Netflix’s The Witcher: Dirty Harry Does Dark Fantasy

The snarky headline aside, I found The Witcher enjoyable. The problem with such a wishy-washy evaluation is that it fails to capture how spectacularly well it did some things and how poorly it did others. So below is my more in-depth, yet still spoiler free, review of the much-anticipated The Witcher.

While we got some hints of it from the ads and trailers, I was not expecting just how dark a dark fantasy story The Witcher is. Now, I haven’t read the books by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski which are the inspiration both the series and the videogames. So maybe the dark, almost horror-like elements of the Netflix series are pulled straight from the books. That darkness is one of the strongest parts of The Witcher. The tale is full of war and violence, tragedy and costly magic, and when it is front and center, the series works wonderfully.

Another strength is the complexity of the characters. Even Henry Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia has his moments of moral complexity and ambiguity. Mostly though he plays the main character like a high fantasy version of Dirty Harry — all gritted teeth and a sense of cool-headedness that masks deep anger. But it is in the secondary characters like Yennefer of Vengeberg (Anya Chalotra) and all of her magic-using comrades, and the rulers like King Foltest and Queen Calanthe that really weave around the center line of moral ambiguity.

Jodhi May as Queen Calanthe, the ruler of Cintra and grandmother of the very important character Ciri, is particularly compelling as the stubborn, war-mongering, bigoted queen who is also deeply devoted to her country and her granddaughter.

Another strength is the fight choreography. Cavill in particular looks like he trained for months to portray an almost unstoppable sword-swinging fighter, but almost everyone in any fight scene pulls it off believably. And the magic, both the overall concept of how the magic works and the special effects execution of it are well done.

The politics of both the kingdoms and courts, and the magical societies, are the strongest part of the series. Pull out almost all of the monster-hunting, the mutants, elves, dwarves and such creatures, and you would have a show that could stand up to Game of Thrones in complexity — as well as nudity, it turns out.

Funny, how?
When The Witcher tries to move from dark fantasy to light humor, it stumbles incredibly. It’s not just that the tone change is too jarring, it’s that the humor isn’t funny. During those times when The Witcher is all serious and dark the writing is on par with George R.R. Martin. When it tries to lighten things up it sounds like really bad Dungeons and Dragons fan fiction. Think Conan the Destroyer level of comedy writing. There’s even a moment when the main comic relief character essentially breaks the fourth wall by mentioning an aspect of story construction.

Another problem is the spotty special effects, both CG and the practical effects. One monster is clearly a person in a rubber suit, another is CG that doesn’t even match the lighting in its environment. Having such poor effects in a big-budget series in 2019 is almost unforgivable. Movies and shows with much smaller budgets have done so much better.

One thing about The Witcher that is a challenge if not an actual problem is the way the narrative jumps back in forth through time, without clear explanation of when the action is taking place — at least until you get a deeper sense of what happens when, roughly six episodes or so in. Having main characters that either don’t age or do so much more slowly than normal humans makes it tough at first to get your bearings on when the episode you are watching takes place. Ultimately, if you stick with the show, that structure actually pays off nicely, but it makes the ride to get there confusing.

Overall I give The Witcher a 6 out of 10. If it stayed as a dark fantasy story of both normal and magical politics and machinations, it would have scored much higher. Still, I am looking forward to Season 2.