The Last Witch Hunter Movie Review

The Last Witch Hunter (2015)

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Written by: Cory Goodman and Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless (written by)
Directed by: Breck Eisner
Starring: Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Elijah Wood, Michael Caine
Rated: PG-13

My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it. Read my previous movie reviews!

Plot
The last witch hunter is all that stands between humanity and the most powerful witches in history.

Verdict
Vin Diesel channels his passion for Dungeons & Dragons into a movie. It's campy fun. While it's not a good movie, it's enjoyable. If you're even curious, you should check it out. It's a murder mystery at its core with a heavy helping of fantasy.
It depends.

Review
This certainly wants to capture your attention from the beginning. Vin Diesel is Kaulder, part of a band of medieval warriors, looking to eradicate a witches coven. Vin Diesel sports quite the beard and hair. His group infiltrates the lair, with fighting, swords, action, a mix of horror, and plenty of witches. It feels like the lair was at least in part inspired by Aliens (1986).

While he defeats the head witch, Vin Diesel is cursed with immortality. For the next eight hundred years he eradicates witches that violate the witches council truce. Humans and witches are at peace.
The world building reminded me a bit of John Wick (2014) (read my review), though it's nowhere near as deft or stylish. Witches have their own facilities hidden in our world, but they are forbidden to harm humans. If you do, Kaulder will hunt you down and have the council imprison you.

I found the logic dubious at first when Vin Diesel mentions runes, science, and weather, but luckily the movie doesn't feebly try to use magic to explain odd occurrences in the real world very often.
It just so happens that after eight hundred years a witch rises to challenge the truce. A murder puts the movie into motion, and Kaulder must track down who's responsible. Along the way he uncovers a far reaching conspiracy.
He's aided by a witch he just happened to run into and whose special dream walking powers will prove vital towards the end of the movie. Like I mentioned, it's enjoyable, not well-written. It throws a few twists in at the end to keep things lively.

Vin Diesel is a big fan of Dungeons & Dragons, and this movie incorporates a few queues with warriors and monsters. Diesel taught Judy Dench how to play on the set of Riddick (2013).

I'm sure Vin Diesel and others were hoping to make this a franchise, and while it was a moderate success at the box office by earning it's budget and more back, I don't think we'll be seeing anymore entries. Then again, Vin Diesel did push to continue the Chronicles of Riddick franchise.