Thursday, April 30, 2015

Embracing Its Awfulness Makes Watching ‘Seventh Son’ Enjoyable



At last, after having its release date was moved a couple of times in the past two years, Seventh Son was shown earlier this 2015.  But it was only recently that I got to see it.     

Seventh Son tells of a wizened “spook” (not a spy or secret agent on this world, but a witch-hunter) named Master Gregory who took upon himself an apprentice – the seventh son of the seventh son, implied to be the requirement to become a spook – named Tom Ward after his previous apprentice was killed in a failed attempt to slay the dragon-morphing witch queen, Mother Malkin.  Master Gregory and Tom set towards Mother Malkin’s castle to slay her before the Blood Moon becomes full, on which her powers will peak and, by then, nothing will be able to stop her.  It’s a worn-out fantasy premise that I have many times encountered in many different forms. 

And yet I didn’t find Seventh Son tiresome at all, but, on the contrary, I was thoroughly entertained by it.

Make no mistake.  Seventh Son is a ludicrously bad movie.  Its plot is predictable, dumb, and horribly paced.  Character developments are dull and nonsensical; chemistry between characters is virtually non-existent; characters make obviously stupid decisions to push the plot forward; and, understandably, its decent cast has no choice but to ham it up (kudos especially to Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore).  However, this movie is aware of what it is and has no delusions of grandeur of what it is not.  It knows it is no Lord of the Rings, and rather of attempting be so – which would have been pathetic – it simply chose to thrive and have fun on its own campiness, accomplishing a “so bad that it’s good” result.

Accept this movie as it is, don’t think too much, enjoy its awfulness, and it’ll be genuinely fun.

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