Seventh Son Review

We're currently living in an era of cinema where comic book superhero blockbusters and cheaply made found footage films have taken center stage at the theaters. Tossed to the side for many years have been the fantasy adventure epics with the exception of a tiny handful of well established titles. It's a little bit fortunate for fans of this genre in regards to the lack of new projects being released considering where we are in the world of visual FX being able to accomplish now what was once deemed impossible in the past. Well, here enters Seventh Son attempting to push things forward for fantasy lovers with the star power of Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore bringing in a new fictional world to celebrate for years to come. Or...at least that's the plan anyway. 

Alright guys, I'm just gonna get right to it. This movie had me cringing from several scenes to the point of looking away in shame whenever our main leads would deliver their lines. I was immediately reminded of the painstaking experience that I had watching Jupiter Ascending seeing Eddie Redmayne (an Academy Award Winning actor) deliver an over the top performance in a movie that ended up being boring and easily forgettable by the end of it. Watching Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore (two other highly acclaimed actors) follow this track record with Seventh Son is a sad sight to behold especially given the potential that a new fantasy property can have to elevate the genre in the current market. That being said, there are a few actors that do try to pull their own weight with decent enough performances such as Ben Barnes, Alicia Vikander, and Kit Harington.

Seventh Son was such a challenging task to get through beyond just notably weak performances. If you take a glance towards other poorly received movies in this category such as 2008's Clash of the Titans remake, the filmmakers at the very least offered up some entertaining spectacle and noteworthy creature design execution to temporarily distract the audience from fundamental filmmaking flaws. In the case of this movie, I found myself hoping for at least one or two scenes that could keep me entertained or somewhat engage my curiosity enough. Unfortunately, the fun factor in this film is almost non existent at times making the deeper flaws of the script and performances even more spotlighted. To make things worst, we have a forcefully inserted love story (one of my biggest pet peeves) in the midst of everything giving me more reasons to eagerly await the ending credits.

Speaking of eagerly getting to the ending, the movie's rushing sense of pace would lead you to believe that the filmmakers themselves had the same goal in mind. From one character story to the next, everything flashes by in what feels like mere seconds while the lore building is presented in an uninspiring fashion leaving little to be invested in. The visual FX seems a little dated at times with the inclusion of an easily forgettable showcase of creature designs. To sum it all up, in one of the most imaginative and potential-rich film genres in the history of the arts, Seventh Son lacks just about everything necessary to be remotely successful and memorable. My advice would be to skip it like it never existed. There's just nothing here that's worth checking out that you won't find a better version of in other well known titles.

Rating: 3/10