The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is about wizards, and unlikely wizards at that. Alfred Molina, Monica Bellucci, and Alice Krige fit their roles well enough. Nicolas Cage isn't the first name that pops in your head when you think of actors with a "wizard-like" quality, but Cage portrays Balthazar Blake with just the right amount of snark and it's completely believable. Jay Baruchel doesn't belong in this movie, whatsoever, but using whatever magic they possess, they happen to make that work, too. Now, if the actual plot of the film were half as inventive as the characters, we might actually have something great on our hands.

Jay Baruchel plays Dave Stutler. Unknown to Dave, he's actually the Prime Merlinian, the one who will inherit the powers of Merlin. Yes, the famous wizard from Arthurian legend makes an appearance here, but it's a short one. After some nasty business goes down in 740 AD, we're taken to modern-day Manhattan, where Balthazar (Cage) finally finds the Prime Merlinian (Baruchel), who he's been searching for well over one thousand years. Things seem like they're looking up, until Dave accidentally frees Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) from a magical prison, and if Horvath weren't enough, he's looking to free Morgana le Fay (Krige) from that same prison, who will raise the dead and destroy the world.

Alfred Molina is fantastic to watch and quickly steals the movie. Cage is good, too, as his everybody, really, but Molina just inhabits his role and plays such a nasty character, it's impossible not to love him. He looks great, too, with his slick goatee, bowler hat, and trench coat, not to mention his fancy wand/walking stick that's adorned with some sort of gem. He looks like a James Bond villain, if James Bond were a wizard. Alice Krige has a very small amount of screen time as the villainous Morgana le Fay, but she's effectively scary.

 It's up to the Prime Merlinian, or "the chosen one" as every other movie calls him, to realize his powers and stop Morgana. He's reluctant to believe Balthazar at first, as they always are, but he eventually comes around. Once he accepts his fate, he has trouble manifesting his powers, as they always do, but slowly but surely he learns how to use them. Once he has his powers, he quickly abuses him, as they always do. Balthazar scolds him, he learns his lesson, and he manifests the most important power of all: personal responsibility.

It's a shame that such a talented cast was wasted on such a derivative film. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is fun, I'll give it that, but it's far too familiar to be even the least bit memorable (aside from Horvath's excellent character design). The ideas, the setting, and the archetypes have not only been done before, but they've been done way too many time. If you're looking to kick back with a good popcorn movie that sports fancy special effects and likable characters, then you've found your movie, just expect a good dose of deja vu and a startling lack of creativity.

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