![]() ![]() The story is more about the characters around him, while he serves as a sort of catalyzing agent to help tie seemingly disparate storylines together and put certain events in motion. Geralt occupies a somewhat Mad Max role in The Witcher, as he’s technically the main character but not truly so. He’s a character who might have been played by Harrison Ford if The Witcher had been made in 1983. There’s an ironic playfulness to him that’s always detectable even though Geralt never fully lets his guard down. His facial expressions, body language, and surprisingly versatile use of the phrase “hmm” result in some genuinely funny moments that somehow also manage to do a lot of work to inform his character. But Cavill is able to take what’s on the page and turn it into an unexpectedly charming performance, a great deal of which comes through in what he doesn’t say. Geralt is a man of very few words, and the words he does choose to say are gruff and scowly. In particular, the swordplay in The Witcher is truly awesome, and Cavill clearly put in the work to make sure he looked believable as a wandering mercenary.Ĭavill was criminally underutilized in his previous role as a super-powered metahuman, and at first The Witcher seems like it’s making the same mistake. And a great deal of care was taken to make sure the fight scenes were fun and exciting without looking cheesy. ![]() ![]() A few of the monsters are truly horrifying, particularly the Striga, a cursed undead child born from a dead woman’s womb that Geralt is forced to battle in a creepy abandoned castle. The show uses a good mix of visual and practical effects to create its numerous creatures and monstrosities, and in general the end results look great. Obviously, The Witcher is about a monster hunter, so there are going to be some fantasy beasts to contend with. While it doesn’t have the budget of Game of Thrones, The Witcher manages to create an enormous fantasy world that looks and feels totally believable, and is on par with anything GoT pulled off in its early seasons. Shot mostly in Eastern Europe, the Continent’s exteriors look appropriately sprawling and vaguely mythical. Battle scenes feature what seems like hundreds of extras. Every interior, from a random village tavern to a grand castle hall to the solarium of a magic tower, is convincingly detailed and effectively staged. The scale of the show is massive, and Netflix has put enough resources into its production that everything looks quite good. Right off the bat, The Witcher is an impressive offering. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |