John Gregory, who is a seventh son of a seventh son and also the local spook, has protected the country from witches, boggarts, ghouls and all manner of things that go bump in the night. However John is not young anymore, and has been seeking an apprentice to carry on his trade. Most have failed to survive. The last hope is a young farmer’s son named Thomas Ward. Will he survive the training to become the spook that so many others couldn’t?
Credits: TheMovieDb.
Film Cast:
- Master John Gregory: Jeff Bridges
- Mother Malkin: Julianne Moore
- Tom Ward: Ben Barnes
- Alice Deane: Alicia Vikander
- Tusk – Zanna: John DeSantis
- William “Billy” Bradley: Kit Harington
- Radu: Djimon Hounsou
- Mam Ward: Olivia Williams
- Bony Lizzie: Antje Traue
- Urag: Jason Scott Lee
- Rogue Knight: David Cubitt
- Old Guard: Eric Keenleyside
- Fisherman: Thai-Hoa Le
- Member of Mob: Carmel Amit
- Prelate: Gerard Plunkett
- Leader Soldier: Jim Shield
- Malcom Ward: Timothy Webber
- Tomb Robber (uncredited): Julian Black Antelope
- Strix: Luc Roderique
- Soldier (uncredited): Sean Carey
- Grave Robber (uncredited): Fraser Aitcheson
- Virahadra: Zahf Paroo
- Grave-robber (uncredited): Loyd Catlett
- Simon Ward: Primo Allon
- Cate Ward: Lilah Fitzgerald
- Little Girl: Taya Clyne
- Innkeeper (uncredited): Faustino Di Bauda
- Young Guard: Billy Wickman
- Jack Ward: Marcel Bridges
- Head Counselor: Yaroslav Poverlo
- Priest’s Wife: Isabelle Landry
- Mongolian (uncredited): Jason Asuncion
- Noblewoman (uncredited): Joanne Bentley
- Timeless Hag (uncredited): Brenda McDonald
- Cavalier (uncredited): John Andrew Vaas
- Young Gregory: Thomas DuPont
- Mother with Infant: Candice May Langlois
- Boldmere: Simon Burnett
- Mob Member: Fabin Woodcock
- Fatman: Bill Croft
- Barkeep: Ryan Robbins
- Priest: John Novak
- Ellie Ward: Libby Osler
Film Crew:
- Editor: Michael Kahn
- Editor: Paul Rubell
- Screenplay: Charles Leavitt
- Casting: Amanda Mackey
- Production Design: Dante Ferretti
- Music: Marco Beltrami
- Casting: Heike Brandstatter
- Casting: Coreen Mayrs
- Construction Coordinator: Doug Hardwick
- Director of Photography: Newton Thomas Sigel
- Producer: Lionel Wigram
- Art Direction: Michael Diner
- Sound Editor: Bryan Bowen
- Supervising Art Director: Grant Van Der Slagt
- Visual Effects Designer: John Dykstra
- Set Decoration: Elizabeth Wilcox
- Screenplay: Steven Knight
- Art Direction: Ross Dempster
- Art Direction: Dimitri Capuani
- Art Direction: Maria-Teresa Barbasso
- Art Direction: Luca Tranchino
- Screenplay: Matt Greenberg
- Hairstylist: Alan D’Angerio
- Set Designer: Geoff Wallace
- Stunts: Marny Eng
- Editor: Jim Page
- Second Unit Director of Photography: Brian Pearson
- Music Supervisor: Peter Afterman
- Music Supervisor: Margaret Yen
- Producer: Thomas Tull
- Executive Producer: Brent O’Connor
- Stunts: Melissa R. Stubbs
- Rigging Grip: Matt Almas
- Producer: Basil Iwanyk
- Executive Producer: Jon Jashni
- Music Supervisor: Curt Sobel
- Art Direction: Alessandro Santucci
- Foley: Shelley Roden
- Aerial Director of Photography: Dylan Goss
- Art Direction: Federico Costantini
- Director: Sergei Bodrov
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Michael Keller
- Associate Producer: Martin Cohen
- Costume Design: Jacqueline West
- Assistant Art Director: Laurel Bergman
- First Assistant Editor: Robert Malina
- Chief Lighting Technician: Anthony G. Nakonechnyj
- Casting Associate: Kate Caldwell
- Novel: Joseph Delaney
- Stunt Double: Crystal Mudry
- Art Direction: Andrew Li
- Hairstylist: Thomas Nellen
- Costume Supervisor: Jana MacDonald
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Nicolas Aithadi
- Assistant Art Director: Peter Bodnarus
- Property Master: Dan Sissons
- Boom Operator: Robert McDonagh
- Music Editor: John Finklea
- Dialogue Editor: Michael Hertlein
- Visual Effects: Anthony Di Ninno
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Don Lee
- Visual Effects Producer: Kim Lee
- Creature Design: Ben Mauro
- Sound Designer: Tom Ozanich
- Executive Producer: Maguy R. Cohen
- Assistant Art Director: David Clarke
- Still Photographer: Kimberly French
- Set Costumer: Carolyn Bentley
- Supervising Sound Editor: Jeremy Peirson
- Co-Producer: Jillian Share
- Visual Effects Producer: Karey Maltzahn
- Foley: Jody Thomas
