LegendaryFang56

7/10

Spoilers

Behold, a prequel feature-length special (as its initial conception was a limited series) based on The Rats, a gang of misfits who are greatly despised by many people on social media. Among the intelligent-minded, there is utter confidence that the immediate reception upon its release (and since its release) was and is open-minded and civil and not at all a chaotic demonstration of mindless hatred, primarily revolved around the insane, deluded belief of "wokeness," an absolute misconception of what "woke" truly means. In an ideal world, perhaps, such open-mindedness and civility would prevail. To nobody's surprise, the vitriol hurled at this film come from the same people who badmouthed the fourth season of _The Witcher_ and Liam Hemsworth (and continue to do so) because their deity Henry Cavill left the show, while claiming to care (and claiming that he cared) about the source material, ignoring that it was the most faithful season yet to the novels, as well as a return to form to an extent, having felt similar to the first season: the peak of the show so far, more or less, even if that doesn't say much from the perspective of some viewers who think the show wasn't that good from the start. Naturally, I didn't feel like that at all toward the latest season or Hemsworth. However, it did take a little while for this to draw me in. By the halfway point, my interest was stirred, and I was fully engaged. That remained the case for the remainder of the film. The first half didn't inspire much confidence that the rest would be sufficiently enjoyable, so I was pleased when the second half came along as if a savior of Good Samaritan proportions. It was by far the better half. Christelle Elwin (Mistle) delivered an excellent performance alongside Dolph Lundgren. Individually and collectively, they were among the best aspects of this film, not only in the acting sense. The chemistry between Brehen and the Rats, particularly Mistle, was surprisingly great. Their dynamic, bonding, and scenes together may have been the primary highlights for me. They were definitely reminiscent of Geralt and Ciri, with slightly more aggression from both of them. Uncertainty occupied my mind regarding his performance as Brehen in his first scene at the beginning. He didn't come across as convincing as I'd have liked. I worried that his overall presence would be a negative component and undermine my enjoyment of the entire film. Thankfully, and somewhat to my surprise, he immediately "redeemed" himself. While I didn't find them insufferable in the main show, let alone to the extent hate-watchers have, I will say that The Rats were more likable in this, recontextualizing and adding further emotion and sadness to their eventual demise at the hands of Leo Bonhart. You end up (or at least I did) wishing that never happened and that we got more of them, even on top of this film, which feels too little and like it wasn't enough. They almost felt like different characters. Even the overall look of each character looked different, from their costume designs to their hairstyling. Higher quality and better. All of them looked excellent, "on-fleek," and "fetch." Yes, it's time to bring both terms back and make "fetch" happen. It creates a curious question, however: why did they look better here than in the show? More money to devote entirely to this and nothing else, as it's a stand-alone special? That seems likely. As far as the subtle characterization differences are concerned, I suppose you could argue that the reason they didn't seem quite the same in Season 4 of _The Witcher_, compared to here, is because of what happened and what they went through at the end of this film. I particularly liked Giz (the stereotypical cool, nonchalant character; it worked on me) and Asse. I liked Mistle well enough; Iskra, too. I was indifferent toward Kayleigh and Reef, particularly the latter. But I'll admit she looked the coolest out of all of them (Giz, a close second), with all the various accessories and jewelry, especially her hairstyle and hair color. The collective chemistry between everyone and the scenes with all of them overwhelmingly disregarded that minor criticism. Visually, this looked great with multiple notable shots, scenery, and environments. The cinematographer (Trevor Michael Brown) did a good job. While there wasn't much action, the fight sequences we did get at the end (Brehen vs. the predictably identifiable Jalowick and Brehen vs. Leo Bonhart) had decent choreography. And, of course, Leo Bonhart's short role was another highlight.

DogsLoveMe

0/10

When people say only attractive people are being cast in Hollywood movies and TV shows show them this movie. It proves that overweight and ugly people are most definitely being represented!!! 🤭

jw

0/10

# LARPing the basic plot again, Netflix crap. The vultures who grabbed the Witcher "franchise" have done it again. Even this strong side story about the Rats, they managed to corrupt. And I'm not talking about "we need to have a PoC everywhere" in which is supposed medieval Poland and surroundings. I'm talking about a doppler which isn't one: A doppler is someone who can shapeshift to replicate the likeness of another. Hence the name. Here, just some dude with white paint on his face. I'm talking about Bonhart having a nonsensical apperance. Copeley is a good actor, but the styling is stupid. Bonhart is a close-combat fighter; he keeps his hair short, so the opponent cannot grab it. Guess what they did here? long, stringy hair. I'm talking about a pair of regular modern sunglasses modified slightly turning up in a pseudo-arabic medieval setting (which has no place in the slavic Witcher universe). I'm talking about giving Mistle psychic powers - or whatever you want to call it when the writers are lazy and have someone read their notes straight to the audience. For a washed-up fighter, Dolph Lundgren is a solid choice. But the Rats story has no Witcher in it, let alone one from the cat school. 1000 up front, and 20 after the job is done? That's certainly an original negotiation method. To top it off, Til Echrade, a "fair-haired elf" fighter becomes a bald black magician here. And he's not with Skellen, but ... ah, nevermind. It's a mess. The Netflix impostors use names from the stories, some basic plot elements, but that's it. They don't even apply inner logic. OKish-fighting scenes, cheesy music, uninspired direction. LARP is fun when you do it with friends, I suppose; but please don't pass it off as a film adaptation of the story.