Seventh Son's many sword fights are crisp, fast and well shot. At least those tools of destruction are put to good use. In the movie his main tools appear to be swords, crossbows, fire, and more swords. In the book, Gregory adorably explains, “The main tools of our trade are common sense, courage and the keeping of accurate records”. Unlike the book’s Gregory, a meticulous former priest, the movie version is a belligerent warrior savant who has as little difficulty dispatching platoons of assassins as he does berating his new assistant. Though the most obvious departure is Tom’s age - 13 in the book, late 20s in the movie - the diametric changes to Gregory’s personality are what rob the movie of the book’s quaint, unassuming charm. Seventh Son draws little more than character names and backstory from The Spook’s Apprentice, the first installment of Joseph Delaney’s young adult fantasy series The Wardstone Chronicles. Regardless of its technical merit, however, one subset of viewers is guaranteed to hate this movie: fans of the book upon which it is based. At best it can only impress audiences willing to overlook tired plot devices (A magic amulet! A secret order of knights!) and cartoonish characters for the sake of excellent fight choreography and special effects played out on massive sets by Oscar winner Dante Ferretti.

Play Seventh Son is typical medieval fantasy fluff.

Cast of the movie seventh son