- Animal Wrangler: Joanne Bentley
- Executive Producer: Alysia Cotter
- Associate Producer: Louis Ferrara
- Pre-Visualization Supervisor: Rpin Suwannath
- Visual Effects Producer: Lena Scanlan
- Script Supervisor: Kimi Webber
- Visual Effects Editor: Michael Harden
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Mike Prestwood Smith
- Visual Effects Editor: Zack Mazerolle
- Visual Effects Editor: Joel Thompson
- Aerial Camera Technician: Steven J. Winslow
- Supervising Sound Editor: Laurent Kossayan
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Mark Breakspear
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Erik Nordby
- Gaffer: David Tickell
- Makeup Artist: Candice Stafford
- Visual Effects Editor: Jeremy Bradley
- Music Editor: Steve Durkee
- Visual Effects Editor: Zeke Morales
- Supervising ADR Editor: Thomas Jones
- Aerial Director of Photography: Ronald Hersey
- Makeup Effects Designer: Toby Lindala
- Unit Publicist: Lee Anne Muldoon
- Visual Effects Producer: Denise Davis
- Visual Effects Producer: Liz Roberts
- Makeup Artist: Elaine L. Offers
- Second Unit Director of Photography: Don McCuaig
- Rigging Gaffer: Jarrod Tiffin
- Digital Intermediate: Rudy Lopez
- Set Designer: Mira Caveno
- CG Supervisor: Pete Dionne
- Set Costumer: Pamela Cameron
- ADR Supervisor: Glynna Grimala
- Makeup Department Head: Monica Huppert
- Makeup Artist: Tanya Hudson
- First Assistant Editor: Thom Kyle
- Visual Effects Producer: Justin Gladden
- Rigging Gaffer: Martin Keough
- First Assistant Editor: Matt Willard
- Visual Effects Editor: Garrett Wilson
- Lighting Supervisor: Jason Scott
- Post Production Supervisor: Jake Rice
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Sheila Giroux
- Digital Intermediate: Ian Sullivan
- Visual Effects Producer: Ian Cope
- Costume Coordinator: Koreen Heaver
- Hair Department Head: Anne Carroll
- Art Direction: Elena Dubova
- Art Direction: Daniela Giovannoni
- Key Hair Stylist: Forest Sala
- Animation Supervisor: Chris Street
- Assistant Costume Designer: Karin Nosella
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Neh Jaiswal
- Dialogue Editor: Stefano Mascitti
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Elena Bovetti
- Visual Effects Editor: Martin Allan Kloner
- Boom Operator: Darryl Marko
- Rigging Grip: Kevin McCloy
- Assistant Costume Designer: Stacy Caballero
- Rigging Grip: Rod Haney
- Seamstress: Wendy Foster
- Rigging Grip: Scott Andrew Armstrong
- Matchmove Supervisor: Kevin Lin
- Rigging Grip: Adam Bunz
- Rigging Grip: Daryl Makortoff
- Visual Effects Producer: Tomi Nieminen
- Casting Assistant: Susanne Scheel
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Ann Chow
- Rigging Grip: Troy Bassett
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Claudia Li
- Script Supervisor: Earendil McNay
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Robert Hoffmeister
- VFX Editor: Craig Sheppard
- Rigging Grip: Scott Kozak
- Aerial Coordinator: Kelsey Wheeler
- Lighting Technician: James M. Jackson
- Rigging Grip: Josh Lovig
- Conceptual Illustrator: Sebastian Meyer
- Key Grip: Kim Olsen
- Stunts: Jodi Stecyk
- Dolly Grip: Russell Hawkes
- Lighting Technician: Mark G. Alexander
- Costume Coordinator: Carole Griffin
- Dolly Grip: Ryan Monro
- Conceptual Illustrator: Vicki Pui
- Visual Effects Coordinator: James Greig
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Monette Dubin
- Special Effects Coordinator: Rashmi Salvi
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Tom Rubendall
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Zafar Janjua
- Techno Crane Operator: Ian Guns
- Hairstylist: Diane Holme
- Lighting Technician: Dan Fraser
- 3D Generalist: Farhad Yusufi
- Animation Director: James Kinnings
- 3D Modeller: Rishikesh Nandlaskar
- Visual Effects Editor: James Noorani
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Gretel Ng
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Greg Steele
- Lead Animator: Matt Kowaliszyn
- Conceptual Design: Anthony Francisco
- Conceptual Illustrator: Brian Cunningham
- Visual Effects Producer: P. Whitney Gearin
- Hairstylist: Janice Rhodes
- Conceptual Illustrator: Keith Lau
- Key Grip: Tony Whiteside
- Lighting Technician: Christian Schauz
- Lighting Technician: Jon L.J. Helgason
