#The last witch hunter full

He's a sturdy choreographer, and none of the big action scenes in 'The Last Witch Hunter' are as good as those from his surprisingly atmospheric, recent remake of George Romero's 'The Crazies.' But flashbacks to Diesel's 'Dungeons and Dragons'-worthy encounters with the Witch Queen and modern-day skirmishes with Belial do look good, and that's not just because of Eisner's keen eye for composition. You just pick up that knowledge by watching Eisner work.Įisner's direction is similarly thoughtful during big special-effects-driven set pieces. No character has to explain that the bulbs' light is Chloe's only defense against whatever is threatening to invade her home. There aren't nearly enough scenes where Eisner can flex his muscles and prove that he's a stronger storyteller than the script with which he's working the best is probably when Chloe comes home and silently tries to ward off a threatening spirit with an array of light bulbs. Romantic banter feels genuinely playful in scenes like when Kaulder and Chloe ( Rose Leslie), a young witch, flirt at Chloe's hookah bar. But thanks to Eisner, there are blessedly few scenes in 'The Last Witch Hunter' that feel rushed (can we please get this guy to direct the upcoming 'Doctor Strange' movie's sequel?).

There are even fewer directors who are sensitive enough to sell scenes as conceptually all-over-the-map as the ones showcased here. Few action stars can convincingly mansplain their way through a scene where mystic rune stones that control the elements are used to stop and start a thunderstorm. Diesel is well-used in that sense, proving he's more than a blunt instrument in scenes where he huskily broods and sweet-talks his way around the film's most unwieldy exposition. As he points out to Dolan the 37th ( Elijah Wood), Ellic's successor at Axe and Cross, there's nothing he hasn't seen.

Diesel's usual cockiness suits his character. What makes this scenario work are the periodic flashes of intelligence that prove that the film's trio of screenwriters thought about what motivates Kaulder. Their ranks include Max Schlesinger (Isaach De Bankolé), a blind pastry chef-cum-magician who makes cupcakes out of psychedelic moths, butterflies, and maggots, and Belilal ( Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), a squat, curse-slinging warlock whose bushy beard and barrel chest makes him look like one of ZZ Top's touring bassists. The Rolodex of enemies and fair weather contacts that Kaulder meets up with on his rocky road to remembering is embarrassingly preposterous. In order to stop the Witch Queen, Kaulder must 'remember death,' a clue left for him by Ellic in smudged fingerprints all over one of Ellic's most prized books. Here's where 'The Last Witch Hunter' starts to get so dorky that you may want to give yourself a wedgie for enjoying it. But when Ellic ( Michael Caine), Kaulder's sidekick and the chronicler of his stories, dies on the day of his retirement, Kaulder investigates, and discovers a plot to revive the centuries-dead Witch Queen.

#The last witch hunter full

An integral member of the mortal-led witch-hunting organization Axe and Cross, Kaulder has grown full of himself after centuries of walking the Earth unchallenged. An especially charming Diesel plays Kaulder, a witch-slayer who was cursed to live forever by the Witch Queen ( Julie Engelbrecht) back in ye olde viking days.