The Last Witch Hunter? Well let's hope so, writes BRIAN VINER

By Brian Viner, Film Critic for the Daily Mail

Published: 19:54 EST, 22 October 2015 | Updated: 01:14 EST, 23 October 2015

The Last Witch Hunter (12A) 

Verdict: Dismal fantasy 

Rating:

Vin Diesel might not be the finest actor around, but he certainly has the deepest voice. 

There are times in this thoroughly preposterous, CGI-heavy fantasy, which also has a place for Michael Caine in a dog collar, when it can’t possibly sink any lower.

Vin Diesel (centre) might not be the finest actor around, but he certainly has the deepest voice

Vin Diesel (centre) might not be the finest actor around, but he certainly has the deepest voice

Much the same is true of the film itself. Diesel (above with Rose Leslie) plays Kaulder, who back in the Dark Ages slays the (computer-generated) witch-queen who has brought plague upon the world.

But just before she breathes her last, or maybe not her last, she curses him with immortality, whereupon he spends the next 800 years hunting malevolent sorceresses — of whom there are far more than you might think, especially in present-day New York.

That is where Kaulder meets up with his priestly adviser, a mortal known as the Dolan. There have been 35 previous Dolans in Kaulder’s 800-year witch-bashing adventure, and the worldy-wise 36th Dolan (Caine) is about to retire, just in time to miss most of the film, lucky fellow.

Diesel (above with Rose Leslie) plays Kaulder, who back in the Dark Ages slays the (computer-generated) witch-queen who has brought plague upon the world

Diesel (above with Rose Leslie) plays Kaulder, who back in the Dark Ages slays the (computer-generated) witch-queen who has brought plague upon the world

On the whole this is dismal fare, with nothing like the charm and spirit of the Harry Potter films, for example, and with one or two disturbing scenes that raise question marks over the 12A certificate

On the whole this is dismal fare, with nothing like the charm and spirit of the Harry Potter films, for example, and with one or two disturbing scenes that raise question marks over the 12A certificate

His successor is by comparison a slip of a lad, played by Elijah Wood, who seems a bit shifty. More disturbingly still, the witch-queen appears to have been resurrected, bent on destroying all humankind.

But on the whole this is dismal fare, with nothing like the charm and spirit of the Harry Potter films, for example, and with one or two disturbing scenes that raise question marks over the 12A certificate.

 

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