- Lighting Technician: Amelia Doescher
- Rigging Grip: Natasha Denis
- Rigging Grip: Jesse Frank
- Rigging Grip: Christopher Harvey
- Rigging Grip: Brad Mear
- Rigging Grip: Niel Rasmussen
- Casting Associate: Jandiz Estrada
- Casting Assistant: Cera Ziegler
- Costume Illustrator: Kevin Chen
- Seamstress: Gloria Chan
- Animal Wrangler: Kerry Hansen
- CG Supervisor: Charles Abou Aad
- CG Supervisor: Daniele Bigi
- Lead Animator: David Apgar
- Lead Animator: John Sung
- Stereoscopic Coordinator: Vikki Chapman
- Stereoscopic Coordinator: Dipin Nair
- Stereoscopic Coordinator: Nick Thompson
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Syed Arafath Apsar
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Anuradha Behera
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Crystal Compton
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Nicole Duncan
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Jack George
- Visual Effects Coordinator: James Grummitt
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Ashlyn Hardie
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Chris Jestico
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Maria Ximena Lozano
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Victor F. Medel
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Christopher Pales
- Visual Effects Coordinator: James Purdy
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Chris Raiskup
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Kasey Simpson
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Ashley J. Ward
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Monet Sheree Funke
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Sarosh Mistry
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Ryan Heelan
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Mark Story
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Lisa Papadopoulou
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Andreas Wieland
- Visual Effects Technical Director: James Tottman
- Pyrotechnician: Nick Lawson
- First Assistant Sound Editor: Stephanie Brown
- Sound Designer: Flávio Medeiros
- Digital Intermediate: Travis Flynn
- Stunt Double: Lee-Anne Telford
- Stunts: Mitra Suri
- Concept Artist: Maciej Kuciara
Movie Reviews:
- Frank Ochieng: The mundane medieval movie ‘Seventh Son’ is indicative of the cinema wasteland that the beginning of a brand new movie season trudges in after the New Year arrives. In any event, ‘Seventh Son’ is in good company (or is that bad company?) with flaccid fare such as the sci-fi eyesore ‘Jupiter Ascending’ and the meatless melodrama ‘The Boy Next Door’ joining the parade of putrid pictures occupying the big screen at the same time. What is even more shockingly shoddy about ‘Seventh Son’s embarrassing presentation as a sluggish supernatural movie misstep is the inclusion of Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges (‘Crazy Heart’) and current Oscar-nominee Julianne Moore (for 2014’s ‘Still Alice’) saddled in director Sergei Bodrov’s (‘Mongol) period piece sci-fi sludge. Bridges’s gray-haired evil-bashing spook and Moore’s wicked witch may very well deserve to have their SAG cards revoked upon audiences sitting through this faceless fantasy of hocus-pocus.
‘Seventh Son’ wastes no time in setting up its familiar, generic premise involving a mentor-trainee tandem in the wise and haggard spook Gregory (Bridges) and his youthful farmboy protege Thomas Ward (Ben Barnes), an apprentice learning the ropes in taming the evil-doers that dare to exist and persist. Get this…old Gregory is considered a laughingstock (in addition to appearing as a leading personality in this ludicrous narrative) for believing in the evil-minded forces that he warns about consistently. Well, Gregory’s warnings are not so humorous to the naysayers when the sinister witch Mother Malkin (Moore) makes her hostile presence known. Resembling ‘Maleficent’s gaudy twin sister in wardrobe, Mother Malkin escapes her confines to concentrate on two treacherous tasks at hand: seek revenge on the meddling geezer Gregory and, of course, to control the world under her devilish grasp. The sorcery sass Malkin means business and the desperate Gregory must contain her with the recruitment of the chosen Thomas.
