Can Seventh Son Become a Suprise Hit?

Slated for an October release in the UK, Seventh Son becomes the latest book series to be adapted into a film. However, you will probably not recognise the name of Joseph Delaney or his series The Wardstone Chronicles. This series of books is not as famous as the Harry Potter series, Twilight or even Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider saga, so it may be a bit of a risk choosing to adapt these books (for more than just this one reason which I will go into later). Even with a best seller you’re not guaranteed success, the failure of Stormbreaker put to bed any ideas that Point Blanc or the other Alex Rider stories may get the big film treatment no matter how much I hope and pray for it to happen… anyway, tangent ended, back to Seventh Son. Here’s the trailer:

Set in the 18th Century, the story revolves around young Thomas (Ben Barnes of Prince Caspian fame), the seventh son of a seventh son which in this world grants Tom with the ability to see things that others can not: boggarts, ghosts and other fantasy beings. Tom finds himself apprenticed to the local Spook (Jeff Bridges) to learn to fight against the evil spirits. His first great challenge comes when the powerful Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore) escapes her confinement while the Spook is away.

As you can see, in the trailer you get the carefully worded “inspired by the acclaimed series” rather than “based on…” which suggests Seventh Son is not going to be a straight adaptation. Although this decision has already angered some fans (but you always get the few who can’t stand to see any change to source material), I believe this is actually a smart choice: The Wardstone Chronicles does not carry the same fan base other book series’ do so this is an attempt to appeal to a wider audience. The story of a boy being trained in his craft has been done (Harry Potter, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Percy Jackson) and to attempt to place another origin story into a saturated market would make no sense at all, therefore, taking elements from other books in the series as well will help speed along the story. Hopefully it won’t be a case of too many ingredients just thrown in with no time given to story or character development.

The Wardstone Chronicles

The other promising factor for Seventh Son is the acting talent attached to the project. Of course, Ben Barnes is relatively new but making steady progress in his career, however he is supported by Oscar winner Jeff Bridges, four time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore and two time Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou just for good measure. The director is Sergei Bodrov who is a Russian filmmaker who has twice had his features nominated for Best Foreign Language Film (Prisoner of the Mountains, Mongol: The Rise to Power of Genghis Khan). At one time Jennifer Lawrence was also attached to star, meaning that the script must have some merit to it. Now this is not to say that I think Seventh Son is going to clean up at the Oscars, far from it, but I do believe that with this talent on board there is definitely potential and it has more chance of being a good film than a bad one.

So it’s based on an acclaimed book series, has huge talent starring and directing, the trailer is action packed and exciting. So why would it be a surprise hit? Well first of all: it’s fantasy. And unless you happen to be bringing out a new Harry Potter film or The Hobbit then fantasy is a no go genre, that’s been proven time and time again. The trailer brings back memories to me of Black Death and Solomon Kane, two films I actually very much enjoyed but both fared poorly at the box office and with critics; when making fantasy you have to KNOW you have a hit, otherwise it’s all been a waste of time.

Other problems involve the dreaded moving of the release date. While it doesn’t sound like much the moving of a release date can be a sure fire signifier of a flop. In this case Seventh Son has been pushed back all the way from February this year to January next in the USA, I’m still skeptic that we’ll even get it in October in the UK. This move has been due to post production needing finishing, the same reason that The Lone Ranger is currently flopping on it’s stomach in the States (one of MANY reasons if early reviews are to be believed). This is not always the case, The Great Gatsby became a hit despite the moving of that release date but that has Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role, Seventh Son does not.

Problems continue when you look further below the surface and see that the script has gone through a couple of rewrites. Again, never a good thing as when a script gets re-written you can see that the film has been dragged in several different directions by people who come on board with a separate view for the story and no respect for the work done by their predecessor (the most recent example of this being World War Z where the ending was rehashed). Even worse, Rhythm and Hues Studios who provide the visual effects for Seventh Son actually went bankrupt while working on the film; Legendary Pictures agreed to give $5million to the company to help them finish their work so this may or may not have hindered the project.

As you can see, Seventh Son is not without it’s problems. But upon it’s release people won’t be looking behind the screen at the difficulties the film has had getting there; they will be looking at the quality that is being presented to them. Ever since I first heard about this film I have been silently excited; the story, the genre and the theme is right up my street and something of a geeky pleasure for myself. I have been excited by the trailer and think that there is clearly plenty of potential here. To release on a quieter week in summer may have been a risk but it is one that could have paid off. Now, however, I can only see this being a flop and it pains me so much to say that.

Solomon Kane (2009) Review

***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***

Since release in 2009 Solomon Kane has slipped under the radar in terms of mainstream audiences and it is difficult to find anyone that has even heard of the film, let alone see it. So how good is it?

Solomon Kane is our hero. He is a mercenary of the English Empire but after finding out that his soul is owed to the devil, he begins on a path of peace to ensure his soul goes to heaven when his time is up instead. But when evil forces begin to take over the world, led by Malachi, Solomon Kane returns to his old ways and by destroying evil he can save his soul for good.

The character of Solomon Kane is an intriguing one and with better writing we might have seen more of the human side of our hero. Saying that, though, there is clear character development and a clear story arc which makes the film easy to follow. Credit has to go to James Purefoy, who plays the title character, for making Kane seem very unlikeable in the beginning and then about ten minutes later we are feeling sorry for him. Only good acting can change an audiences opinion so quickly.

Unfortunately, though, the rest of the acting and the writing of Solomon Kane leaves a lot to be desired. Depite featuring Pete Postlethwaite, Mackenzie Crook and Jason Flemyng, who are all established actors in their own rights, the acting never really leaps off the page but fortunately for Solomon Kane, the film does not rely on them.

What Solomon Kane relies on are its action sequences. There is an action scene every ten minutes or so and it is a good job because this is what makes the fantasy epic worth watching. Michael J. Bassett is not a well known director but the way in which he puts the action sequences together here is fantastic; the fight scenes are better than some in big Hollywood blockbusters, they are incredible.

The final fight scene seems a little underwhelming at times. And earlier on in the film when you think the special effects are not anything special, you will see what the film spends most of it’s budget on when the monster emerges from the mirror at the end of the film to kill Solomon Kane.

If you like action films then you will like Solomon Kane. It has flown under the radar of audiences but the fight scenes and the character are very good and well worth watching. It will be an hour and a half you enjoy, without a doubt.

My Rating: 6/10