Few action stars can convincingly mansplain their way through a scene where mystic rune stones that control the elements are used to stop and start a thunderstorm.

Diesel is well-used in that sense, proving he's more than a blunt instrument in scenes where he huskily broods and sweet-talks his way around the film's most unwieldy exposition. As he points out to Dolan the 37th ( Elijah Wood), Ellic's successor at Axe and Cross, there's nothing he hasn't seen. Diesel's usual cockiness suits his character. What makes this scenario work are the periodic flashes of intelligence that prove that the film's trio of screenwriters thought about what motivates Kaulder. Their ranks include Max Schlesinger (Isaach De Bankolé), a blind pastry chef-cum-magician who makes cupcakes out of psychedelic moths, butterflies, and maggots, and Belilal ( Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), a squat, curse-slinging warlock whose bushy beard and barrel chest makes him look like one of ZZ Top's touring bassists. The Rolodex of enemies and fair weather contacts that Kaulder meets up with on his rocky road to remembering is embarrassingly preposterous. In order to stop the Witch Queen, Kaulder must 'remember death,' a clue left for him by Ellic in smudged fingerprints all over one of Ellic's most prized books. Here's where 'The Last Witch Hunter' starts to get so dorky that you may want to give yourself a wedgie for enjoying it. But when Ellic ( Michael Caine), Kaulder's sidekick and the chronicler of his stories, dies on the day of his retirement, Kaulder investigates, and discovers a plot to revive the centuries-dead Witch Queen.

An integral member of the mortal-led witch-hunting organization Axe and Cross, Kaulder has grown full of himself after centuries of walking the Earth unchallenged. However, unbeknownst to Kaulder, the Witch Queen has been resurrected and seeks revenge on her killer, leading to an epic battle that will determine the survival of mankind.An especially charming Diesel plays Kaulder, a witch-slayer who was cursed to live forever by the Witch Queen ( Julie Engelbrecht) back in ye olde viking days. Today, Kaulder is the last living hunter who has spent his immortal life tracking down rogue witches, all the while yearning for his long-lost family. In the moments right before her death, the Queen cursed Kaulder with immortality, forever separating him from his beloved wife and daughter. Armies of witch hunters have battled this unnatural enemy for centuries, including Kaulder, a valiant warrior who many years ago slayed the all-powerful Witch Queen, decimating her followers in the process. The modern world holds many secrets, but by far the most astounding is that witches still live among us vicious supernatural creatures intent on unleashing the Black Death upon the world and putting an end to the human race once and for all.

The last witch hunter 2 2017