SEASON OF THE WITCH, Movie Review By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

Deserters From the Crusades

Movie Review By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

By this point most of us have stopped trying to figure out Nicolas Cage’s career logic. With a résumé that encompasses Oscar winner, action star and indie darling, this supremely talented actor continues to confound us with choices like “Season of the Witch,” a 14th-century road movie with 21st-century cuss words.

Tired of hacking infidels and pleasuring wenches, two deserters from the Crusades (Mr. Cage and Ron Perlman) agree to transport an accused witch (Claire Foy) to a remote abbey to stand trial.

   Accompanied by an uptight monk, a ringleted altar boy and a swindler (Stephen Graham, recently seen having much more fun as Al Capone on HBO’s  “Boardwalk Empire”), our heroes traverse a wolf-infested forest, plague-stricken villages and a plot with more holes than a macramé plant holder. Around them, characters converse in period-appropriate dialogue (“We’re gonna need more holy water”), while the cinematographer, Amir Mokri, conceals the magnificent Austrian Alps beneath a palette of sludge and fudge. The entire film seems to be happening on the other side of a dirty window — good news for the dreadful computer-generated effects, if not for our eyes.

“At least it’s not in 3-D,” my viewing companion remarked, and for the sake of Mr. Cage — who’s as convincing a Crusader as he was a combustible biker in “Ghost Rider” — I had to agree. But having worked with his director, Dominic Sena, a decade ago in “Gone in 60 Seconds,” he can’t say he wasn’t warned.

“Season of the Witch” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Hanged witches, skewered wolves and a pustular Christopher Lee.

SEASON OF THE WITCH

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Dominic Sena; written by Bragi Schut Jr.; director of photography, Amir Mokri; edited by Mark Helfrich and Dan Zimmerman; music by Atli Orvarsson; production design by Uli Hanisch; costumes by Carlo Poggioli; produced by Charles Roven and Alex Gartner; released by Relativity. Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes.

WITH: Nicolas Cage (Behmen), Ron Perlman (Felson), Stephen Campbell Moore (Debelzaq), Claire Foy (the Girl), Stephen Graham (Hagamar), Ulrich Thomsen (Eckhart), Robert Sheehan (Kay) and Christopher Lee (Cardinal D’Ambroise). 

http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/movies/07season.html?nl=movies&emc=mua3&pagewanted=print