The Witcher 4K S01 NF Ultra HD 2160p

The series tells about monster hunters who for many years, train their bodies and develop supernatural abilities to further sharpen their skills in battles with ferocious monsters.

The Witcher 4K Review
When Nilfgaard's army storms the capital of Zintra, wounded Queen Calante sends her granddaughter and heiress Cyril to search for Heralt from Rivia, a witch named the girl's destiny. He, in turn, travels the world, carrying out witch orders to exterminate the evil that hinders the lives of ordinary people, drinks a lot, falls in love with the sorceress Jennifer and tries to tolerate the bard Buttercup singing his exploits. However, Heralt remembers that the day will soon come when he will have to meet his destiny and take the child under his wing.

The news that Netflix is filming a cycle of stories Sapkovsky about the Witch, took ambiguous: every fan of books and game series felt obliged to report in the comments that the streaming giant again screwed up. Trailers and the first promotional materials were just pouring oil into the fire: Henry Cavill looked like the winner of the local bodybuilder contest "Mr. Rivia", and most importantly - the filming lacked the Slavic flavor of the original source, which, for example, mottled the games inspired by him. "Witch" from Netflix was like a very expensive, but gray and unsightly fantasy, whose creators felt obliged to portray the universe as a dirty Middle Ages.

If in eight episodes Cavill was able to prove that seems to fit the role of Heralt, even if deprived of a drop of self-irony, the creators never offered the viewer anything that distinguishes "Witch" from most fantasy - looking at him without sound, you can safely assume that this is just a very expensive series of BBC. It is difficult to say what the reason is: the need to blur the cultural boundaries to please the mass audience, or the desire to make a gloomy and realistic, which for most filmmakers is identical to faceless dark color correction. One way or another, the creators cut off the umbilical cord almost immediately and demonstrate that we have an independent work before our eyes.

Note at once: all the original comparisons of "Witch" with "Game of Thrones" now look stupid - even with the failure of the eighth season. The series from Netflix can not offer a large-scale story with a charade of perfectly inscribed characters, political conspiracies and a huge world worked out, but it is not necessarily a bad thing. "The Witch" is a classic fantasy that goes into detective and chorror at the best moments, as well as a story of little people who survive in a huge hostile world. It is no wonder that the series blossoms when it departs from a large-scale war for power, high stakes and pathos prophecies to show how the heroes really live: Heralt's lifestyle, Ciri's survival and Jennifer's work. We want to believe that the creators will land history and in the second season will focus on something more intimate - like teaching Ciri the craft and the basics of survival.

However, the miscalculation of scriptwriters trying to determine the tone of the series fades before their own inability to work with different time periods. The viewer, unfamiliar with the universe Sapkovsky, the series will throw a few logical tasks - you need to constantly keep in mind the connection of the story branches of the three main characters. Because of this barrier to enter the universe and immerse yourself in what is happening becomes more difficult. Creators quietly jump between the prehistory of Jennifer, bikes from the life of Heralt and conditional present time with the escape and survival of Ciri. Many will proudly say that they immediately guessed what and when is happening, but let's be honest, even William Faulkner left clues in "Noise and Fury", when he described the distorted perception of time by a mentally disabled hero and frequent chronological jumps. Screenwriters of the series do not leave even simple markers on which you can determine the time period. This seems to be one of the main reasons why the series did not evaluate the western press, which was provided several unrelated episodes.

However, as you know, the main critic of Netflix products - a domestic viewer, bravely defending racial purity and historical authenticity where it should not be. They got the new "Little Mermaid" and the recent "Guardians", but it seems, really all offended by the "Witch". It turned out that the series about the universe in which there are dragons, evil and magic, can not play black actors. For those who are not afraid of the word "tolerance", often used in comments, "Witch" will seem another success Netflix, the new top of the staging of fights with swords and a good reason to get acquainted closer with the book heritage of Andrzej Sapkovsky or a series of games CD Projekt RED. It was definitely not a failure, but still more could be gained from such a rich universe.