1) Narrative. The main thing is that this film is good, because it is in the spirit of the original Sapkovsky. It is what completes the story of the Witcher, not trying to rethink, modernize and tell anew. He is full of memories of the characters, events, places of the original saga, squeezing out the tears of the old fugue. You will see how peasants live there on the outskirts of the battle of Brenna, how Geralt is remembered by his elderly friends. And all with the signature humor of the original saga.
Towards the end, some of the characters’ decisions raise doubts about their motivation. And otherwise I would be indignant, but by that time the viewer is already up to his ears immersed in this story, because it begins to believe.
2) Visual. If not good, then at least acceptable to the demanding viewer. The weakest part is the light. The picture does not look as contrasting and licked as the modern viewer is used to. But you stop noticing it because you want to look at small details and backgrounds. They are pleasant to look at, in all these little things you feel the nested soul. It's also a small budget. After all, the costumes and scenery are aesthetic, atmospheric and meaningful. For example, Lambert's fantasy mail is unusual, but it looks comfortable and reflects the needs of the character.
There are not many special effects, but the ones that are, they look quite qualitative. At least not annoying. For example, elixirs at the beginning of the film are pleasing to the eye, although they do not require luggage money.
(3) Acting may not be a masterpiece, but complemented by an extremely successful cast and thoughtful directing. Characters, although not twins of the game, but quite similar to them do not contradict book images. For me, they are immediately recognizable by the types they convey. No doubt there's Vesemir, there's Lambert. Because that's exactly what they should be. Maybe, except for the old buttercup.
As a result, this film is perceived as a true filmed continuation. He delights with nostalgia for the soul original. And does not try to trample it and redraw it into another cliché with an agenda and used phrases, like high-budget tapes based on the Witcher.
Strictly recommended for viewing connoisseurs of the book saga. Don’t watch it if you haven’t seen it yet.
I read all the books, played all the games. Am I a fan? No, I just love a quality product. And for what fans is this film made and, in fact, what fans are the creators themselves: the universe of the witch, Geralt, Sapkovsky, computer games, Slavic culture, cinema? Or just cosplay?
When I watch a movie, I don’t care how much money is spent on it. It affects my attitude towards the creators after watching. It’s a bad movie with a small budget, so it’s okay. A good movie with a small budget - talents, geniuses, what is it? A bad movie with a big budget is fools (at best, if it’s not government money). But how, I cannot understand, can a budget, or lack thereof, be a criterion for assessing the quality of a film, much less an excuse?
The plot can be described in three words: antagonist, protagonist, revenge. A masterpiece plot of the 2019 film for 100 minutes. Why is Butterfly in the story? For Zamakhovsky? Why a nymphomaniac witch? The motivation of the main characters is amazing. Why would a tough witch, a mutant with complete control over emotions, suddenly listen to the whining of some troubadour? Offended? Well, who doesn't. The film is full of “unexpected twists.” But everything according to the canon, but there are no blacks in the frame, bravo (sarcasm).
Play actors (with rare exceptions, I do not want to name) — terrible to the horror — reminiscent of the school circle amateurs. Operator’s work: 100 minutes of successively boring stamps without meaning and subtexts. The background of the Trier camera is also impressive (I understand, the stabilizer is expensive, there is no budget - no questions). The choreography of the actors in the fighting scenes is simply not: touched his hand - knocked out, waved his sword - killed, waved his hand - cast a spell. I don't believe anything that happens in the picture.
All this is reminiscent of singing on some talent show: did not hit a single note, received a “no” from the judges and the whistle of half the audience – but the relatives and the other half are delighted and furiously perplexed – after all, he is self-taught, unlike other arrogant participants, and the song is excellent! And he doesn't sing American! And the guy's good! How can you not be proud of this?!
Pros: The music, costumes and visual images of the characters are very good. The cosplay succeeded (not sarcasm) - it is a pity that the authors did not limit themselves to this.
