SEVENTH SON (2015) MOVIE IMAGES

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SEVENTH SON (2015) STORY SYNOPSIS

​Centuries ago, a supernatural champion named Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges) defeated Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore), a malevolent witch. Now, she has escaped imprisonment and thirsts for vengeance. She summons her followers and prepares to unleash her wrath on humanity. Only one thing stands in her way: Master Gregory. Gregory takes Tom Ward (Ben Barnes) as his new apprentice, but he has only until the next full moon to teach Tom what usually takes years: how to prevail against dark magic.

SEVENTH SON (2015) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 5 March 2015
Pop ​Movee Rating ⭐⭐½

SEVENTH SON is not as bad as what it could have been, but that sure doesn’t make it a great. If there is one word to describe what has ended up on the screen, the word is: derivative. Much of what passes for story has been done before and with a greater level of skill in this good-looking but mostly aimless fantasy adventure from Russian film-maker Sergei Bodrov. In the not-so-distant past, audiences have been treated to Peter Jackson’s sextuplet of Middle Earth adventures and Harry Potter dominated movie screens for over a decade. Like these films, SEVENTH SON is a literary adaptation, but its pedigree is not in the same league as Tolkien or J.K. Rowling. These are hard acts to follow.

The story is where SEVENTH SON's problems start. The film is based on THE SPOOK literary series by Joseph Delaney, which now totals seventeen titles and a vast mythology from which a movie franchise could be derived. For all the right reasons, the film-makers chose not use THE SPOOK title, but it diminishes the film’s association with its source material and maybe, by extension, readers of the novels may not translate into an audience for the screen adaptation. While accepting this is a sweeping generalisation, it is not uncommon to find trepidation – if not outright hostility – of book fans toward cinematic adaptations of their favourite novels. Perhaps with good reason, as film-makers have a tendency to try and interpret; something authors, who labour for long periods on their work, resist and reject. It is unclear how much Joseph Delaney was involved with SEVENTH SON, but the presence of its trailer on his official website indicates he is comfortable with the cinematic result of his literary efforts. Screenwriter Matt Greenberg wins a screen story credit for SEVENTH SON, but Charles Leavitt and Steven Knight share the screenplay credit. It’s not hard to imagine a trail of uncredited writers who tried and failed to bring this tale alive but the post-Tolkien cinematic landscape is never going to be an easy place to inhabit given the standard Peter Jackson’s six film trilogy set for movie-goers. There should be a certain level of respect paid to even the most amateurish of writers who feel they have the chops to deliver a compelling fantasy film screenplay regardless of whether it’s based on a book or an original story!

SEVENTH SON’s challenges do not end with the screenplay. The acting is not quite where it needs to be for a production with the ambition of SEVENTH SON. The biggest problem is Jeff Bridges as the Spook, Master Gregory. His accent is so broad that it renders his dialogue incomprehensible. His contribution to important dialogue exchanges is just terrible; leaving the audience member attempting to second-guess much of what he has said. Bridges’ scenes with Julianne Moore, who plays the wicked witch Mother Malkin, are critical to appreciating the whole reason for SEVENTH SON existing, but poor old Jeff just keeps letting his side of the story down as he warbles away like Dean Martin in the twilight of his career!

Ben Barnes, who plays Gregory’s new apprentice Tom Ward, and Alicia Vikander, as the pretty young Witch Alice, come out of the film relatively unscathed. Their wistful romance helps lift the film and prevent it from becoming a CGI-driven creature spectacle that wastes relatively talented actors in performances that could have been otherwise delivered by extras because there is so little to say and do. Supporting talent such as Djimon Hounsou, Olivia Williams, Antje Traue, Jason Scott Lee, Kit Harington and Kandyse McClure are present but make little impact. In some cases, such as Williams and Traue, there’s a sense that a greater presence existed in earlier versions, but the need to trim the movie to a manageable length saw portions of their roles left in the digital-ether of the Final Cut or Avid software in the editing suite.

SEVENTH SON is, by no means, a bad movie. Some of the production values are first-rate. The film is extremely well photographed by X-MEN movie franchise Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel. His experience capturing expansive action on large productions is well utilised for this film, capturing the gorgeous Canadian wilderness in a series of set-pieces that see The Spook and his apprentice embark upon a journey to destroy the Witch Malkin. While audiences will be mildly-entertained by SEVENTH SON, don’t get too hopeful that there’ll be any further Spook movies anytime soon. This SEVENTH SON looks like it’s the first and last of its lineage.

SEVENTH SON (2015) USEFUL LINKS

Seventh Son (film) - Wikipedia
​Seventh Son (2014) - IMDb
​Seventh Son (2015) - Rotten Tomatoes
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