Naturally, Thomas comes with a unique yet confusing mythology attached to his backstory which explains Gregory’s undivided attention towards the young sword-wielding raw talent. It is revealed that the revered young-blood Thomas is the ‘seventh son’ from a lineage of seventh sons in his lineage. Thus, Thomas has the specialized aura to carry his own weight into battle as he will serve as an adequate fighting tool for Gregory and the cause to restore order for a doomed society not ready to deal with cutthroat Queen of Mean in Mother Malkin.
So we witness Thomas’ so-called training methods and the philosophical mantras that go along with his journey in the name of good versus evil. What would a stud-in-combat-mode be without a lovely lady as an incentive to complete his heroic sacrifices? In this case, Thomas develops a romance with his object of affection in half-witch Alice (Alicia Vikander) who may have some hidden relationship secrets of her own that may prove critical.
Bodrov’s wooden direction and screenwriters Charles Leavitt (‘Blood Diamonds’) and Steven Knight (‘Easter Promises’) present an amateurish and spotty script that does no favours at all for the rancid ‘Seventh Son’. Drowsy dialogue, disjointed storylines, hammy acting, tedious fight sequences, derivative-looking 3-D special effect flourishes, cornball sorcery ans swords swagger, spaced-out and unintentional amusing dragons and other convoluted creatures are all are on delusional display in this faulty fable that feels strung together in the aftermath of a drunken stupor originating at the local pub.
In this demonic dud, both Bridges (whose ‘Seventh’ role recalls the forgettable flop ‘R.I.P.D.’) and Moore are outrageously cast in this clumsy costumed drama and one has to wonder why these veteran performers would sign on the dotted line to appear in this medieval mess? Barnes follows suit as the touted apprentice but his Luke Skywalker-lite antics in ‘Seventh Son’ are dismissed almost instantly. Even the pronounced presence of Oscar-nominee Djimon Hounsou (‘Blood Diamonds’, ‘Gladiator’, ‘In America’) cannot give any animated muscle as he appears as Radu, a multiple blade-armed, sword-swinging warlock with stylish jazzy chain accessories. Only the supporting roles of Vikander’s bewitching beauty Alice and Olivia Williams’s Mam Ward (Thomas’ mother) come out of this vacuous venture looking mildly memorable and inviting.
‘Seventh Son’ is based upon the Joseph Delaney books with a decent following in literary circles. The big screen adaptation of Delaney’s pages is meager to say the least. Clearly, there will be no heralded ‘Twilight’ trend beneath ‘Seventh Son’s cinematic wings and, if this statement is proven wrong, then perhaps those very same wings need a serious clipping.
Seventh Son (2015)
Universal Pictures
2 hrs.
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Ben Barnes, Djimon Hounsou, Alicia Vikander and Olivia Williams
Directed by: Sergei Bodrov
Genre: Science Fiction and Fantasy/Medieval Melodrama/Supernatural Fable/Sorcery and Swords Saga
Critic’s rating: * star (out of 4 stars)
- Per Gunnar Jonsson: This is a good, solid fantasy adventure. It is not a “wow great” kind of movie but definitely enjoyable to watch, at least if you are a fan of fantasy, magic, dragons and such like.
The movie is based on a book which I have not read although I believe it is considered as a young adult book. The movie seems to reflect this in that it has a fairly simple, straightforward, adventure plot. This is a movie made to entertain with magic, adventure, a bit of humor and visual effects. Nothing more and nothing less.
In my opinion it does so fairly well. I do like Jeff Bridges in his role as a rather wacky hunter of evil witches who have fallen into a dark and uncaring attitude towards the world around him. Uncaring about everything except slaying of witches that is. Ben Barnes, portraying the apprentice and Seventh Son is unfortunately making a rather bland impression. Then Julianne Moore is definitely better as the evil witch.
No movie where fantasy, magic and dragons are among the main themes can be without special effects. So, not surprisingly, there are a fair amount of them in this movie. I think they are generally well made and complements the story well without being overdone.
On the whole I liked the movie. It is a simple but solid adventure story with just the right amount of a few humorous remarks, nice visual effects, a bit of romance and action.