Our story opens in 1235. Three witches are to be hanged from a bridge
then drowned. A priest oversees the affair. Tossed over the side, the
witches hang. Then, their bodies are lowered into the river so they are
completely submerged. The priest demands that they are hauled back up
so he can recite from the Book of Solomon so that they cannot rise again
but the constable refuses. So, alone on the bridge, the priest hauls
the bodies up and speaks the words. The first witch vomits and shakes
as he incants. The second lies dead. The third witch transforms into a
devil and slays the unfortunate priest and burns the Book of Solomon.
Skip forward a century. Behmen (Nick Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) are knights on Crusade. They have battled Saracens for years but are finally fed up when a priest sends them to slaughter women and children. They abandon the Crusade and return to Europe. They find the lands ravaged by plague. In the city of Marburg, they are arrested as deserters. They can volunteer to escort a witch, who is –believed to be the cause of the plague, to a distant monastery or they can be executed. They opt to escort and thus the real tale begins.
Joined by a priest, a knight, an altar boy who wants to be a knight, and a merchant who knows the road, the band set out. It is believed that the monks have a way to reverse the plague if the witch is presented to them, which is why she isn't simply burned at the stake. There is the standard tension among the group, much of it traceable to the witch. The witch is at times a helpless waif and at others a conniving vixen. Unsurprisingly, members of the band die along the way. Will the heroes succeed in reaching the monastery and lifting the plague from the world? In the end, the story proves to be larger than it appeared.
Though the movie is clunky and plodding, I love the premise. A band of fighters escorting a witch is a great idea. They must resist her magic but not kill her. These guys had an evil dungeon master. I enjoyed the movie but it wasn't great. There was a bit too much modern fight choreography, often reminding me of an episode of Xena. Worth seeing.
Skip forward a century. Behmen (Nick Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) are knights on Crusade. They have battled Saracens for years but are finally fed up when a priest sends them to slaughter women and children. They abandon the Crusade and return to Europe. They find the lands ravaged by plague. In the city of Marburg, they are arrested as deserters. They can volunteer to escort a witch, who is –believed to be the cause of the plague, to a distant monastery or they can be executed. They opt to escort and thus the real tale begins.
Joined by a priest, a knight, an altar boy who wants to be a knight, and a merchant who knows the road, the band set out. It is believed that the monks have a way to reverse the plague if the witch is presented to them, which is why she isn't simply burned at the stake. There is the standard tension among the group, much of it traceable to the witch. The witch is at times a helpless waif and at others a conniving vixen. Unsurprisingly, members of the band die along the way. Will the heroes succeed in reaching the monastery and lifting the plague from the world? In the end, the story proves to be larger than it appeared.
Though the movie is clunky and plodding, I love the premise. A band of fighters escorting a witch is a great idea. They must resist her magic but not kill her. These guys had an evil dungeon master. I enjoyed the movie but it wasn't great. There was a bit too much modern fight choreography, often reminding me of an episode of Xena. Worth seeing.
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