What could have been MEN IN BLACK with magic just becomes yet another run-of-the-mill summer actioner. THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE provides little wonder but is more entertaining than AIRBENDER by a hair. And fortunately we’re spared 3D!
In APPRENTICE, Nicolas Cage, sporting his artificially extended coif, plays the long-suffering sorcerer Balthazar. The backstory involves Merlin’s three apprentices: (1) Balhazar; (2) Horvath (Alfred Molina); and (3) Veronica (Monica Bellucci). During an ill-fated love triangle, Horvath joins forces with the evil Morgana (Alice Krige) in order to dispose of Merlin and take over the world. Balthazar thwarts their plan but at a high price–his beloved Veronica is forever trapped in something called a Grimhold. Only by finding an apprentice that can wear Merlin’s ring can Balthazar free his love and rid the world permanently of Morgana.
After the better part of a thousand years, Balthazar discovers his apprentice living in modern day New York City. And that “apprentice” is a physics loving nerd named Dave (Jay Baruchel).
To be fair to THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE, there is fun in watching an unhinged but PG-rated Cage as Balthazar train his apprentice. Just the way crazy-eyed Cage continuously shouts “HORVATH” is worth a belly of chuckles. But aside from a few humorous moments, this movie is too overly plot driven and never stops to develop characters or the world in which they inhabit. This kind of one-dimensional story-telling is exclusively directed to getting us to the finish line. And that means an effects heavy big battle conclusion. We’ve seen this all before. Watching SORCERER’S APPRENTICE will make you appreciate the multi-layered HARRY POTTER universe.
APPRENTICE is better than AIRBENDER by a hair? Yes! Over the years, Nicolas Cage’s hair has been a constant source of entertainment. And here his dirty straw-like shock is as messy as we’ve come to expect. But I wonder whether more interest could have been generated had the production permitted Cage to go entirely bald. A chrome-domed Cage would have gone viral all over the Net—the kind of PR money can’t buy.
Further APPRENTICE wastes the acting talent of Monica Bellucci and especially that of Alice Krige. An actor of some note, Krige just seems relegated to this kind of role (she played the Borg queen in STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT). While she can certainly be terrifying, here the script gives her little more than a few lines with one appearance so obscured by effects that I questioned whether an actor was even required for the role.
Ironically, the by-the-numbers APPRENTICE opens the same week as one of the most enigmatic and potentially unique films of the summer, INCEPTION. And given that APPRENTICE gets the jump on INCEPTION by opening two days earlier on Wednesday, APPRENTICE had a chance to deliver a textured magical world to complement the one of INCEPTION that has been enchanting fanboys on the net with MATRIX like anticipation. Unfortunately, THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE is just not that magical.
