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Season's Gratings

Nicholas Cage's name on a theater marquee isn't a guarantee of anything these days, as the actor's staggering volume of work and variety of roles over the past several years have made him increasingly difficult to pin down as a performer. Mr. Cage's latest film, "Season of the Witch", displays nearly as many facets as his career has revealed over the past two and a half decades: it's a horror movie in a historical setting, its overarching storyline involves a heroic quest and a main character struggling with questions of faith, there are full-on battle scenes, gross-out special effects and some comic relief, plus elements of a modern buddy-picture tossed into the mix. It's a movie that's trying to be a whole bunch of things at once, resulting in some effective and entertaining sequences coupled with a fair amount of confusion and some disappointed expectations - not unlike Mr. Cage's overall body of work thus far.

The film's story centers around two knights, Behmen (Mr. Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) who are busy fighting in the Crusades, betting against each other over respective body counts, and exchanging anachronistically modern quips in their decidedly-not-English accents. This all comes to a halt the day that Behmen kills a woman in the midst of a battle, and realizes that the city he has been ordered to attack is full of women and children. Cue his loss of faith in the church; he and Felson walk away from the Crusades and begin a lonely trek home. Circumstances bring them to a city that has been overrun by plague, and they are recognized as knights and deserters of the Church's army. A chance at redemption is offered by Cardinal D'Amboise (Christopher Lee, in a brief but effective cameo), who is grotesquely disfigured by the disease that has ravaged his city. The Cardinal and his people believe that the plague was brought on by devilry, and the only cure is to deliver a young girl (Claire Foy) accused of witchcraft to an abbey where she can be tried and the spell of pestilence can be broken. Behman and Felson are, of course, persuaded to undertake the delivery, accompanied by a priest, a grieving father, and a young would-be squire. An unscrupulous trader (Stephen Graham, Al Capone from HBO's "Boardwalk Empire") is pressed into service as their guide.

The journey to the abbey is where the film finds some strength - there is time to focus on the mystery of the girl's identity, and to observe her psychological toying with the travelers. The issue of Behmen's guilt and disillusionment casts a somber tone over the proceedings, and Mr. Cage underplays matters nicely. There is a stark beauty to the empty, silent landscapes that the characters pass through along the way to the abbey, and scenes are framed to accentuate the vulnerability and isolation of the travelers. Director Dominic Sena previously directed the poisonously entertaining road movie/serial killer hybrid "Kalifornia", which showcased deserted settings to similar, threatening effect. Overall, "Season of the Witch" is confusing and undisciplined at the beginning and (spoiler alert!) devolves into a mess toward the end, but this middle section is quite watchable, and hints at how much better the finished product could have been if the storyline had continued in this subdued direction. Unfortunately, the travelers eventually reach the abbey, and all hell breaks loose - literally. The last twenty minutes play out like any standard, CGI-laden horror movie. The overall effect is that of an interesting story with big, awkward, noisy bookends stuck on either side of it.  At the risk of damning with faint praise, "Season of the Witch" isn't as bad as one might expect --but it's not particularly good, either.