Review Detail

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!