Netflix 'The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf' Review: A thrilling look at Kaer Morhen
Polish author Andrej Sapkowski took the world by storm when he published ‘The Witcher’ series and garnered a lot of success. However, no one ever knew that it will be turned into a video game series or a Netflix show one day. The video game series of the same name has been massively popular and sold almost 50 million copies globally.
So, the streaming platform decided to come out with a series and create its own ‘Game of Thrones’ kind of universe. The show, created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, went one step ahead of the games and was viewed by more than 76 million viewers in the first 28 days. ‘Man of Steel’ fame Henry Cavill played Geralt of Rivia, the main protagonist, in the series. But, a lot of things from his past were not shown on the show. So, just before the start of Season 2, the streaming giant thought of giving fans some surprises and came out with an animated movie titled ‘The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf’.
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The animated movie revolves around a Witcher named Vesemir (voiced by Theo James), who was really fascinated by the money that Witchers make from their adventures. He goes on a path to become one and turns into a swashbuckling young man slaying demons for coins. However, a treacherous monster is plaguing a kingdom and Vesemir must kill the devil while confronting the demons of his past.
The premise of this much-awaited anime was something that Witcher fans were really excited about because not a lot of people know how Geralt actually became a Witcher. But, the most important thing people wanted to know was how his mentor, Vesemir, became a demon slayer. So, this movie just doesn’t serve as any other animated movie, it takes viewers on a journey that would give them some befitting answers about Witchers and their tribe.
So, the movie starts with a family navigating through woods and reach home. However, they are stopped in their tracks when a tentacle-kind of thing wrap around the tires of their ride. The journey turns into a nightmare when a monster attacks them and kills the man. His frightened children begin running, but the three little ones are brutally murdered while a little boy hides behind a tree. Here, we meet our protagonist Vesemir (James). The Witcher kills the monster in an epic fight sequence and that’s when the monster said something that baffled him. The monster, Leshen said, “Garean bhaedh aip me vhoelynath”, which means “Beware the den of my death.”
The opening sequence perfectly sets the tone for the things to come. Fortunately, we then go to a flashback scene where it is shown that Vesemir was just a slave when he was a child and helped his master. One day, the master’s wife got possessed by a monster and one of the doctors told him to buy some herbs that could cure her. Vesemir, accompanied by her friend and lover Illyana, goes to the market and steals the herb. But a Witcher named Deglan (Graham McTavish) meets them and tells them that this would only cure her, but she can only be saved when the beast dies. Deglan kills the beat and saves the lady. Fascinated by the money Witcher made that night, young Vesemir also embarks on a journey to become one and leaves Illyana.
With time, we get to know that Deglan is mentoring him to become a Witcher. Viewers are also given a glimpse of the difficulties these young men go through to become demon slayers and that’s the best thing about the anime. Not everyone has read the comics or played the games, they are just coming to Netflix to enjoy a fantasy movie. So, the makers have done an exceptional job in telling the world how gruesome it is to become a Witcher.
Another important character is Tetra (Lara Pulver), a Mage who hates the Witchers and wants to kill them. But, she is evil and is not as pure as you think. After killing two knights, Vesemir and one of his friends are taken into custody by the King while Lady Zerbst (Mary McDonnell) tries to free them. However, it is revealed that the old woman is actually Illyana and her name was changed after she married a Lord. Vesemir and Tetra are sent to kill a monster named Kitsu. But soon, it is found that Tetra is trying to help Kitsu in wiping out the Witchers. The reason being: Deglan is creating monsters at Kaer Morhen so that Witchers are never unemployed.
Not only does Netflix’s new animated movie give a satisfying backstory for Geralt’s mentor, but it also expands this universe with new characters and monsters. The action sequences are amazing and really violent. We see limbs flying and blood spewing everywhere whenever a monster is killed. It might feel excessive to some people, but given the presence of vicious monsters, it was necessary to show how Witchers are trained to kill these demons.
The voice cast does a brilliant job and Theo James is turning out to be a great voice actor. ‘Castlevania’ fans will also love his latest work. Meanwhile, Pulver is riveting as Tetra and we can expect a lot of voice roles for her in near future. Graham McTavish (Deglan) and Mary McDonnell (Lady Zerbst) are also splendid in their respective roles.
‘The Witcher’ has been one of the franchises where it isn’t easy to find a character to root for and ‘Nightmare of the Wolf’ follows that tradition. People might find it hard to support at various instances because the characters are not evil or good in an obvious way. However, the movie did provide some really exciting new perspectives.
The movie uses an unexplored setting to tell an intense story about characters that led him to Kaer Morhen. It is fair to say that viewers needed this movie to know about Vesemir because he will be seen in Season 2 of ‘The Witcher’ series. The anime tells the world how Vesemir is so important to the Continent and why his story needed to be told.
All in all, the movie is undoubtedly one of the best movies of the year so far and a worthy side quest. It gives a satisfying backstory for Geralt’s mentor and expands the universe with so much potential.
Bewitching, bloody, intriguing – what more do you want?
‘The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf’ will be streaming on Netflix on Monday, August 23 at 3 am EST.