Witcher: Blood of Elves, The

Blood of Elves is the third instalment in the Witcher fan edit series of films for the Netflix Witcher series. While both The Last Wish & Sword of Destiny covered the events of season 1 for the most part, this installment is now firmly in Season 2 territory. Unlike that show however, this version streamlines the story into something teligible. The focus once again is predominantly on Geralt and when its on other characters its for beats that advance the plot. The original Netflix adaptation of season 2 completely lost me, I originally tuned out after a couple of episodes but I was not only able to watch all of this edit but also enjoy it, it serves to remind the power of editing and how good the original should have been. Gieferg has been able to gloss over much of the contrivance and cringe of the original and deliver a suitably entertaining fantasy experience.

Where the Netflix version began to really shift the focus away from Geralt like never before, this version really emphasized Geralt’s place in the events of the story in a way that should have been present in the original. Like the first three edits, the visual and audio cuts are spot on with this edit and watching this feels like the original was actually made this way. The music and sound design is seamless and a lot of the non-book sections have been glossed over as much as possible.

If you desperately hoped that the Witcher was good and are familiar with the source material you deserve to see this edit, it is genuinly worth your time, along with the previous two installments. Gieferg has also mentioned that there will be a fourth edit in the works. Can he made the rest of the series work as films? Its an uphill battle but so far so good!

'The Witcher' is saved. I'm doing a 999 call now I know Gieferg is on the case. Being honest I only watched this series once and all I remember is the Eskel horror show and the rest was just a blur as I slipped into a gloomy malaise. Watching this I had not read the list of changes and was apprehensive that the defilement of Kaer Morhen and Witcherdom in general was going to be an unavoidable feature. Now I see it is already mentioned I feel it is okay to do a spoiler and say that whole calamitous scenario is done away with and its like Eskel heads straight off out on another hunt... where the majority of Witchers are... gathering specimens..... Yes!!

The elves and blood are prominent storifics in the plotline. To someone who has not read the books this looks like a coherent, well put together dramatization. Only one or two obvious moments of forced dialogue alterations, and choppyness here and there but these are all welcome traits of a good fan-edited piece of work and are actually high points - mid-digits fully extended at Netflix here ;()

Blood of Elves does a much better job with the Ciri story than the TV series did. The elves story seems condensed and this is a good thing. It doesn't seem to quite have an end here but rather sets up more of a story to come next season. Both story lines are mercifully streamlined, flow better and make more sense. The mages scenes being trimmed down makes sense as it should never have been a major focus. The video cuts don't seem as abrupt as in the other edits. There are a couple times where the audio edits/insertions are noticeable but not distracting. All in all a great job and an enjoyable watch.

I'll start by saying that I'm a fan of The Witcher book series and a frustrated viewer of the show. Season One was good in parts, tolerable in others. Season Two is where the wheels came off. Gieferg therefore had their work cut out in trying to extract something worthwhile from this. I am pleased to say that their efforts where remarkably successful. Many of the most egregious plot elements have been removed and there is an overall narrative to follow. The material removed means that there is often a dearth of action in terms of monster fights, but the edit is successful in moving the story forward in a coherent way and it will be my chosen way to watch season two going forward. TV to movie adaptions are notoriously challenging, and a rubbish season of TV to movie edit is even more so. Gieferg has done a great job. You could nit pick over a few audio edits here and there, but the overall standard of editing is high and they have creatively built a movie from book-accurate plot elements and things that keep the spirit of the books intact. Looking forward to seeing what can be done with season three.