On the day Vin Diesel announced the release dates of the Fast and the Furious closing trilogy (until they decide to do one more after 2021), I take a look at the latest Vin Diesel movie that is not going to become a franchise. It’s okay, he wouldn’t have had time to make The Second to Last Witch Hunter until well into the 2020s anyway.

Now on Blu-ray, DVD and digital

While the sort of mythology exposited in The Last Witch Hunter is familiar D&D/Tolkien/Rowling, it’s a bit more likable. You can feel that Diesel really loves this material, and at least they’re creating their own rules and names for witches and hunters, rather than basing it on something else.

The other angle that works is that while there is in-depth magic mythology, Kaulder and the witches are just working grunts. It’s a job, and they blow off steam too. The magic is a lot more colorful than in the Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings films with blue bugs and glowing potions. It’s not all uniform.

Kaulder (Diesel) is a classic Vin Diesel character. With a wink, he can save an entire airplane, a newbie witch and he knows everything. Even if it’s not as explicit, he has a family too with Dolan 36th (Michael Caine) and 37th (Elijah Wood).

If this is the only Last Witch Hunter movie, it looks great on Blu-ray. The colorful magic is vibrant, and both landscapes and cityscapes are epic. Torch light turns a cave golden, and the nature magic is lush. The CGI is busy as ever, but the visual effects hold up. There are plenty of bonus features to explore the mythology further.