The Magic that is Henry Cavill in ‘The Witcher’

First of all, I want to be transparent to everyone reading this: I had no idea what ‘The Witcher’ was before watching it. All I knew is that it would star Henry Cavill and that it was in the action-fantasy genre. When we were seated inside the cinema at the advanced screening, the first thing I said to my companions after Henry’s speech was: “Wait. Is this a horror series?!” Yes, I am that naïve when it comes to books or games turned into series or movies.

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When I was told that ‘The Witcher’ is actually based on a book series and has video gams based on those, I immediately got curious, especially since a lot of people told me that the books are great. As a noob to the series, here are my first impressions about the new Netflix show.

First of all, Henry Cavill is magical. Upon seeing him during the fan event, I know that he would give the character he was going to portray in the series the utmost justice. I watched the trailer over and over again while waiting to be ushered into the movie house and I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by his eyes while he was acting. Upon watching the first episode, he worked his magic on everyone with his every move in those intense fight scenes.

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Speaking of fight scenes, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s watching a lot of action movies and criticizing their choreography throughout the scenes. I am no dancer nor professional fight scene choreographer, but I love watching good action films. This year, I think 80% of the movies I watched were in that genre.

Knowing that Henry did his stunts and fight scenes on his own got me glued when the action was rolling. I love how the cinematography and direction works well with how they did all of the fight scenes in the series, especially in that one scene that is vital to Geralt’s character development. There was one particular battle scene in the first episode that got me to the edge of my seat because of how dramatically they executed the cinematography.

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Another thing that I want to point out is the beautiful acting of the other cast members supporting Henry Cavill’s Geralt: Renfri, Cirilla, and Calanthe. I love how they made these women do fun and kickass stuff in the series without emasculating the male characters. This is girl power at its finest, which makes me wonder how faithful they are with the books.

Last but not least, for someone who is not a fan of action-fantasy series, in general; this made me want to keep on watching. It is a combination of everything that I want to see in a movie… or in this case, a series. It has bad-ass action scenes, as well as a grounded and strong plot for its viewers where you have to think and dig into the character’s storylines to see what will happen next.

You see, I love series that make you think hard and doesn’t spoon-feed you the story that is about to unfold because where’s the thrill in that, right? Also, the story is kind of cheesy yet they present it in a cool way without making it awkward for the viewers (hello, destiny!). In fact, the overall production will give its viewers an adventurous ride while watching the series.

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I checked some stills from the video game version of ‘The Witcher’ and although I have no idea how the game works, I can see some elements of how they incorporated the game into the series. Netflix should try doing a Bandersnatch kind of mini-episode once the series ends. It would be so cool to try playing real-life characters, especially for non-gamers like me.

You can catch ‘The Witcher‘ Season 1 on Netflix now!

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