The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf

A bit rushed and over the top but enjoyable. Nice visuals and animations. Great soundtrack.

Disclaimer- have read the books and played the games

As a stand-alone film,it's actually pretty decent,which I was not expecting. Animation looks pretty decent although a bit inconsistent in some places and the soundtrack added to the experience rather than subtracted from it. I found the pacing to be a bit rushed and I feel that the movie could have definitely used some extra runtime,but the story was enjoyable and I found myself liking Vesimir,but it's nothing spectacular.

However,the script needlessly changed events from the Witcher universe and It messed with the timeline a bit too much in my humble opinion. My biggest gripe is with the powers of the Witcher themselves as they (and especially their signs) are waaay too OP. And I felt as if the derive of Kaer Morhan was needlessly of the top. I could go on for a good while nitpicking all of the seemingly unnecessary changes. But alas,it doesn't matter too much and the movie is still enjoyable in my opinion.

Among so many problems that the Live Action series starring Henry Cavill had and whose biggest criticism is not respecting the spirit of the literary saga and video games, this version appears that perfectly fulfills that.

It is a film that covers a period of time in the chronology of the saga that is somewhat dark due to lack of information.

The story focused on Vesemir is a success from any angle, giving us a context that we did not know we needed.

The plot is solid, the animation is quite good and really for fans of the saga I think it is a great success.

The release of a second film in 2025 only reinforces these concepts. Unfortunately, I think this is the most correct direction to take since season 4 and 5 of The Witcher with the change of actor in the leading role makes us glimpse a resounding failure.

(Edit: It may be best to treat this film's story as a re-write or alternative adaptation of The Witcher universe.) Any fans of The Witcher and its many works know and love Geralt, but we've rarely been given stories of his teacher. This movie resolves that issue by giving us a heart-felt, detailed, and beautiful, and I say again, Beautiful look at Vesemir's origins. Without spoiling anything, Nightmare of the Wolf shows us an emotional and epic telling of a critical event in Witcher history while delivering the tale of what led Vesemir to becoming the vaunted teacher to the "hero" we know. The writing was evocative. The characters were interesting and believable. The action was jaw-dropping. And holding it all together was some of the most brilliant animation to ever grace Netflix. It does have some instances of predictability and some of its pacing could've been worked out better if it were allowed more run time as a season instead of a movie, but none of it was to any significant detriment to the overall feel and enjoyment of the film.

It's honestly pretty good, but Netflix is rewriting some of the witcher lore and as a long time game and book fan it's just kinda sad.