It's all set in some dark ages era, in some Byzantine corner of the world -- and Bridges is Master Gregory, a "spook" (or what we'd call a witchhunter). And business is good, although -- like Dirty Harry -- Gregory has a habit of losing his partners.
He's just gotten himself a new one as the film starts, and just in time -- Julianne Moore, the queen of the witches, just escaped from the desert dungeon where Gregory not-very-securely locked her up a few decades ago. And she's ticked off.
She's also -- as the villainnesses in these things always are -- looking fabulous, with mesmerizing smokey eyes and long fluttering gowns. Really, Julianne, do think about this look for Oscar night -- although the black talons might be a bit much for the Mani Cam.
So, anyway, it's up to Gregory and his new apprentice to catch her again -- although now she has an entire army of shape-shifting creatures on her side, and is gaining in power every day.
Obviously, this is not a particularly serious movie -- there's one scene of happy villagers leading a witch off to execution that feels remarkably like a "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" outtake -- but neither is it sloppy. The action scenes are well-staged. The witches -- who seem to like changing into dragons occasionally -- are formidable creatures.
