The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Coalitions are rather in vogue at the moment, first from the government and now from the film studios. The ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ is the second blockbuster out this year from the collaboration between Disney and Jerry; the first being the Prince of Persia. The jury is still out on the success of the ‘Con-Dems’ but this reporter has truly made up his mind on the ‘Dis-Bruck’. Both ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ and ‘The Prince of Persia’ run from the same vein. Should I copy and paste  my Prince of Persia review I wrote four months ago? No. I’ll be good.

The story is heavily on the basic side; this plot is by no means in the same league as ‘Inception’. In 740 AD the sorcerer Balthazar (Nick Cage) is an apprentice of Merlin. He and two other apprentices help Merlin battle Morgana le Fay, but due to the betrayal of Horvath (Alfred Molina), one of his apprentices, Merlin is killed. Because of this Morgana is only trapped, not defeated, and in doing so takes the body of the third apprentice, Balthazar’s lover, with her. Balthazar then spends the next 1,000 or so years searching for Merlin’s heir who has the power to help him defeat Morgana. The heir turns out to be wet physics nerd Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel) who must be trained in order to defeat Morgana, even if he doesn’t want to. The plot has little, if no, surprises and readers of this brief synopsis can likely guess how the rest of the film pans out.

Unusually for Jerry Bruckheimer, who usually charges up his films with high calibre star power, there are only two big names in the cast: Nicholas Cage and Alfred Molina. The effect of these two stars could not have contrasted more. Nicholas Cage has consistently failed in past films to convince me of his acting skills and this film didn’t help. His performance was wooden and lacked the depth and slightly oddball, troubled quality that the character desperately called for. Alfred Molina on the other hand plays Horvath extremely well, making him both sinister and believable. His performance easily stole the light away from the other actors on screen. The other main cast members are new to important big screen roles and it really showed in their performances. Baruchel’s portrayal of Dave as an ordinary boy in extraordinary circumstances came across as wet, whiny and pathetic; while Teresa Palmer, who plays Becky (the love interest) was also one of the most pointless heroines I have ever seen. Palmer’s character added nothing to the plot and any acting ability she might have was lost in the dire script.

The saving grace of the film is the magic which probably beats the effects used in the Harry Potter films. All the spells and enchantments are creatively rendered which makes the magical fight scenes a delight to watch. The movie also tries to add depth to the magic by fusing it with science, but this has limited success; I doubt turning a pack of wolves into puppies can be explained using science. However the depth to the magic doesn’t extend very far and a lot of intricate details and histories that could have been added are simply skimmed over. Instead it is replaced by the inevitable goofy scene of out of control brooms and water; no one was surprised.

Although the magic and special effects are top notch they can’t save a film where the dialogue and the script have been ignored. The deficiencies in these areas mean the film lacks any shred of tension, clearly a major problem for an action movie. The fights, the chase scenes and the near misses do nothing to thrill the audience or keep them on the edge of their seats because they care too little about the characters. Overall the film did not live up to its potential due to the poor dialogue and dull plot. These aspect could not be saved by the beautiful special effects or by the film riding on the back of the magic franchise.

Degree: Fail

The movie is a great disappointment and had the potential

to deliver a lot more than it did