Well, for a start, I must say that, here, in Russia, a saga of Geralt of Rivia is known and loved. Andrzej Sapkowski - a gifted writer, or, maybe, even genius of some sort - created one of the most realistic, honest, cynical and God d@mn well written fantasy worlds in a history of literature. And when such amazing material gets in a right hands well, see RPG game "Witcher" and you will understand what I am talking about."Vedmak\Wiedzmin" is an excellent example of the opposite outcome.Lack of budget. Lack of directing. Lack of good script.These three whales of Disgusting Movie Making sunken this movie, ate it alive. Acting is good, sometimes even more than good but for god sake it can not save this project. I still have some faith though. I still hope that someday a new Vedmak movies will be created and entire world will see magnitude and breathtaking splendor of Sapkowski's books. p.s. But before that a Uwe Boll must be eliminated. Just in case, you know

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.

I love Polish cinema. I love Michal Zebrowski, he was awesome in Stara Basn or in Ogniem I Mieczem. I love the fantasy books in LOTR style. But this film killed nearly all my sentiments. What do we see here - very badly done video effects (the scene of the battle with a dragon is especially hilarious), pathetic play of all the cast and above it all - too much of Zebrowski - this time, blond, dirty, proud and uttering such laughing stock lines that it is hard to believe your ears. Nay, do not waste your precious time - this is a random mixture of the images of Sapkowski's books, badly filmed and with a laughable budget. Nothing of the good kind here - just a constant yawning disease all throughout the endlessly boring film.

Methinks the vicious slams against this film, made by hardcore fans of source author Andrzej Sapkowski, are a bit out of line. Sapkowski's books, very popular in Poland, are not available in English yet (a UK edition comes out in 2007), and I have not read them, so I watched the film with no expectations. There is some excellent film-making here, an unusual atmosphere (helped by a fine music score and great scenery), and, most memorable, the magnetic performance of Michal Zebrowski in the lead. In WITH FIRE AND SWORD, Zebrowski seemed merely ornamental (he is very good-looking); here, he truly claims the role of the lonely warrior moving through a broken world determined to find a higher moral code.Comparison with Tolkien is largely misplaced, although this fantasy also clearly grows out of the catastrophes of the 20th century. In HEXER, we enter a world of vicious power struggles and atrocities. When a ruthless band resembling Teutonic Knights wipes out a sacred retreat of women, you can't help but think of the Nazi atrocities in Poland. The content also draws on older Polish history, such as the 17th century practice of impaling captives; you won't find that in Tolkien! The resonance of this exotic background and the seriousness of these themes give the film a welcome sense of gravitas that results in some haunting images and moments.Regarding special effects, I grew up in the 1960s on Ray Harryhausen claymation, and while I appreciate the tremendous advances in FX, they don't make or break a film for me. The special effects here are certainly not Hollywood state of the art, but nor are they cheesy; they are respectable.The film's biggest weakness seems to stem from the fact that a longer version appeared as a TV series in Poland, and this feature release was edited from that. Indeed, some developments seem too rushed and some characters pop up very abruptly; the story is not unintelligible, but does require a bit of concentration from the viewer. I would love to see the longer, more fleshed-out version on DVD someday.