The Hexer (2001)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Pretty Good

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is not an impressive movie, and it is basically a compilation of the TV Series episodes (which I did find excellent, considering what was to be expected from the production).Nonetheless, it was still quite enjoyable.Both the series and the film made me really curious about the author's works and the original characters and stories.I've voted the series with 9/10 because they are very good material, both acting-wise, choreography-wise, and in terms of script, as little, stand-alone stories, that have their own continuity. The only part they're lacking is special effects, and considering how well they relay the storytelling bit of Geralt's adventures, I'm not going to hold back due to that.By contrast the film misses out on the continuity a lot. It's as if it's trying to relay the story of the series in its entirety, but ends up unable to do the same, so it has some naturally significant gaps. Nonetheless, the flak this movie's receiving is unbelievable.If you're into fantasy stories with a more serious, less black-and-white context, and aren't waiting on your toes for special effects to thrill you, you're still going to enjoy the movie despite all of its flaws.4/10 would've been my standard vote, but since the movie's taking so much undeserved slam, 5/10 to highlight that it's definitely a good watch for people who enjoy the odd fantasy low-budget movie.

When just days before the film's premiere, its screenwriter backs out of the project, and demands his name to be removed from the credits, you know that this does not bode well. The books, on which "Wiedzmin" is based on, have great potential for a vivacious fantasy film – "Geralt de Rivia is a witcher; his sole purpose is to destroy the monsters that plague the world. But not everything monstrous-looking is evil, and not everything fair is good…" But all that didn't matter, when a polish film crew, with a low budget, and no, or little appreciation for Sapkowski's work, decided to make a 13-part mini-series out of it. The two-hour film is a by-product of their actions, to maximize the profits. It's not hard to point out in this case, what makes people label this film as bad. Plot (incoherent, thanks to cramming it with too many stories), acting (below average, with exception of Zebrowski), dialogues (bland), editing (choppy), special effects (unbearable) and choreography (poor), add up to the film's overall bad experience. Only the soundtrack, done by Grzegorz Ciechowski, brings out the beauty of the world of "Wiedzmin", which was never brought to the screen. Even Poland's grandiose flora and fauna (where part of "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" was shot), a crucial element in almost ANY fantasy film, were not used up to their full potential. The more I think about this dead loss, the more I'm running out of words. At least, it's a comfort to know, that Marek Brodzki, the director of "Wiedzmin", has directed only one film ever since (in addition, in Germany). For now, we're left with top-notch fantasy stories and a fantastic computer RPG (released in 2007) referring to the Wiedzmin books. But I'm sure that one day, justice will be done for the Wiedzmin saga, and we'll be treated with an equally good film adaptation soon enough.

Brodzki's creation is a great example of how NOT to make a movie. First there was a book written with a great humor. Book that has numerous fans who would be happy to supply help when producers for some reasons decided to employ people who hardly heard of the book in the first place. Then came a script as humorless and full of nonsense as possible. At the same time the script was written in a way to allow only those who actually had read the books to understand anything of the plot. Not that anything in this movie made much sense anyway(ex. "I'm like an ice shard. You can burn yourself" said Yennefer as a word of warning - warning that logic is something this movie seriously lacks). To add to that we have to mention that no matter the amount of money that was supposedly spent on the movie everything looks like an amateur production with two (2) computer effects one of which is a see-through dragon. Even the costumes look as if the were borrowed from a really poor theater. That is the better ones look this way. And to add to that we have a few 'naked scenes' put there only so they will be in the film because they have no explanation in what one may mercifully call plot. The movie has only one strength that can hardly make up for the rest - music is not bad. Though if I was to choose I'd prefer to have it separately. It sounds better if you don't have to look at this failure of super production.

I liked Michal Zebrowski as Geralt. He seems the only good thing about the film. Unfortunately, I haven't read Sapkowsky's books, but I have heard them to be something extraordinary. The film turned out to be a second-rate fairy tale and nothing else. Once again, what a waste! If not of the book then of Zebrowski's work.