The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Directed by: Jon Turteltaub
Produced by: Jerry Bruckheimer
Screenplay by: Matt Lopez; Lawrence Konner; Mark Rosenthal; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (poem)
Story by: Doug Miro; Carlo Bernard; Matt Lopez
Starring: Nicolas Cage; Jay Baruchel; Alfred Molina; Monica Bellucci; Teresa Palmer
Music by: Trevor Rabin
Cinematography: Bojan Bazelli
Editing by: William Goldenberg
Release date: July 14, 2010
Running time: 111 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English

The first Nicolas Cage film I saw was Face/Off, and I had fallen in love with him. He looked so handsome. Nowadays, however, he has become a little tiresome; he seems to be everywhere so much so that you can no longer call a picture he is in a Nick Cage picture. This year so far, he is in Kick-Ass and in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. If you insist on comparing, I would give more marks to Kick-Ass, which is fun in a vicarious sort of way, and he is not there full-time; (spoiler) he dies before the film is over. More of that later.

Coming to The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the film is so lame and unoriginal that it makes films like Percy Jackson and the Olympians a masterpiece and Harry Potter series work of a genius, and it is not saying much. There is nothing hold on to in the film, absolutely nothing, as Roger Ebert says, it’s all sugar and caffeine, no protein.

The film stars Jay Baruchel as Dave Stutler, a New York physics students, who does nothing but chase the girl of his dream, until he finds out that he must learn magic from the great Balthazar to save the world, as usual. You may remember him as Tal from Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist which starred Michael Cera. Agreed, Cera is not also a hero material, but he has certain goofy charm, which Baruchel also tries to project, but to no avail since the script is so dull. If you come to learn that you are a magician, no less receiver of the legendary Merlin’s inheritance, and how would you react? Duh. So, it’s between Nick Cage and Alfred Molina to fight it out. Whatever.

And, frankly, I have developed a great hatred for films where all actions take place in New York City, why, pray, aren’t there other place in the US, like Maine, or any other city?