Hot Take: When you make a movie called The Last Witch Hunter and it comes across as far fetched and despite it featuring witches, immortal hunters, shape shifters and dream walkers, the least believable thing is the connection between Vin Diesel’s Kaulder and Rose Leslie’s Chloe, that’s never good. The special effects are cool though. There’s that.

Whenever a movie is rewritten and there’s a change of directors, it rarely results in a quality finished product. Enter The Last Witch Hunter. Sorry if it sounds like I’m sour on the idea of Vin Diesel as an 800 year old witch hunter who is the only thing standing in the way of powerful witches dominating the world. It’s hard to decipher exactly what makes Diesel’s Kaulder such a great “weapon” against the dark arts but here’s what can be discerned: He’s been around a long time, can’t die, has a lot of weapons and remarkably lucky when throwing sharp objects.

The plot of The Last Witch Hunter isn’t anything new and there are very few twists and turns. It’s a fairly straightforward fantasy/action movie which relies heavily on special effects. It also relies on you buying Diesel is so charming everyone he meets will warm up to him in less than 60 seconds. Maybe the re-writers assumed everyone has seen Diesel’s viral videos?

“Spoiler Free” Pros

  • Great Special Effects
    The imagery of The Last Witch Hunter is pretty spectacular. If only the story was as crisp.
  • Smart Casting of Michael Caine
    As the 36th Dolan to capture the history of the Witch Hunter and act as his keeper (kind of like a supernatural personal assistant only the Witch Hunter’s supernatural abilities consist of not dying), Caine does what he’s done before. Sometimes lazy casting isn’t a bad thing.

“Spoiler Free” Cons

  • Elijah Wood?
    From Caine to Wood? Ummmm… I don’t know. The dip is too drastic to buy.
  • Does Everything Have to Be a Franchise?
    It feels like The Last Witch Hunter holds something back and doesn’t go all in because, well, there has to be room for a sequel.
  • 800 Years?
    Not to give anything away, it takes 800 years for the plot of The Last Witch Hunter to reach it’s apex. Avoiding any sort of spoiler, it feels a little ridiculous to believe anything to take 800 years to develop… even something supernatural.