War, possessed girls, and Nicholas Cage. Season of the Witch, released Jan. 7, had the potential to be great, but it was ruined by an unsatisfying ending.

It was a good movie until the last few scenes. The majority of the intriguing movie questions morality and is full of deception, but is ruined in the end by the predictable and unnecessary appearance of satanic demons.

The opening scene showed a truly gut-wrenching portrayal of three girls being executed for witchcraft.

During the Crusades the church became a brutal and unforgiving force that killed many innocents in the name of God. Knights Behmen, played by Cage, and Felson, played by Ron Perlman, question the morality of the church. Behmen and Felson, after fighting in the name of the church, desert the army. Whilst traveling, they come upon a small town stricken with the plague.

Behmen and Felson then discover that the plague is being caused by a girl whom the townspeople call the Black Witch. They team up with a priest, a grieving knight, a determined alter boy and a deceitful merchant to transport the witch to a monastery for her trial.

The journey the characters take during the movie was fun to watch. Full of action and violence, everyone seemed entertained watching the wisecracking knights battle beasts as they tried to maintain their sanity.

When they reach the monastery, Behmen and his comrades then have to save the world from demons. A battle ensues – a battle that didn’t seem to fit in with rest of the movie, and honestly ruined the movie for me.

Putting story and plot aside, if you just want to see Cage slay beasts, then by all means rush out to the theater. However, the climax of the story just got too bizarre and was frankly uninteresting; it was like I had seen this conclusion before.

If you paid enough attention to the movie there were underlying themes of honor. It really brought light on to the horrible things that happened during the Crusades and how paranoid and destructive the church really became.

Overall, Season of the Witch is not the best movie ever, but it is better than staying home all day. I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to see this movie.

I give it 5 out of 10.