I am sure that the creators of this film are great and interesting people, I would love to drink ale with them and talk about the witches of the universe. But the movie (if it treats it as a movie, not as fan entertainment) is terrible. I'm not a critic, I'm just an amateur, the assessment is subjective, but in another way I can not:
1 out of 10
At first everything is unclear, and there is a lot of skepticism. The actors are unknown, and only the names voiced: Lambert, Eskel, (Vesemir?) explain who is who. After a series of games, books, the appearance of the characters and their characters are unusual.
The movie is not for-profit, and you can see it. The scenery is unobtrusive and deliberately darkened.
But who cares? You can quickly get used to the appearance, on the scenery and completely stop paying attention - events are rapidly developing, and somehow you get involved, carefully follow what is happening, the actors' play, the first fight, the second.
It turns out that there is a lot in the plot. Here and the search for a valuable book with lost, as everyone believes, knowledge, and sorcerers, each of whom has its own plan, although they pretend to work together. Some disfigured witch killer who won't stop. Inverters who take the form of anyone and witches from the woods who kidnap children who are flattered by sweets. Also, a deeper idea flashes: the witch is now alone, and you need more - the monsters have not disappeared, and who will harass them if not specifically bred for this killer?
There are a lot of well-known characters here, of course, transformed with the past years. Not lost its charm Triss Merihold and the son of Buttercup, not missing a skirt. Buttercup himself, and even performed by Zbigniew Zamakhovsky, the same actor and composer who played Buttercup in The Witcher in 2001. Grey Lambert, sarcastically speaking about everything he sees, and not at all burning with the desire to search for any incomprehensible books. His image is also successful - as if they combined the appearance of Geralt from the third part of the game "The Witcher" and Mads Mikkelsen (where without him?). Mariusz Drajek played very well, diligently and convincingly.
In contrast to them, the villain turned out textured, albeit with a strange motivation character. Looks a bit like Mark Strong. In addition, Camilla Kaminska plays one of the independent wizards, looks very interesting. All actors who have at least a couple of lines play great. They try. It's nice to see them.
Humor is, not sophisticated, but high-quality, almost always appropriate. And of course, here is the famous phrase "Lambert, Lambert ...", uttered in a meaningful tone. Fans know what the sequel is and will surely be delighted with such a mention.
In addition, the background in the picture flashed villages with crowded and stuffy taverns, broken roads and drunken residents. Rivers, birches and green meadows, among which are hidden ruins, hiding secrets, monsters and sorcery of different colors.
Beautiful surroundings, familiar. Maybe it lacks the background of brightness – again, compared to the game of 2015. This is more realistic than that.
In general, all the above elements are combined into an atmospheric, good-quality and fascinating almost an hour and a half, "dark fantasy" film.
What else can I add? From the positive:
Music. Very good, almost like a game. You can listen to it separately.
Fights - most of them are set decently, even if there are no blood splashes, broken bones, broken skin or at least broken teeth - still looks quite thoughtful. No pathos or beautiful angles. The blows are quick, brutal. As it should be. In addition, there are two options for “waving” a sword, without the use of elixirs, and under their action. The difference is visible, and in the second case it turned out to be a beautiful dance of death, as they say in this case.
At the same time, there is still something that can be attributed to negative points: sometimes the logic in the narrative falls off somewhere, and some characters begin to do not what they should. For example, one of the sorceresses suddenly gets carried away by Butterfly's handsome son, instead of preventing an obvious attack on his lair. However, magicians use seduction as a tool to achieve their goals. But not in this case.
In addition, around the middle of the film, it begins to seem that the passion of the actors evaporates. They seem sluggish. And disturbing music doesn't save the situation, and the plot itself, which kind of approached tense moments. It is good that in the final they are mostly rehabilitated.
However, there is such a thought - all the disadvantages are only because you can easily forget about the lack of the crew of many millions of money for props, actors, extras and equipment. They put their own money into the project. And the soul.
