A Weak Film that Had Potential

Some movies have a good story but might have an actor who just isn't right for the part. The Last Witch Hunter might be one of those movies.

I'm not a fan of Vin Diesel outside of his Fast and Furious franchise. I detested the XXX movie and can barely watch Riddick. As Dom Torreta I think he's fine. As the Last Witch Hunter, I think he dragged the movie down a bit. However, he wasn’t bad enough for me to dislike it, because Diesel does have a certain charisma. I’ve tried to think of who would have been better in the role, but no one really comes to mind (maybe John Cusack). I just didn’t care for Diesel much in the role.

Diesel plays Kaulder who, in the Middle Ages, killed the Witch Queen. However, she placed a curse on him of immortality. So, 500 years or so later, Kaulder is still alive in modern day Pittsburgh (I think standing in for New York) and still killing creatures of the night. Michael Caine is his most recent handler, a priest known as the Dolan and tasked by the Catholic Church with assisting Kaulder in stopping evil. Caine's Dolan is retiring, so Elijah Wood plays the new Dolan. The lovely Rose Leslie (Ygritte from Game of Thrones) is Chloe, a modern day witch who reluctantly assists Kaulder in stopping a cult from resurrecting the Witch Queen.

In typical monster movie fashion, Diesel dispatches various evil persons using a variety of weapons that look left over from the last Lethal Weapon film. The creepy atmosphere of the film is one of its best assets. Most of the action takes place at night and the seedy underworld is displayed in a not complimentary light. I liked the concept of an immortal passing through time, fighting evil. There are so many places they could go with a movie franchise of this sort. You could have Kaulder fighting evil in any century during any era on any continent. Its tailor made for a franchise.

There in the lies the problem. Diesel just isn’t all that dynamic. He plays Kaulder like he plays every other character. Kind of grim, a bit of a wry sense of humor, but not much depth. Kaulder lost his family many years ago and he has no connection to any time in history since. That should have been played up more to give the character a dimension of sadness. Sadly, Diesel is not that kind of actor. The same thing was wrong with Van Helsing and Hugh Jackman. He was angry, sure, but not a lot of depth of character.
This type of movie required a more cerebral approach instead of the action adventure if turned out to be. I’m sure it has its fans, but I think the makers of this film missed out on the potential for an amazing character to guide us through many years and many films in a series.


My memory foam pillow says it can't remember my face. I can tell its lying.