The Stranger

The Seeker, an adaptation of the second book in author Susan Cooper’s celebrated The Dark is Rising series, doesn’t exactly blaze any new narrative trails with its tale of a puberty-stricken teenager discovering that he alone can stop the evil forces of darkness. Moldily Freudian as the premise is, however, the first half hour is a genuine pleasure to watch, with a number of clever visual transitions and some unexpectedly oogy special effects. (Dig the guy undergoing a painful transformation into a bunch of ravens!) Alas, things soon flatten out into a series of repetitive fetch quests and tired believe-in-yourself homilies. Thank the maker, then, for the presence of Ian McShane, who imbues his role as the stock mentor character with some of his old Deadwood verbal slipperiness and an absolute lack of sentiment. Devotees of the source material will no doubt grouse at the liberties taken, but McShane does what he can to keep the torches and pitchforks at bay. By Andrew Wright