The film came as close as possible in quality to multimillion-dollar projects, and in some places even surpassed them, since here the desire to tell an interesting story is in the first place, and not to cut down more money on a well-known topic. This is “Half a Century Later in Poetry.” He wants to forgive all the shortcomings, because the positive moments are much more.
I don’t know why, but when I saw the film, I felt like I was back in my village after a long absence. Maybe the linguistic or cultural affinity to Polish brothers in ethnicity played, or maybe this is all the result of the efforts of the film crew. Yes, the fact that the film is low-budget and fan can be seen immediately, you should not expect from him Hollywood professionalism, but heck, how does he catch on? Locations, costumes, characters and internal monologues of characters at some level beyond the level of a fan film.
The atmosphere is magnificent. All conversations are absolutely lively, a lot of attention is paid to voiceovers and sounds. There is a feeling of immersion in the bustle of rural streets, roadside taverns or wildlife. Entourage is also selected with hurrah, starting with the simplest furniture and dishes, ending with buildings.
The costumes are designed above all praise, sit like infused and look absolutely natural. The music is great, I recommend listening even separately from the film.
Characters. The trio of the main characters is spelled out very well, the secondary characters are also surprisingly well made (only the headman of the village is worth what), but the main villain came out stereotypically cardboard. He didn’t get any normal motivation or study, almost the whole film had to guess who he really is and what he needs. Not to say it was the actor’s fault, but rather he had nothing to play. No complaints about the other characters. For the level of fan cinema, the game is prohibitive, charisma splashes from the screen, and the characters themselves (as befits the Witcher Universe) periodically burn with napalm.
The second, and last, minus (after the villain) are battle scenes. You can see a clear attempt to make fights stylistically & #39; for the game & #39; but this attempt in my opinion failed. Yes, there are a lot of fights in the film and they maintain the dynamics at the level, but the actors were physically unable to master the pace set by the computer Geralt, which is quite logical. At the exit, all the sharp lightning-fast turns of a mutant pumped with potions, born with a sword in his hands, turned into rather clumsy dances of old men with unbalanced trash. The filmmakers in this case, in my personal opinion, it would be better to move away from the computer style of combat in favor of a simple and understandable HEMA.
Otherwise, the film has no drawbacks, and the atmosphere created covers even the unprofessionalism of the film crew. Anyway, bravo to the fans! I watched it with a drooping jaw.
This picture made a very favorable impression on me. I would like to note that this work is not the brainchild of a studio with a huge budget, because it is the creativity of fans, nevertheless, a given high level of quality cinema is stable throughout the film. Good camera work, there are special effects in a very small amount personifying mainly magic, the quality of which pleases the eye. A good staging of the battle, especially entertaining it is in the battles the work of the operator, since the direct blood and penetration of the sword into the flesh is shown in the frame only a couple of times, usually the camera cleverly rises, or the doomed is blocked by scenery, but it is done so exquisitely that it absolutely does not catch the eye, and no dismemberment is needed in this picture.
A separate delight is caused by the atmosphere of the series, the image of which is a compilation of the best of books, a Polish series and a video game, references to which are neatly laid out in the film. It is also worth mentioning that Buttercup plays, the same actor that was in the Polish series. One of the strengths of this tape is actors, especially supporting actors, commoners are selected with special care, all images are insanely texture, to the fullest extent of which you can enjoy in the scene taking place in the tavern. The scenery is also well selected, especially the landscapes of nature. The color range of frames is also beautiful, shown as clear days, gloomy forest, ruins of buildings, dark catacombs.
The picture leaves a bright bouquet of positive emotions, allowing you to plunge again into the world of the Witcher and it was done beautifully, carefully and with great love for the primary sources in order to create a new story, without pursuing selfish goals.
Of the shortcomings, it is worth noting the strangeness in the behavior of some characters and their motivation, as well as questions about the capabilities of witches and their art of fighting. There is also a protracted unhurried narrative of the plot and the absence of a bright intensity of emotions in the denouement of the plot.